Black southern signing,,

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Woodward
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Theoretical Problem ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Social Variation

ABSTRACTRecent research in American Sign Language (ASL) has concentrated on demonstrating that ASL, a language channelled through the manual—visual modality, has linguistic properties similar to those of oral languages, except for physical sound. The absence of sound, however, really presents no theoretical problem since ASL has a formational level of structure analogous to, but not dependent on, the phonological component of oral languages (Stokoe 1960; Battison 1974).This paper will discuss a relatively new area of research in Sign linguistics, ethnic—social variation. Because of attitudes and educational policy, Black signers in the South have developed different varieties of signing from Whites. Concentrating primarily on Black signs in Georgia, this paper will discuss some of the lexical and formational (phonological) variation observed in old and young Black signers. (Sociolinguistic variation; sign languages; linguistic change; minority group languages.)

Phonological variation and change in Australian and New Zealand Sign Languages: The location variable

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Schembri ◽  
David McKee ◽  
Rachel McKee ◽  
Sara Pivac ◽  
Trevor Johnston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Citation Form ◽  
Deaf Signers

AbstractIn this study, we consider variation in a class of signs in Australian and New Zealand Sign Languages that includes the signs think, name, and clever. In their citation form, these signs are specified for a place of articulation at or near the signer's forehead or above, but are sometimes produced at lower locations. An analysis of 2667 tokens collected from 205 deaf signers in five sites across Australia and of 2096 tokens collected from 138 deaf signers from three regions in New Zealand indicates that location variation in these signs reflects both linguistic and social factors, as also reported for American Sign Language (Lucas, Bayley, & Valli, 2001). Despite similarities, however, we find that some of the particular factors at work, and the kinds of influence they have, appear to differ in these three signed languages. Moreover, our results suggest that lexical frequency may also play a role.

Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, & Clayton Valli, in collaboration with Mary Rose, Alyssa Wulf, Paul Dudis, Susan Schatz, & Laura Sanheim, Sociolinguistic variation in American Sign Language. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2001. Pp. xvii, 237, appendices, index. Hb $55.00.

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-131
Author(s):  
Richard J. Senghas
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Mexican Descent ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
The One ◽  
Unexpected Findings

Sociolinguistic variation in American Sign Language is the successful result of applying sociolinguistic theory and methodology originally developed for spoken languages to American Sign Language (ASL). The product of several years of study conducted by a team of researchers, this book is more than just an exercise; both expected and unexpected findings are presented, thereby confirming and advancing the sociolinguistics of signed languages in particular and of language in general. Lucas and Valli bring to this work extensive experience with sign language linguistics; they are joined by Bayley, who is known for his work on Tejano English and Spanish variation among immigrants of Mexican descent. The statistical findings provide the necessary bridge between context and environment, on the one hand, and internal constraints, on the other, to explain the range of variation represented at phonological, syntactic, and lexical levels in ASL. Explicitly building on Weinrich, Labov & Herzog's notion of orderly heterogeneity (14, 193–94; cf. Weinrich, Labov & Herzog 1968), the book provides useful examples and analysis for sign language linguists, and it would do well as a source for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses where materials beyond a primer of sociolinguistics are needed. For those more established in the field, the authors respectfully (and graciously) challenge several frequently cited findings concerning variation in ASL, such as Woodward & DeSantis' (1977) claims about negative incorporation and Liddell & Johnson's (1989) explanations for phonological variation in forms of the sign deaf.

People Are Less Susceptible to Illusion When They Use Their Hands to Communicate Rather Than Estimate

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762199155
Author(s):  
Amanda R. Brown ◽  
Wim Pouw ◽  
Diane Brentari ◽  
Susan Goldin-Meadow
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Estimation Task ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Lyer Illusion ◽  
Description Task ◽  
The Way

When we use our hands to estimate the length of a stick in the Müller-Lyer illusion, we are highly susceptible to the illusion. But when we prepare to act on sticks under the same conditions, we are significantly less susceptible. Here, we asked whether people are susceptible to illusion when they use their hands not to act on objects but to describe them in spontaneous co-speech gestures or conventional sign languages of the deaf. Thirty-two English speakers and 13 American Sign Language signers used their hands to act on, estimate the length of, and describe sticks eliciting the Müller-Lyer illusion. For both gesture and sign, the magnitude of illusion in the description task was smaller than the magnitude of illusion in the estimation task and not different from the magnitude of illusion in the action task. The mechanisms responsible for producing gesture in speech and sign thus appear to operate not on percepts involved in estimation but on percepts derived from the way we act on objects.

scholarly journals Occupational Health and Safety For Sign Language Interpreters

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Woodcock ◽  
Steven L. Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Health Education ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Sign Language Interpreters ◽  
Sign Language Interpreting

<div>"This Guide is intended for working interpreters, interpreting students and educators, and those who employ or purchase the services of interpreters. Occupational health education is essential for professionals in training, to avoid early attrition from practice. "Sign language interpreting" is considered to include interpretation between American Sign Language (ASL) and English, other spoken languages and corresponding sign languages, and between sign languages (e.g., Deaf Interpreters). Some of the occupational health issues may also apply equally to Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) reporters, oral interpreters, and intervenors. The reader is encouraged to make as much use as possible of the information provided here". -- Introduction.</div><div><br></div>

scholarly journals How much can classifiers be analogous to their referents?

Gesture ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Sutton-Spence ◽  
Donna Jo Napoli
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Language Poetry ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Classifier System ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
British Sign Language ◽  
British Sign

Sign Language poetry is especially valued for its presentation of strong visual images. Here, we explore the highly visual signs that British Sign Language and American Sign Language poets create as part of the ‘classifier system’ of their languages. Signed languages, as they create visually-motivated messages, utilise categoricity (more traditionally considered ‘language’) and analogy (more traditionally considered extra-linguistic and the domain of ‘gesture’). Classifiers in sign languages arguably show both these characteristics (Oviedo, 2004). In our discussion of sign language poetry, we see that poets take elements that are widely understood to be highly visual, closely representing their referents, and make them even more highly visual — so going beyond categorisation and into new areas of analogue.

Location variation in Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wai Yan Rebecca Siu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
Citation Form ◽  
Hong Kong Sign Language ◽  
New Zealand Sign Language

Abstract This paper presents results from a study of sociolinguistic variation in Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL). Specifically, it reports findings about location variation in a class of signs like know that are produced at/above the signer’s forehead in their citation form, but are sometimes articulated at a lower location in everyday conversation. Eight hundred tokens of target signs from 40 signers were analyzed. As also found in studies of location ‘dropping’ in similar signs in American Sign Language, Australian Sign Language, and New Zealand Sign Language, variation in HKSL correlates with linguistic and social factors in a systematic way (Lucas, Bayley, & Valli, 2001; Schembri, McKee, McKee, Pivac, Johnston, & Goswell, 2009). A comparison of findings across these four languages is presented and discussed. The results of the present study suggest that a set of forehead-located signs that express the names of deaf schools may have affected results due to their salience. The work environment (i.e., sign language related work roles) of participants may also affect ‘careful’ versus lowered production of forehead signs.

Variation in phrasal rhythm in sign languages

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Brentari ◽  
Joseph Hill ◽  
Brianne Amador
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Rhythmic Structure ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Group Variation ◽  
Variability Index

Abstract In this paper. we offer a preliminary investigation of some aspects of individual and group variation in sign rate and rhythm, considering the sociolinguistic factors of Age (younger and older adults), Gender, and Sign Variety (Black and Mainstream American Sign Language). Differences in sign rate and rhythmic structure among signers were found in signers’ elicited narratives. A novel approach to phrasal rhythm is introduced, called “rhythm ratio”, which considers sign duration and transition duration together and is similar in spirit to the “normalized pairwise variability index” (nPVI) in spoken languages. This measure appears to be promising as a method for identifying rhythm class in sign languages; however, due to the small number of signers in each group these results can only be suggestive.

Negative incorporation in French and American sign language

1977 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Woodward ◽  
Susan Desantis
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Variation Theory ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Dynamic Framework

ABSTRACTThis paper examines Negative Incorporation in various lects of two historically related sign languages, French Sign Language and American Sign Language. Negative Incorporation not only offers interesting insights into the structure of French and American Sign Language, but also into the descriptive and explanatory power of variation theory. By viewing Negative Incorporation in a dynamic framework, we are able to describe the variable usage of Negative Incorporation as a phonological process in French Sign Language and as a grammatical process in American Sign Language, to argue for possible early creolization in American Sign Language, to show the historical continuum between French Sign Language and American Sign Language despite heavy restructuring, and to demonstrate the influences of social variables on language variation and change, especially illustrating the progressive role of women in sign language change and the conservative forces in French Sign Language as compared with American Sign Language. (Sociolinguistics, sign language, creolization, linguistic changes.)

scholarly journals Finger Gesture Vocalizer

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1247-1249
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Processing Unit ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Audio Processing ◽  
Large Scale System ◽  
Unit Standard

A Gesture Vocalizer is a small scale or a large scale system that provides a way for dumb and mute people to communicate easily. The research paper defines a technique, Finger Gesture Vocalizer which includes sensors attached to the gloves above the fingers of the person who wants to communicate. The sensors are arranged in such a way on the gloves, that they can capture the movements of the fingers and based on the change in resistance of the sensors, it can be identified what the person wants to say. The message is displayed on the LCD and is also converted to audio using the APR33A3 audio processing unit. Standard sign languages such as that of American Sign Language which is used by dumb and mute people to communicate can be employed while wearing these gloves.

scholarly journals Implicit causality biases and thematic roles in American Sign Language

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Therese Frederiksen ◽  
Rachel I. Mayberry
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Implicit Causality

AbstractImplicit causality (IC) biases, the tendency of certain verbs to elicit re-mention of either the first-mentioned noun phrase (NP1) or the second-mentioned noun phrase (NP2) from the previous clause, are important in psycholinguistic research. Understanding IC verbs and the source of their biases in signed as well as spoken languages helps elucidate whether these phenomena are language general or specific to the spoken modality. As the first of its kind, this study investigates IC biases in American Sign Language (ASL) and provides IC bias norms for over 200 verbs, facilitating future psycholinguistic studies of ASL and comparisons of spoken versus signed languages. We investigated whether native ASL signers continued sentences with IC verbs (e.g., ASL equivalents of ‘Lisa annoys Maya because…’) by mentioning NP1 (i.e., Lisa) or NP2 (i.e., Maya). We found a tendency towards more NP2-biased verbs. Previous work has found that a verb’s thematic roles predict bias direction: stimulus-experiencer verbs (e.g., ‘annoy’), where the first argument is the stimulus (causing annoyance) and the second argument is the experiencer (experiencing annoyance), elicit more NP1 continuations. Verbs with experiencer-stimulus thematic roles (e.g., ‘love’) elicit more NP2 continuations. We probed whether the trend towards more NP2-biased verbs was related to an existing claim that stimulus-experiencer verbs do not exist in sign languages. We found that stimulus-experiencer structure, while permitted, is infrequent, impacting the IC bias distribution in ASL. Nevertheless, thematic roles predict IC bias in ASL, suggesting that the thematic role-IC bias relationship is stable across languages as well as modalities.

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