Iconic bootstrapping for language development: One size does not fit all

Theoretical and empirical work on iconicity in first language acquisition assumes an automatic facilitative role for iconic form–meaning mappings in early spoken and sign language development. However, more recent studies have called this into question, suggesting that a bias towards iconicity in learning may not be automatic, and may instead derive from linguistic experience, combined with the idiosyncratic nature of these forms which makes them strong candidates for early word learning. In this chapter, we consider the different perspectives on iconicity in first language acquisition across both spoken and sign languages, to show that the role of iconicity is multifaceted and multimodal, and that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ perspective on this phenomenon should not be assumed.