Article Evaluation

Though it never disappears from a particular sign language, iconicity is gradually weakened as forms of sign languages become more customary and are subsequently grammaticized. As a form becomes more conventional, it becomes disseminated in a methodical way phonologically to the rest of the sign language community. -- Brentari, Diane. “Introduction.” Sign Languages, 2011, pp. 12.

However, mimetic aspects of sign language (signs that imitate, mimic, or represent) are found in abundance across a wide variety of sign languages. For example, deaf children learning sign language try to express something but do not know the associated sign, they will often invent an iconic sign that displays mimetic properties. -- Klima, Edward; Bellugi, Ursula. “The Signs of Language." Sign Language Studies, vol. 1062, no. 1, 1989, pp. 11.