Iconicity principles from an evolutionary perspective

Much discussion has been devoted to the role of iconic coding, especially with regards to its relevance for explaining morphological change over other synchronic factors such as economy, frequency, and the like. In this chapter, I will reverse the perspective and focus on diachrony as a source of the rise of iconic coding. This is not meant to deny the relevance of the synchronic perspective, but the stress on diachrony may help us understand that a number of phenomena can be structurally accounted for, i.e., these phenomena are the way they are, because of their origin from earlier structural environments.