Iconicity in Georgian Sign Language (GESL)

Abstract

In sign languages, there are the signs reflecting some characteristic features of the semantics of a given part of speech (mostly nouns or verbs). This circumstance shows the proven connection between the sign and the signifier in sign languages. These types of signs are called iconic. They are easy to recognize, and thanks to these iconic signs, the rate of mutual understanding in the communication of Deaf and hard of hearing people who do not have knowledge of a common sign language is quite high. Thus, the iconicity of signs reflects the fact that two deaf people can understand each other more easily than two speaking people if they do not have the knowledge of a common spoken language for communication. Different sign languages ​​can have different number of iconic signs. In Georgian sign language (GESL), according to the GESL dictionary, iconicity is 75-80%. In general, the higher the level of education of the Deaf community, the more metaphorical and abstract gestures are used. It should also be noted that due to non-professional activities, unfortunately, in the last period the vocabulary of GESL is filled mainly with iconic forms. I have developed a formula by which we can calculate the iconicity rate in sign texts (signing communication):

N mean a coefficient of iconicity, T is the duration of the sign text, IS - is the number of iconic forms in the given signing text. Iconicity coefficient is equal to the number of iconic forms in a given text divided by the duration of this text.