Variation and recent change in fingerspelling in British Sign Language

ABSTRACTBritish Sign Language is a language exhibiting extensive regional variation and undergoing rapid change, in a period of changing attitudes to the language and the community of signers. Fingerspelling (a representation of written English) is an aspect of BSL that reflects these variations strongly. Analysis of interviews with Deaf signers appearing on BBC television shows that use of fingerspelling may vary according to various demographic factors and the signers' use of voice. There has also been a decrease in the overall use of fingerspelling in BSL over the last 10 years. Strong evidence is presented to support the claim that fingerspelling in BSL is of two distinct linguistic types. Some fingerspelling involves code-mixing with English, whereas some has become incorporated into the language itself. Further evidence for such a “discontinuity” between the code-mixing and borrowing is presented and discussed.

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Schoolization: An Account of the Origins of Regional Variation in British Sign Language

Sign Language Studies ◽

10.1353/sls.0.0056 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 476-501 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Gary Quinn

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

Regional Variation ◽

British Sign Language ◽

British Sign

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Accent or not? Language attitudes towards regional variation in British Sign Language

Applied Linguistics Review ◽

10.1515/applirev-2020-0144 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Katherine Rowley ◽

Kearsy Cormier

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Regional Variation ◽

Language Attitudes ◽

Link Type ◽

British Sign Language ◽

Linguistic Behaviour ◽

The Uk ◽

High Degree ◽

British Sign

Abstract British Sign Language (BSL) has been shown to have a high degree of regional variation especially at the lexical level. This study explores awareness and attitudes of the British deaf community towards this regional variation. We studied interview data from the BSL Corpus (http://bslcorpusproject.org/data) from 121 deaf, BSL signers from six regions across the UK including Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London and Manchester, focusing on responses to five questions in relation to regional variation in BSL. Responses were analysed using thematic analysis, following (Braun, V. & V. Clark. 2006. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2). 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa). Findings reveal that BSL signers exhibited overall high levels of meta-linguistic awareness, as many of their attitudes and beliefs were in line with what has been reported in relation to linguistic behaviour with BSL such as mouthing, fingerspelling and accommodation. In addition, BSL signers seem to place enormous value on regional variation in BSL, believing that such variation contributes to the richness of BSL as a language and puts it on equal footing with the surrounding majority language, i.e. English. We explore the implications of these attitudes towards a broader understanding of language ideologies, including the concept of accent.

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Crosslinguistic similarity and variation in the simultaneous morphology of sign languages

The Linguistic Review ◽

10.1515/tlr-2020-2055 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 571-608

Author(s):

Diane Brentari ◽

Laura Horton ◽

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

Optimality Theory ◽

Sign Languages ◽

British Sign Language ◽

Verb Phrases ◽

Classifier Predicates ◽

Crosslinguistic Variation ◽

Hong Kong Sign Language ◽

British Sign

Abstract Two differences between signed and spoken languages that have been widely discussed in the literature are: the degree to which morphology is expressed simultaneously (rather than sequentially), and the degree to which iconicity is used, particularly in predicates of motion and location, often referred to as classifier predicates. In this paper we analyze a set of properties marking agency and number in four sign languages for their crosslinguistic similarities and differences regarding simultaneity and iconicity. Data from American Sign Language (ASL), Italian Sign Language (LIS), British Sign Language (BSL), and Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) are analyzed. We find that iconic, cognitive, phonological, and morphological factors contribute to the distribution of these properties. We conduct two analyses—one of verbs and one of verb phrases. The analysis of classifier verbs shows that, as expected, all four languages exhibit many common formal and iconic properties in the expression of agency and number. The analysis of classifier verb phrases (VPs)—particularly, multiple-verb predicates—reveals (a) that it is grammatical in all four languages to express agency and number within a single verb, but also (b) that there is crosslinguistic variation in expressing agency and number across the four languages. We argue that this variation is motivated by how each language prioritizes, or ranks, several constraints. The rankings can be captured in Optimality Theory. Some constraints in this account, such as a constraint to be redundant, are found in all information systems and might be considered non-linguistic; however, the variation in constraint ranking in verb phrases reveals the grammatical and arbitrary nature of linguistic systems.

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Interpersonal Grammar in British Sign Language

Interpersonal Grammar ◽

10.1017/9781108663120.008 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 227-256

Author(s):

Luke A. Rudge

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

British Sign Language ◽

British Sign

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Learning & Using British Sign Language: Current Skills & Training of Hearing Professionals

Sign Language Studies ◽

10.1353/sls.1982.0010 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 1031 (1) ◽

pp. 155-178

Author(s):

James G. Kyle ◽

Bencie Woll ◽

Peter Llewellyn-Jones

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

British Sign Language ◽

British Sign

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Monitoring Different Phonological Parameters of Sign Language Engages the Same Cortical Language Network but Distinctive Perceptual Ones

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00872 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 20-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Velia Cardin ◽

Eleni Orfanidou ◽

Lena Kästner ◽

Jerker Rönnberg ◽

Bencie Woll ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

Action Observation ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Signed Languages ◽

Phonological Structure ◽

British Sign Language ◽

Action Observation Network ◽

Native Signers ◽

British Sign ◽

Phonological Rules

The study of signed languages allows the dissociation of sensorimotor and cognitive neural components of the language signal. Here we investigated the neurocognitive processes underlying the monitoring of two phonological parameters of sign languages: handshape and location. Our goal was to determine if brain regions processing sensorimotor characteristics of different phonological parameters of sign languages were also involved in phonological processing, with their activity being modulated by the linguistic content of manual actions. We conducted an fMRI experiment using manual actions varying in phonological structure and semantics: (1) signs of a familiar sign language (British Sign Language), (2) signs of an unfamiliar sign language (Swedish Sign Language), and (3) invented nonsigns that violate the phonological rules of British Sign Language and Swedish Sign Language or consist of nonoccurring combinations of phonological parameters. Three groups of participants were tested: deaf native signers, deaf nonsigners, and hearing nonsigners. Results show that the linguistic processing of different phonological parameters of sign language is independent of the sensorimotor characteristics of the language signal. Handshape and location were processed by different perceptual and task-related brain networks but recruited the same language areas. The semantic content of the stimuli did not influence this process, but phonological structure did, with nonsigns being associated with longer RTs and stronger activations in an action observation network in all participants and in the supramarginal gyrus exclusively in deaf signers. These results suggest higher processing demands for stimuli that contravene the phonological rules of a signed language, independently of previous knowledge of signed languages. We suggest that the phonological characteristics of a language may arise as a consequence of more efficient neural processing for its perception and production.

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