scholarly journals The perceived mapping between form and meaning in American Sign Language depends on linguistic knowledge and task: evidence from iconicity and transparency judgments

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 208-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZED SEVCIKOVA SEHYR ◽  
KAREN EMMOREY
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
American Sign ◽  
H Index ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Iconic Signs ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

abstractIconicity is often defined as the resemblance between a form and a given meaning, while transparency is defined as the ability to infer a given meaning based on the form. This study examined the influence of knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) on the perceived iconicity of signs and the relationship between iconicity, transparency (correctly guessed signs), ‘perceived transparency’ (transparency ratings of the guesses), and ‘semantic potential’ (the diversity (H index) of guesses). Experiment 1 compared iconicity ratings by deaf ASL signers and hearing non-signers for 991 signs from the ASL-LEX database. Signers and non-signers’ ratings were highly correlated; however, the groups provided different iconicity ratings for subclasses of signs: nouns vs. verbs, handling vs. entity, and one- vs. two-handed signs. In Experiment 2, non-signers guessed the meaning of 430 signs and rated them for how transparent their guessed meaning would be for others. Only 10% of guesses were correct. Iconicity ratings correlated with transparency (correct guesses), perceived transparency ratings, and semantic potential (H index). Further, some iconic signs were perceived as non-transparent and vice versa. The study demonstrates that linguistic knowledge mediates perceived iconicity distinctly from gesture and highlights critical distinctions between iconicity, transparency (perceived and objective), and semantic potential.

scholarly journals The unexplored role of handshape similarity in processing numbers on the hands

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-171
Author(s):  
Ilaria Berteletti ◽  
SaraBeth J. Sullivan ◽  
Lucas Lancaster
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Numerical Information ◽  
Finger Counting ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Native Signers ◽  
The Relationship

With two simple experiments we investigate the overlooked influence of handshape similarity for processing numerical information conveyed on the hands. In most finger-counting sequences there is a tight relationship between the number of fingers raised and the numerical value represented. This creates a possible confound where numbers closer to each other are also represented by handshapes that are more similar. By using the American Sign Language (ASL) number signs we are able to dissociate between the two variables orthogonally. First, we test the effect of handshape similarity in a same/different judgment task in a group of hearing non-signers and then test the interference of handshape in a number judgment task in a group of native ASL signers. Our results show an effect of handshape similarity and its interaction with numerical value even in the group of native signers for whom these handshapes are linguistic symbols and not a learning tool for acquiring numerical concepts. Because prior studies have never considered handshape similarity, these results open new directions for understanding the relationship between finger-based counting, internal hand representations and numerical proficiency.

scholarly journals Cross-modal translation priming and iconicity effects in deaf signers and hearing learners of American Sign Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1032-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Mott ◽  
Katherine J. Midgley ◽  
Phillip J. Holcomb ◽  
Karen Emmorey
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Lexical Access ◽  
Time Window ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Translation Priming ◽  
Beginning Learners ◽  
Iconic Signs ◽  
Deaf Signers

AbstractThis study used ERPs to a) assess the neural correlates of cross-linguistic, cross-modal translation priming in hearing beginning learners of American Sign Language (ASL) and deaf highly proficient signers and b) examine whether sign iconicity modulates these priming effects. Hearing learners exhibited translation priming for ASL signs preceded by English words (greater negativity for unrelated than translation primes) later in the ERP waveform than deaf signers and exhibited earlier and greater priming for iconic than non-iconic signs. Iconicity did not modulate translation priming effects either behaviorally or in the ERPs for deaf signers (except in a 800–1000 ms time window). Because deaf signers showed early translation priming effects (beginning at 400ms-600ms), we suggest that iconicity did not facilitate lexical access, but deaf signers may have recognized sign iconicity later in processing. Overall, the results indicate that iconicity speeds lexical access for L2 sign language learners, but not for proficient signers.

scholarly journals A data-driven approach to the semantics of iconicity in American Sign Language and English

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
BILL THOMPSON ◽  
MARCUS PERLMAN ◽  
GARY LUPYAN ◽  
ZED SEVCIKOVA SEHYR ◽  
KAREN EMMOREY
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Text Corpora ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Iconic Signs

abstractA growing body of research shows that both signed and spoken languages display regular patterns of iconicity in their vocabularies. We compared iconicity in the lexicons of American Sign Language (ASL) and English by combining previously collected ratings of ASL signs (Caselli, Sevcikova Sehyr, Cohen-Goldberg, & Emmorey, 2017) and English words (Winter, Perlman, Perry, & Lupyan, 2017) with the use of data-driven semantic vectors derived from English. Our analyses show that models of spoken language lexical semantics drawn from large text corpora can be useful for predicting the iconicity of signs as well as words. Compared to English, ASL has a greater number of regions of semantic space with concentrations of highly iconic vocabulary. There was an overall negative relationship between semantic density and the iconicity of both English words and ASL signs. This negative relationship disappeared for highly iconic signs, suggesting that iconic forms may be more easily discriminable in ASL than in English. Our findings contribute to an increasingly detailed picture of how iconicity is distributed across different languages.

The relationship between spontaneous gestures of the hearing and American Sign Language

Gesture ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn McClave
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Electronic Edition ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Spontaneous Movements ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper presents evidence of non-manual gestures in American Sign Language (ASL). The types of gestures identified are identical to non-manual, spontaneous gestures used by hearing non-signers which suggests that the gestures co-occurring with ASL signs are borrowings from hearing culture. A comparison of direct quotes in ASL with spontaneous movements of hearing non-signers suggests a history of borrowing and eventual grammaticization in ASL of features previously thought to be unique to signed languages. The electronic edition of this article includes audio-visial data.

Young Children's Acquisition of the Movement Aspect in American Sign Language

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Bonvillian ◽  
Theodore Siedlecki
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Home Visits ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Downward Movement ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Production Accuracy

The acquisition of the movement aspect of American Sign Language signs was examined longitudinally in 9 young children of deaf parents. During monthly home visits, the parents demonstrated on videotape how their children formed the different signs in their lexicons. The parents also demonstrated how they formed or modeled these same signs. Overall, the children correctly produced 61.4% of the movements that were present in the adult sign models. Although the production accuracy of the movement aspect of signs did not improve over the course of the study, the number and complexity of movements produced by the children did increase as they got older and their vocabularies grew in size. Of the different sign movements, contacting action was by far the most frequently produced. The children were also relatively successful in their production of closing action and downward movement. The order of acquisition for the remaining ASL movements, however, was quite variable, with the exception that bidirectional movements tended to be produced more accurately than unidirectional movements. The relationship between children's early rhythmical motor behaviors and the development of sign movements is discussed.

scholarly journals (Sub)lexical changes in iconic signs to realign with community sensibilities and experiences

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gene Mirus ◽  
Jami Fisher ◽  
Donna Jo Napoli
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
Iconic Signs

AbstractSign language lexicons include iconic items, where phonological form is somewhat representative of sense. As experiences of individuals change, the mapping from form to meaning may become inappropriate (as when technological or environmental changes occur) or may be considered incongruous with perceptions of reality (as when culture shifts). Many misalignments of form and sense are tolerated, with the result that a sign's original iconicity is lost. Other misalignments are obliterated; signers make sublexical changes or entire lexical substitutions. We call these (sub)lexical changes ‘corrections’. We argue that misalignments that are regrettable are more likely to be corrected, where regrettable misalignments are those that are not true to realities/experiences of profound importance to deaf individuals.While the focus here is on American Sign Language, corrections should be apparent in any sign language and might occur in those spoken languages with a high frequency of nonarbitrary relationships between form and sense. (Sign language, variation, taboo terms, euphemism, iconicity, identity)*

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