Abstraction and Organisation in Signs and Sign Systems

Abstract The call for participation in the Brighton Workshop on Iconic Communication was a challenge to commit to paper some more general thoughts on a topic in which my interest had been inspired, and subsequently focused, by many years research on sign language linguistics. I developed some material for a seminar presentation, and following acceptance of the abstract for the Brighton'workshop the seminar material was revised and is presented here. The theme of the presentation was, and is here, analytical in its approach to the concepts of index, icon and symbol, and ultimately doubtful of the feasibility of developing a system of icons for human communication. An additional perspective here concerns the use of icons in interfaces.