Modality Effects Revisited: Iconicity in Chinese Sign Language

Tai (2005) argues for the importance of iconicity as a fundamental property of language, illustrating the modality effects of iconicity through the study of a set of iconic devices used in Taiwan Sign Language (TSL). This paper extends Tai’s research, in exploring the iconic devices used in another Asian sign language, Chinese Sign Language (CSL). Some preliminary comparisons are made in this paper between CSL and TSL lexical items, based on an examination of the iconic devices used in the CSL and TSL signs, and determining the iconic motivations underlying the signs that are formed. The study provides a glimpse into the prevalence of iconicity in CSL and TSL, a strong trend across sign languages, making iconicity one of the most significant modality differences between sign and speech, with important ramifications for future studies on language structure, language acquisition, language processing, language change, etc. (Quinto-Pozos 2007b).