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Iconicity in Signed and Spoken Vocabulary: A Comparison Between American Sign Language, British Sign Language,
Marcus Perlman1, Hannah Little2, Bill Thompson3
1Department of English Language and Applied Linguistic, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 30, 2018
Summary
Signed and spoken languages show iconicity, but visual-gestural signed languages (American Sign Language, British Sign Language) utilize iconicity differently than auditory-vocal spoken languages (English, Spanish) based on meaning type.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Psycholinguistics
- Semiotics
Background:
- Iconicity, the non-arbitrary relationship between form and meaning, is present in all languages.
- Signed languages, using visual-gestural modality, may offer different iconicity pathways compared to spoken languages' auditory-vocal modality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively compare iconicity across the vocabularies of two signed languages (American Sign Language, British Sign Language) and two spoken languages (English, Spanish).
- To investigate how iconicity relates to semantic variables and lexical categories within and across these languages.
Main Methods:
- Collected iconicity ratings for hundreds of signs and words across American Sign Language, British Sign Language, English, and Spanish.
- Analyzed correlations in iconicity ratings between languages.
- Examined the relationship between iconicity and semantic variables (concreteness, sensory experience, imageability) and lexical classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.).
Main Results:
- Significant correlations in iconicity ratings were found across all four languages, with the highest between American Sign Language and British Sign Language.
- Iconicity distribution varied by modality: concrete meanings were more iconic in signed languages, auditory meanings in spoken languages, and tactile meanings in both.
- Specific patterns emerged, such as verbs being more iconic in signed languages and English, manual actions in signed languages, adjectives in spoken languages, and color words showing low iconicity in signed languages.
Conclusions:
- Iconicity is spread differently across the lexicons of signed and spoken languages, reflecting the unique affordances of each modality.
- The findings provide a quantitative basis for understanding modality-specific iconicity in language.
- This research highlights the transparency of iconicity in signed languages compared to spoken languages.
Keywords:
American Sign LanguageBritish Sign LanguageEnglishSpanishiconicitymodalitysign languagespoken languageMore Related Videos
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