22nd
December
1999
Iconic Communication
“Both Edmondson and Dormann suggest that the use of icons should be seen in terms of syntax, semantics and pragmatics, which suggests a strong connection with linguistics. This will no doubt be another fruitful area of research but we have, I hope, learned from weaknesses in the prescriptive and compositional semantics of previous iconic and linguistic systems. Any communication system must allow for change if it is to survive and be continually useful within its domain. It must be designed to change or it will become irrelevant.”