Collaborative Research: Quantifying systematicity, iconicity, and arbitrariness in the American Sign Language Lexicon

这个合作项目将通过分析美国手语词汇的语义组织来研究手语是如何传达意义的。理解人类词汇的结构和组织对语言学和心理语言学的语言理论都至关重要。然而，目前的理论主要是建立在口头语言的证据之上，可能没有充分代表手语特别常见的特征。例如，关于词典组织的一个核心假设是，语义结构和语音（形式）结构之间存在明显的分离——单词的发音方式通常被认为与它们的意思无关。然而，越来越多的证据表明，在手语和口语中，象似性，即与其意思相似的词语或符号，都很普遍。英语中象似性的例子是像“ping”和“sizzle”这样的词，它们听起来和它们的意思很像；在美国手语中，象似性的例子是像“喝”和“锤”这样的符号，它们看起来就像它们的意思。虽然在美国手语中语义和语音结构可能不是完全独立的，但我们对它们之间的关系以及象似性是否或如何影响词汇的了解相对较少。该项目首次对美国手语词汇的语义组织进行了全面的定量分析。该项目将收集有关美国手语符号的语义相似性和语义邻域大小的有价值的信息，这将是揭示关于符号意义的知识是如何存储和组织的关键，以及这种结构是如何获得的。具体而言，本项目旨在1)对符号之间的语义关联进行全词典范围的评估；2)利用受网络科学启发的可视化技术表征形式与意义之间的符号和非符号系统关系；3)实施一种新的方法来量化词汇子集中的象似性，以了解哪些语义特征参与了符号映射，以及象似性如何影响语义处理。在这个项目下收集的数据将被整合到一个大型的交互式词汇数据库中，这个数据库包含语义、音系和符号结构，并且是公开的（ASL-LEX: http://asl-lex.org/）。这些材料构成了重要的工具，使科学家和教育工作者能够在研究和课堂上使用良好的控制刺激。最后，重要的是要认识到，聋人往往很难从事研究事业，因为沟通障碍阻碍了与听力科学家的互动。这个项目的研究人员有“对聋人友好的实验室”（例如，项目工作人员精通美国手语），并提供培训，促进聋人学生进入科学和学术领域。因此，该项目的另一个平行目标是增加聋人在科学领域的代表性，方法是让聋人研究人员参与该项目的研究，并为聋人学生提供一个获得培训和研究经验的无障碍环境。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This collaborative project will study how signs convey meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) by analyzing the semantic organization of the ASL lexicon. Understanding the structure and organization of the human lexicon is critical to both linguistic and psycholinguistic theories of language. However, current theories are predominantly built upon evidence from spoken languages, and may underrepresent characteristics that are particularly common to sign languages. For example, a core assumption regarding the organization of the lexicon is that there is a sharp separation between semantic structure and phonological (form) structure--the way words are pronounced is generally thought to be unrelated to what they mean. However, mounting evidence suggests that iconicity, words or signs that resemble their meaning, is pervasive in both signed and spoken languages. Examples of iconicity in English are words like "ping" and "sizzle" that sound like what they mean; examples of iconicity in ASL are signs like DRINK and HAMMER which look like what they mean. While semantic and phonological structure might not be fully independent from each other in ASL, we know relatively little about how they relate to one another and whether or how iconicity may shape the lexicon. This project represents the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the semantic organization of the ASL lexicon. The project will collect valuable information about the semantic similarity of ASL signs and the size of semantic neighborhoods, which will be key to uncovering how knowledge about sign meaning is stored and organized, as well as how this structure is acquired. Specifically, this project aims to 1) conduct a lexicon-wide evaluation of the semantic associations between signs, 2) characterize iconic and non-iconic systematic relationships between form and meaning using visualization techniques inspired by network science, and 3) implement a novel approach to quantify iconicity in a subset of the lexicon in an effort to understand which semantic features participate in iconic mappings and how iconicity might shape semantic processing. The data collected under this project will be integrated into a large interactive lexical database of the semantic, phonological, and iconic structure that is publicly available (ASL-LEX: http://asl-lex.org/). These materials constitute essential tools that will allow scientists and educators to create well-controlled stimuli for use in research and the classroom. Finally, it is important to recognize that deaf people often have difficulty pursuing research careers because of communication roadblocks that hamper interaction with hearing scientists. The researchers on this project have "deaf-friendly labs" (e.g., project staff are fluent in ASL) and provide training that facilitates the entrance of deaf students into scientific and academic fields. Thus, a parallel aim of the project is to increase the representation of deaf people in science by including deaf researchers on the project and by providing an accessible environment for deaf students to gain training and research experience.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.