Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground
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Reiner Konrad
Abstract
Sign Languages provide ways to create iconically motivated signs, that is, signs whose meaning is directly or indirectly connected to an underlying mental image expressed by the depictive elements of the sign’s form. While signs can be created and used to depict and therefore show what is meant, not all iconically motivated signs are used in this way. Signs of the established lexicon have meanings that are fixed by convention, although their form may be iconically motivated. In signing discourse established signs are used to denote objects, persons, situations or actions (function of ‘telling’). Once the context has thus been clarified iconic signs can be used in the function of ‘showing’. For this purpose, signers often create new, context-fitting iconic signs (‘productive signs’). However, iconically motivated established signs can also be used for showing by re-activating their underlying image and modifying their form. When analyzing data it sometimes is difficult to decide whether the sign should be classified as a modified established sign (‘iconic modification’) or as a productive sign. This decision is relevant for annotation (token-type-matching) as well as for the corpus-based lexicographic description of a sign’s usage. In this paper we discuss sequences of a telling sign followed by a showing sign found in the DGS Corpus. We suggest some criteria for the classification and explain where we would draw the line between iconic modification and productive signs.
Abstract
Sign Languages provide ways to create iconically motivated signs, that is, signs whose meaning is directly or indirectly connected to an underlying mental image expressed by the depictive elements of the sign’s form. While signs can be created and used to depict and therefore show what is meant, not all iconically motivated signs are used in this way. Signs of the established lexicon have meanings that are fixed by convention, although their form may be iconically motivated. In signing discourse established signs are used to denote objects, persons, situations or actions (function of ‘telling’). Once the context has thus been clarified iconic signs can be used in the function of ‘showing’. For this purpose, signers often create new, context-fitting iconic signs (‘productive signs’). However, iconically motivated established signs can also be used for showing by re-activating their underlying image and modifying their form. When analyzing data it sometimes is difficult to decide whether the sign should be classified as a modified established sign (‘iconic modification’) or as a productive sign. This decision is relevant for annotation (token-type-matching) as well as for the corpus-based lexicographic description of a sign’s usage. In this paper we discuss sequences of a telling sign followed by a showing sign found in the DGS Corpus. We suggest some criteria for the classification and explain where we would draw the line between iconic modification and productive signs.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
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Part I. General framework
- The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
- The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
- Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
- Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
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Part II. Symmetry
- Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
- Chiastic iconicity 103
- Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
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Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
- Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
- Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
- This is not a pipe 193
- Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
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Part IV. Gesture and sign language
- Iconicity in gesture 245
- Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
- Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
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Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
- Echoes of the past 331
- The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
- The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
- The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
- Author index 405
- Subject index 407
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. General framework
- The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
- The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
- Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
- Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
-
Part II. Symmetry
- Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
- Chiastic iconicity 103
- Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
-
Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
- Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
- Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
- This is not a pipe 193
- Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
-
Part IV. Gesture and sign language
- Iconicity in gesture 245
- Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
- Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
-
Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
- Echoes of the past 331
- The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
- The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
- The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
- Author index 405
- Subject index 407
