Iconicity and dyslexia: theoretical issues and pedagogical implications

The present dissertation involves several branches of modern linguistics: iconicity, intended in its every facet, dyslexia, Specific Learning Disorders (SpLDs), and second language teaching. Of all the iconic properties, we favour those that involve language mostly at a phonological level, so that we may analyse their relationship with phonological deficits. We advance the hypothesis that iconicity constitutes a secondary access to phonological properties in case the primary one is impaired, as is the case with dyslexia. Thus, iconicity and sound symbolism represent a possible compensatory tool in second language learning – which, especially in the case of EnglishL2, constitutes a substantial difficulty for SpLD students. The present project aims to investigate this relationship and its possible exploitations in pedagogical, theoretical and methodological terms, and to create and test a teaching strategy involving iconic (or, more specifically, sound symbolic) instances of language. Furthermore, we present an experimental protocol on the effects of iconicity on University students with dyslexia