This research is a study on the iconic character and the formation processes of signed
terminological units. It is recurrent among deaf people the need for a term sign to express a
visual concept, hence our interest in the subject. The general objective of the research is to
analyze the form of term signs and how they refer to the respective concepts, based on the
analysis of a group of new terminological units signed in Libras in the biblical context. The
specific objectives are to identify the processes of creation of term signs, the motivations and
the iconic character of these units. For this, we based ourselves on the iconic character of sign
languages (TAUB, 2001; KLIMA; BELLUGI, 1979) and on term-sign formation processes,
such as lexicalization of classifiers, merging, composition and alteration of parameters
(FARIA-NASCIMENTO, 2013; FELIPE; 2006; ZESHAN, 2003). This is qualitative research,
with descriptive characteristics. The corpus is composed of 21 term-signs (12 signs of prophets,
4 signs of places and 5 signs that refer to positions and functions), created by the Working
Groups Manual of Biblical Signs (MSB) and Biblical Signals (SB). We describe the signs
individually, emphasizing the motivation, the formation process and the componential
semantics present in the sublexical units. We observed that the visual concept in term signs in
the biblical context happens when the parameters show the concept linked to the term. From
the analysis of the data, we saw that in signs of prophets, the parameters show events in the life
or behavioral characteristics of the character. In place signs, the parameters encode
characteristics of the disposition of people and/or structure of constructions, or even, visual
image (panoramic) of the place. In positions and functions signs, parameters encode a visual
image of job attire or job assignments. The concepts related to the term motivate the form
which, in turn, are preserved from (1) iconic characteristics of the term sign, when derived from
the lexicalization of classifiers constructions; (2) altered parameters, in which the base signal
preserves, to some extent, the concept linked to the term; (3) composition and (4) fusion, in
which the counterparts transfer remaining semantic and/or iconic characteristics to the new sign
terminological units.
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