From icon to abstraction in sign language: how iconicity shapes the lexicon in the visual modality

语言是一种独特的人类能力，然而，形成词汇的力量却鲜为人知。语言学理论的一个核心原则是，词汇是任意的，单词和意义是按惯例联系在一起的。然而，最近的研究给出了一个更微妙的观点：任意的形式-意义关系与象征性和系统性关系共存并补充2.象似性，形式和意义之间的直接关系，已被证明在语言学习和处理中发挥着重要作用，为我们在世界3-6的经验提供了具体的基础。因此，象似性的特征是指抽象概念的能力有限，因此其范围在口语词汇中仍然是有限的。与口语情态相比，手语的视觉情态具有高度的象似性。在这个项目中，我们探索了象似性如何约束视觉通道中的形式-意义映射，并形成了具体和抽象概念的词汇。我们利用了这样一个概念，即单词通过比喻使用具体概念来发展抽象意义，同时保持与其起源的联系，例如，锚的具体和抽象意义共享一个核心含义，即防止某物移动。8.我们研究了聋人社区的自然语言手语。这些语言在语言组织的各个层面上都是成熟的语言，它们的词汇中显示出高度的象似性。跨语义域的系统方式的象似性模式9，10，通常符号在表达概念的方式上汇聚在一起(例如，手写)。重要的是，手语展示了从具体的、象征性的指称中产生的抽象概念的实例。例如，在德语手语(DGS)中，手语学校与手写手语学校共享一个标志性的基础(图1)。这表明，一组标志性符号具有共同的元素，这些元素被用作意义多样化的跳板，同时保留了一定程度的语义关联(即并列过程)。手语的标志性基础可以跨手语(例如DGS和英国手语(BSL))共享，由于共享的概念表征和共享的情态，由讲语言的社区产生的手势也可以具有相似的图标形式(图1)。通过比较两种不相关的手语(DGS和BSL)中符号在语义域中的形式和意义，可以了解象似性形成和制约词汇的潜在机制。将德国和英国的非签名者为同一概念制作的手势与无声手势进行比较，将揭示出共同认知和/或文化基础的程度，以及这些基础如何可能使具体和抽象概念的词汇形式和意义多样化。

Language is a unique human ability, yet the forces shaping vocabulary are little understood. A central tenet of linguistic theory is that the lexicon is arbitrary, with word and meaning related by convention alone1. However, recent research gives a more nuanced view: arbitrary form-meaning relationships co-exist with and complement iconic and systematic relationships2,3. Iconicity, the direct relationship between form and meaning, has been shown to play an important role in language learning and processing, offering a concrete grounding to our experience in the world3-6. As a result, iconicity has been characterised as having a limited capacity to refer to abstract concepts and thus as remaining limited in its scope within the lexicon of spoken languages7. Compared to the spoken modality, the visual modality of sign languages affords a high degree of iconicity. In this project, we explore how iconicity constrains form-meaning mappings in the visual modality and shapes a lexicon for both concrete and abstract concepts.We capitalise on the notion that words develop abstract meaning through the figurative use of concrete concepts while maintaining links to their origin, e.g. the concrete and abstract meaning of anchor share a core meaning of "preventing something from moving"8. We investigate sign languages, the natural languages of deaf communities. These are full-fledged languages on all levels of linguistic organisation and which exhibit a high prevalence of iconicity in their lexicon. Iconicity patterns in systematic ways across semantic domains9,10, and very often signs converge in the way concepts are expressed (e.g. the sign TO-WRITE). Importantly, sign languages exhibit instances of abstract concepts arising from concrete, iconic referents. E.g., in German Sign Language (DGS), the sign SCHOOL shares an iconic base with the sign TO-WRITE (Fig. 1). This suggests that groups of iconic signs share elements that are exploited as a springboard for meaning diversification while retaining some degree of semantic relatedness (i.e. process of colexification11). The iconic base of signs may be shared across sign languages (e.g. DGS and British Sign Language (BSL)), and the gestures produced by speaking communities may also have similar iconic forms (Fig. 1) due to shared conceptual representations and the shared modality. By comparing the form and meaning of signs across semantic domains in two unrelated sign languages (DGS and BSL), it will be possible to understand the underlying mechanisms by which iconicity shapes and constrains a lexicon. Comparing signs with silent gestures produced for the same concepts by non-signers in Germany and the UK will reveal the extent of shared cognitive and/or cultural bases and how these may diversify lexical forms and meanings for concrete and abstract concepts.