Causative Icons in Modern Persian

Iconicity, as a fundamental concept in cognitive linguistics, emphasizes the existence of motivation between the form and meaning of language structures and signifies a relationship which represents any kind of correspondence, analogy or resemblance between a sign form and what it stands for. In the cognitive approach to linguistics, language is considered a part of cognitive system, which mirrors the conceptual organization as well as the world inside the speaker's mind. According to this view, the outside world experience and cognition are reflected in language structure, and language forms are completely associated with the semantic structures they are supposed to manifest. Among the most noticeable models of this approach is the Cognitive Grammar model. This grammar posits a symbolic nature for language and assumes language to be a set of symbolic units which symbolize meaning and thought. It is believed in this model that language structures are motivated through cognitive processes and the existence of iconic and motivated structures in language is considered quite natural by this approach. Causative structures are among the motivated structures in a language. Thus the present research looks into the 5 types of diagrammatic iconicity peculiar to the grammatical structures of Modern Persian (Farsi) causatives from the Cognitive Grammar point of view. Findings indicate that Persian causative structures reflect all 5 types of diagrammatic iconicity (distance, independence, order, complexity and categorization) one way or another. Therefore, it is concluded that such causative categories should be recognized as “causative icons” in Modern Persian.