Thinking with the head, seeing with the eyes? Investigating the relationship between place of articulation (PoA) and two semantic domains in German Sign Language (DGS)

Iconicity, the (perceived) form-meaning relationship, is present on all linguistic levels in
sign languages. Looking at the phonological level, there is awell established relationship
between the (fore)head as place of articulation (PoA) and the semantic domain of cognition
for multiple sign languages. In previous studies, this relationship has been suggested
for German Sign Language (DGS) as well, but none of them looked at the quantitative
distribution of PoAs in signs within the semantic domain of cognition. In this
study, we not only investigate the quantitative distribution of PoAs in signs of the semantic
domain of cognition for DGS but also in the semantic domain of visual perception.
Findings of this study are in line with previous research, suggesting a strong relationship
between the semantic domain of cognition and the associated PoA (fore)head. For
the semantic domain of visual perception, signs are predominantly articulated near the
upper half of the face but not always close to the expected PoA, namely the eyes in the
narrow sense.