Sign Review

3. Comparing Visual vs. Spoken Language (Psychology/Linguistics)

Humans 40,000 y ago developed a system of conventional signs The full text is available via Frontiers in Psychology

: It challenges the idea that sign languages are "just" gestures and explores how the visual nature of signing allows for more direct meaning than spoken sounds. The full text is available via Frontiers in Psychology . : This paper compares American Sign Language (ASL)

: This paper analyzes prehistoric cave markings across Europe. Instead of just looking at animal drawings, researchers focused on geometric "signs"—dots, lines, and triangles—that appear repeatedly across different caves. researchers focused on geometric "signs"—dots

: This paper compares American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) with spoken English and Spanish. It investigates iconicity —how much a "sign" (word or gesture) physically resembles what it means (e.g., the sign for "drink" looking like drinking from a cup).

: It suggests that early humans had a shared, intentional system of graphic communication long before formal writing systems like cuneiform existed. You can read the full study at PNAS .