the autonomy of the syntax to that of an autonomy of grammar. Another central idea of linguistic formalism is that human language can be defined as a formal language like the language of mathematics and programming languages. Additionally, formal rules can be applied outside of logic or mathematics to human language, treating it as a mathematical formal system with a formal grammar. A characteristic stance of formalist approaches is the primacy of form (like syntax), and the conception of language as a system in isolation from the outer world. An example of this is de Saussure's principle of arbitrariness of sign, according to which there is no intrinsic relationship between a signifier (a word) and the signified (concept) to which it refers. This is contrasted by the principle of iconicity, according to which a sign, like a word, can be influenced by its usage and by the concepts it refers to. The principle of iconicity is shared by functionalist approaches, like cognitive linguistics and usage-based linguistics, and also by linguistic typology. Generative linguistics has been characterized, and parodied, as the view that a dictionary and a grammar textbook adequately describe a language. The increasingly abstract way in which syntactic rules have been defined in generative approaches has been criticized by cognitive linguistics as having little regard for the cognitive reality of how language is actually represented in the human mind. Another criticism is directed toward the principle of autonomy of syntax and encapsulation of the language system, pointing out that "structural aspects of language have been shaped by the functions it needs to perform," which is also an argument in favor of the opposite principle of iconicity. See also Colorless green ideas sleep furiously Russian formalism Linguistic turn Notes References Lehmann, Winfred P. 1987. "Bloomfield as an Indo-Europeanist". Robert A. Hall, Jr., ed., Leonard Bloomfield: Essays on his life and work, pp. 163–172. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Linguistic theories and hypotheses Generative linguistics