Iconic, articulatory, and perceptual anchoring in signs that are high in the signing space

Abstract Sign-language lexica typically contain a large number of signs produced high in the signing space, even though producing signs above the neutral signing space requires increased articulatory effort. This large proportion of ‘high’ signs is also surprising given the diachronic tendency for signs to lower in signing space and the synchronic tendency for signs to lower due to coarticulatory pressures. In this paper, we consider three possible factors that could account for the prevalence of high signs, which we refer to as ‘anchors’: (1) iconic motivations for their places of articulation, (2) reduced articulatory effort via reliance on articulatory endpoints, and (3) perceptual factors relating to visibility. We test these anchors with a database of American Sign Language (ASL) and find that high signs are overwhelmingly anchored in one, two, or all three ways. We find strong evidence for articulatory and iconic anchoring distinguishing high signs from not-high signs; however, the role of perceptual anchoring is less clear. It is possible that perceptual factors come into play only for perceptually confusable signs, especially in combination with other factors. Nonetheless, the evidence is clear that, at least in ASL, signs that are maintained at higher places of articulation are anchored.