TY - CHAP
T1 - Don’t read too much into the runes
AU - Conradie, C. Jac
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 John Benjamins Publishing Company.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Runic inscriptions, particularly those dedicated to the deceased, generally commence with a reference to its initiator and furthermore mentions the (usually highly regarded) rune writer by name, before the person that the monument is dedicated to is even named or related to his/her actions or the way he/she met his/her death. Language-wise the formulation is characterised by full sentences with action verbs mostly in the active voice. It is argued that the register of the inscriptions has much in common with oral narrative, which in itself has several iconic characteristics, such as taking the ‘I’ as point of departure, employing action verbs to describe activities and dealing with events in their order of occurrence. Therefore if certain distinctions between signifier and signified were not sharply drawn in the minds of those erecting memorials, signifier and signified must necessarily resemble each other to a sufficient extent to have an iconic relationship. The persistent presence and prominence of the initiator of the memorial and the rune writer in the inscriptions create the impression that the very raising and inscribing of a stone was tantamount to honouring the deceased, and therefore one and the same act.
AB - Runic inscriptions, particularly those dedicated to the deceased, generally commence with a reference to its initiator and furthermore mentions the (usually highly regarded) rune writer by name, before the person that the monument is dedicated to is even named or related to his/her actions or the way he/she met his/her death. Language-wise the formulation is characterised by full sentences with action verbs mostly in the active voice. It is argued that the register of the inscriptions has much in common with oral narrative, which in itself has several iconic characteristics, such as taking the ‘I’ as point of departure, employing action verbs to describe activities and dealing with events in their order of occurrence. Therefore if certain distinctions between signifier and signified were not sharply drawn in the minds of those erecting memorials, signifier and signified must necessarily resemble each other to a sufficient extent to have an iconic relationship. The persistent presence and prominence of the initiator of the memorial and the rune writer in the inscriptions create the impression that the very raising and inscribing of a stone was tantamount to honouring the deceased, and therefore one and the same act.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028548227&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1075/ill.14.12con
DO - 10.1075/ill.14.12con
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85028548227
T3 - Iconicity in Language and Literature
SP - 219
EP - 238
BT - Iconicity in Language and Literature
PB - John Benjamins Publishing Company
ER -