Ikoniczność jako cecha języka japońskiego

The aim of this paper is to introduce the subject of iconicity with reference to the selected aspects of the Japanese language. Th e author presents the iconic character of Japanese writing systems (kanji, hiragana and katakana) and introduces the most representative iconic examples in Japanese phonology and morphology. Th e paper stresses also the issues of Japanese politeness and indirectness and indicates their iconic motivation supported by the use of metaphorical explanation.