Iconicity, metonymy, and metaphor in Polish Sign Language signs denoting speech

Abstract

This is the fi rst in a planned series of papers dedicated to Polish Sign Language (PJM) signs denoting speech. It presents an analysis of twenty different signs attested in the Polish Sign Language Corpus (KPJM) in terms of iconicity as well as metonymies and metaphors used in their formation. The conducted analysis showed that two classes of signs can be distinguished in the examined material: iconic signs making use of metonymy and signs motivated by a conceptual metaphor. The former refer exclusively to the production of speech as opposed to signing: the vehicle is the phonetic act (mouth movement or air movement). Metaphoric signs, in turn, consistently rely on the conduit metaphor, refer to both spoken and signed utterances, and focus on transmission of a semantic content.