Iconicity in Lexical Formation of Mexican Sign Language

This study discusses the role iconicity plays in lexical formation of Mexican Sign Language (LSM, in Spanish). Iconicity is a property found in all natural languages and their realizations, though it is more remarkable in sign languages. Even though we agree that iconicity is located in the structure of all linguistic systems, particularly in visual-gestural languages, and that ranges from word to discourse, we analyzed this property at the word/ sign level. In doing so, we started discussing about iconicity as a natural language property from the neuropsychological approach. Then, iconicity was analyzed from the linguistic approach. In this sense, signs were analyzed as linguistic signs. Iconicity was later compared against arbitrariness in sign languages. Finally, Peirce's proposal of sign distinction between icon, symbol, and index was considered to show the role iconicity plays in LSM word formation.