Matchmaking certainly lexical and you will phonological qualities
Next we examined relationships among the lexical and phonological properties of the signs in ASL-LEX to gain insight into how phonological, lexical, and semantic factors interact in the ASL lexicon. s = –0.14, p < 0.001. Although it is possible that this inverse correlation is driven by the relatively higher frequency of closed-class words which may be lower in iconicity than other signs, the negative correlation remains when closed-class words (i.e., words with a “minor” Lexical Class) are excluded (r s = –0.17, p < 0.001). This result is compatible with the early proposal that with frequent use, signs may move away from their iconic origins, perhaps due to linguistic pressures to become more integrated into the phonological system (Frishberg, 1975). Interestingly, the direction of this relationship was the opposite of that found for British Sign Language; that is, Vinson et al. (2008) reported a weak positive correlation between frequency and iconicity: r = .146, p < .05. Alternatively, the different correlations might be due differences in stimuli selection. Vinson et al. (2008) intentionally selected stimuli that had a range of iconicity values which resulted in a bimodal iconicity distribution while we did not select signs for inclusion in ASL-LEX based on their iconicity.
Regularity and iconicity z-ratings (SignFrequency(Z) and you can Iconicity(Z)) was in fact notably adversely correlated collectively (discover Table step 1), with an increase of repeated signs ranked given that quicker renowned; yet not, this matchmaking is actually weak, r
A good amount of phonological properties try highly correlated and also in of numerous instances simply because how they is actually laid out (select Desk step one). Particularly, each major place consists of one or more small towns-high frequency minor locations often hence almost usually be found in large volume big places, and you will handshape regularity try similarly pertaining to picked thumb and you may flexion volume. Additionally, all the about three steps out of Society Occurrence is extremely coordinated having that some other partially because they’re likewise outlined and you can partly as one natives you to definitely express five of one’s four sandwich-lexical functions (Maximum Society Thickness) often necessarily Dating by age dating sites and additionally share certainly four sub-lexical qualities (Minimal Neighborhood Density).

