Iconicity and productive recall of a selected sample of signs from signed Swedish

Abstract

This study analyzed the iconicity and topographical features of a selected sample of Swedish signs and the correlation of the sign translucency values with productive recall in an observational learning task. The study was conducted in two phases. Thirty-one cognitively normal subjects participated in the first phase of the experiment, and a different group of 30 cognitively normal subjects participated in the second phase. In the first phase the subjects were tested as a group; they were instructed to guess the meanings of 91 signs. A further task involved judging the translucency of the signs. In the second phase of the study the same procedure was used but the subjects were seen individually. Directly following presentation of the signs, the subjects were asked to produce 36 signs when presented with the referent. The signs used for production probes were selected according to the translucency data obtained from the first phase of the study. Using point biserial correlation, findings revealed that translucency had the strongest correlation with productive recall. Of the topographical features only symmetry had a significant correlation with productive recall. Directions for future research are discussed in light of the research findings.

• iconicity
• manual signs
• Signed Swedish
• translucency
• transparency
• unaided symbols