ASL

[Anna Sukhikh]

Hello! I would like to learn ASL and have a few questions about it. What about signs in ASL, are they iconic or arbitrary?

[Daron McNutt]

It depends on the sign.  Some, like "drink", are iconic, meaning the sign has direct correlation to the meaning or motion of the object or action being signed.  Others, like "good", are arbitrary because there is no clear connection between the meaning of the sign and its motion, handshape, position, etc.