Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33613090›Full record

ArticleSign language and linguistics2020

Lexical Iconicity is differentially favored under transmission in a new sign language: The effect of type of iconicity.

Jennie Pyers, Ann Senghas

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Sign language and linguistics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Visual bodily signals as core devices for coordinating minds in interaction.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Jennie PyersWellesley College.
Ann SenghasBarnard College of Columbia University.
Columbia University · USWellesley College · US

Funding

The Creation and Enhancement of LanguageR01DC005407 · NIDCD · BARNARD COLLEGE · PI SENGHAS, ANN · 2002 to 2021
$3.5M
NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC005407
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Observations that iconicity diminishes over time in sign languages pose a puzzle--why should something so evidently useful and functional decrease? Using an archival dataset of signs elicited over 15 years from 4 first-cohort and 4 third-cohort signers of an emerging sign language (Nicaraguan Sign Language), we investigated changes in pantomimic (body-to-body) and perceptual (body-to-object) iconicity. We make three key observations: (1) there is greater variability in the signs produced by the first cohort compared to the third; (2) while both types of iconicity are evident, pantomimic iconicity is more prevalent than perceptual iconicity for both groups; and (3) across cohorts, pantomimic elements are dropped to a greater proportion than perceptual elements. The higher rate of pantomimic iconicity in the first-cohort lexicon reflects the usefulness of body-as-body mapping in language creation. Yet, its greater vulnerability to change over transmission suggests that it is less favored by children's language acquisition processes.

Indexed as

iconicityLanguage emergenceNicaraguan Sign Languagevocabulary

Identifiers

PMID33613090
PMCPMC7894619
OpenAlexW3096220229

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.