Factors to consider when making lexical comparisons of sign languages:Notes from an ongoing comparison of German Sign language and Swiss German sign language

This article discusses some of the methodological factors taken into consideration in a first, and still ongoing, study of lexical similarity between German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache, DGS) and Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS). For our investigation we followed the approach of Xu (2006) and Su and Tai (2009) by taking iconicity into account. However, whereas these earlier studies operated on the general concept of iconic motivation, we have added a more specific method of labeling both the image-producing techniques and (when possible) the underlying image and/or motivating elements (Langer 2005), which we believe are necessary for a more precise understanding of how lexical pairs from the two languages compare with regard to identity, similarity, and difference.