[Help] Icon rationale in Apple's Human Interface Guidelines?

Hi, I'm sure some of you are a whole lot more intimate with Apple's HIG than I am. I browsed it somewhat superficially, but failed to find any explicit argument for using icons in the user interface. I hope someone can correct me and point me in the right direction.

What I'm trying to say here is: Do the guidelines contain any discussion/reflection on why icons are such an integral part of the OS/applications? If you think about it it's really not so common-sensical at all.

Of course it doesn't have to be Apple's HIG, Microsoft's or Linux' will do fine.

Any help will be much appreciated.

#330428

Gonna check the HIG better (its my work book), but the V.Golovach's 'UIDesign' contains the discussion about the icons as a part of UI. Unfortunately, UIDesign book is in Russian.

#330569