Iconicity as the basis of sign conceptualization (the case of “Food and cooking” lexical category In the Russian Sign Language)

The article identifies and systematizes the key patterns of sign conceptualization of the object world and focuses on its iconic representation. The potential of iconicity to fix cognitively prominent features of the objects perceived by the signers and conceptualized in their minds is theoretically grounded on the basis of the “Food and cooking” category in the corpus of the Russian Sign Language lexical units with a high degree of iconicity. The multimodal conceptual and systematizing analysis of signs has revealed four main patterns of sign conceptualization: conceptualization based on a stereotypical action, situation or process; conceptualization based on a typical and most common form of an object; conceptualization based on a typical localization in the body; conceptualization based on a unique or prototypical characteristic feature of an object. These patterns determine the scope of iconic representation of the object world in both types of nomination: primary and secondary ones. The research also proves that iconicity, being an inherent characteristic feature of sign languages, provides for external manifestation of the object world in the lexical sign items compared with the internal content in the semantic meaning of the sound modus words.