Abstract

CAPOVILLA, Fernando Cesar  and  MARTINS, Antonielle Cantarelli. Solving the Iconicity Paradox: the case of Libras signs. Rev. psicopedag. [online]. 2020, vol.37, n.114, pp. 269-285. ISSN 0103-8486.  http://dx.doi.org/10.51207/2179-4057.20200023.

Signs are iconic when their meaning is considered admissible and guessable. Paradoxically, 90% of signs are considered unguessable and, yet, admissible. In the study, 70 naive subjects (Groups 1 and 2) examined 201 signs (Sets A and B). Group 1 rated Set A admissibility (Likert scale: -2, -1, +1, +2) and guessed Set B meaning. Group 2 did the opposite. RESULTS: Subjects rated 28 signs as unadmissible (average rating ≤-1), 77 signs as admissible (≥+1), and 96 signs as neutral (-.99≤ rating ≤+.99). Only 24 of 201 signs were guessed, all of which had been regarded as admissible by the other group. No sign considered unadmissible was guessed. Only signs with admissibility greater than 1.5-1.75 ended up being guessed.

Keywords : Meaning; Sign; Libras; Iconicity; Guessing.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )