ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 15 May 2018 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00725 Visual Iconicity Across Sign Languages: Large-Scale Automated Video Analysis of Iconic Articulators and Locations Robert Östling 1*, Carl Börstell 1,2 and Servane Courtaux 3 1 Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, 2 Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 3 École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées, ParisTech, Paris, France We use automatic processing of 120,000 sign videos in 31 different sign languages to show a cross-linguistic pattern for two types of iconic form–meaning relationships in the visual modality. First, we demonstrate that the degree of inherent plurality of concepts, based on individual ratings by non-signers, strongly correlates with the number of hands used in the sign forms encoding the same concepts across sign languages. Second, we show that certain concepts are iconically articulated around specific parts of the body, as predicted by the associational intuitions by non-signers. The implications of our Edited by: results are both theoretical and methodological. With regard to theoretical implications, Marianne Gullberg, Lund University, Sweden we corroborate previous research by demonstrating and quantifying, using a much larger Reviewed by: material than previously available, the iconic nature of languages in the visual modality. As Amber Joy Martin, for the methodological implications, we show how automatic methods are, in fact, useful Hunter College (CUNY), United States for performing large-scale analysis of sign language data, to a high level of accuracy, as Marcus Perlman, University of Birmingham, United indicated by our manual error analysis. Kingdom Keywords: iconicity, sign language, location, two-handed signs, semantics, lexical plurality, automated video *Correspondence: processing, typology Robert Östling
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