scholarly journals Variation in the numeral system of Japanese Sign Language and Taiwan Sign Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-150
Author(s):  
Keiko Sagara ◽  
Nick Palfreyman
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Japanese Colonial ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Lasting Impression ◽  
Japanese Sign Language ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Abstract (Japanese Sign Language) The numerals 10, 100 and 1,000 are expressed variably in Japanese Sign Language (JSL) and Taiwan Sign Language (TSL), two languages that also have historic links. JSL was used in deaf schools that were established in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era, leaving a lasting impression on TSL, but complex sociolinguistic situations have led to different outcomes in each case (Fischer, 2014; Sagara, 2014). This comparative sociolinguistic analysis is based on two datasets comprising a total of 1,100 tokens produced by 72 signers from the Kanto and Kansai regions (for JSL) and the cities of Tainan and Taipei (for TSL). Mixed effects modelling reveals that social factors such as the age and region of the signer have a significant influence on how the variable is realised. This investigation shows how careful cross-linguistic comparison can shed light on variation within and between sign languages that have been in contact, and how regional variation in one language may influence regional variation in another.

The effect of sociolinguistic factors on variation in the Kata Kolok lexicon

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-88
Author(s):  
Katie Mudd ◽  
Hannah Lutzenberger ◽  
Connie de Vos ◽  
Paula Fikkert ◽  
Onno Crasborn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Member ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Lexical Variation ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Picture Description ◽  
Description Task

Abstract Abstract (International Sign) Sign languages can be categorized as shared sign languages or deaf community sign languages, depending on the context in which they emerge. It has been suggested that shared sign languages exhibit more variation in the expression of everyday concepts than deaf community sign languages (Meir, Israel, Sandler, Padden, & Aronoff, 2012). For deaf community sign languages, it has been shown that various sociolinguistic factors condition this variation. This study presents one of the first in-depth investigations of how sociolinguistic factors (deaf status, age, clan, gender and having a deaf family member) affect lexical variation in a shared sign language, using a picture description task in Kata Kolok. To study lexical variation in Kata Kolok, two methodologies are devised: the identification of signs by underlying iconic motivation and mapping, and a way to compare individual repertoires of signs by calculating the lexical distances between participants. Alongside presenting novel methodologies to study this type of sign language, we present preliminary evidence of sociolinguistic factors that may influence variation in the Kata Kolok lexicon.

The noun–verb distinction in two young sign languages

Gesture ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Tkachman ◽  
Wendy Sandler
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Formal Distinction

Many sign languages have semantically related noun-verb pairs, such as ‘hairbrush/brush-hair’, which are similar in form due to iconicity. Researchers studying this phenomenon in sign languages have found that the two are distinguished by subtle differences, for example, in type of movement. Here we investigate two young sign languages, Israeli Sign Language (ISL) and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), to determine whether they have developed a reliable distinction in the formation of noun-verb pairs, despite their youth, and, if so, how. These two young language communities differ from each other in terms of heterogeneity within the community, contact with other languages, and size of population. Using methodology we developed for cross-linguistic comparison, we identify reliable formational distinctions between nouns and related verbs in ISL, but not in ABSL, although early tendencies can be discerned. Our results show that a formal distinction in noun-verb pairs in sign languages is not necessarily present from the beginning, but may develop gradually instead. Taken together with comparative analyses of other linguistic phenomena, the results lend support to the hypothesis that certain social factors such as population size, domains of use, and heterogeneity/homogeneity of the community play a role in the emergence of grammar.

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.

scholarly journals Social meanings of linguistic variation in BISINDO (Indonesian Sign Language)

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-118
Author(s):  
Nick Palfreyman
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract Abstract (International Sign) In contrast to sociolinguistic research on spoken languages, little attention has been paid to how signers employ variation as a resource to fashion social meaning. This study focuses on an extremely understudied social practice, that of sign language usage in Indonesia, and asks where one might look to find socially meaningful variables. Using spontaneous data from a corpus of BISINDO (Indonesian Sign Language), it blends methodologies from Labovian variationism and analytic practices from the ‘third wave’ with a discursive approach to investigate how four variable linguistic features are used to express social identities. These features occur at different levels of linguistic organisation, from the phonological to the lexical and the morphosyntactic, and point to identities along regional and ethnic lines, as well as hearing status. In applying third wave practices to sign languages, constructed action and mouthings in particular emerge as potent resources for signers to make social meaning.

Markers of epistemic modality and their origins

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Epistemic Uncertainty ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Epistemic Modal ◽  
Modal Particles ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Japanese Sign Language

Abstract Native deaf signers express epistemic modality by different means: mental-state words, clause-internal particles, signs indicating hypothesis, and nonmanually. The data for this study come from two unrelated sign languages, Danish Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language. In dialogues the signers use both calques of majority-language words and signs that appear to have emerged in the sign languages only. Based on the multifunctionality of some word forms, the origin of the epistemic modal particles may be traced back to tags, interjections, and lexical signs, a route motivated by interaction and also found in unrelated spoken languages. Furthermore, in both sign languages, the first-person pronoun can be used, without a verb, as an epistemic “anchor” of a proposition, a construction that seems specific to languages in the gestural-visual modality. Another modality-specific feature is the possibility of transferring the expression of a marker of epistemic uncertainty from one articulator to another.

Parts of speech in Russian Sign Language

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vadim Kimmelman
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Shed Light

In this paper, we present data that shed light on the parts of speech system of Russian Sign Language (RSL), in particular, the noun-verb distinction. An experimental study revealed that in RSL, specific phonological differences distinguish between nouns and verbs; these include differences in movement, handshape, orientation, location, and mouthing. The attested differences, which are subject to variation among the signers, can co-occur with each other. The patterns we found cannot be accounted for by models that have previously been proposed for other sign languages (e.g. American Sign Language and Australian Sign Language). We argue that these differences may result from the higher iconicity of verbs and the higher economy of nouns.

scholarly journals The emergence of the phonetic and phonological features in sign language

Nordlyd ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Sandler
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Phonological Features ◽  
History Of ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
New Research

Sign languages offer a unique and informative perspective on the question of the origin of phonological and phonetic features. Here I review research showing that signs are comprised of distinctive features which can be discretely listed and which are organized hierarchically. In these ways sign language feature systems are comparable to those of spoken language. However, the inventory of features and aspects of their organization, while similar across sign languages, are completely unlike those of spoken languages, calling into question claims about innateness of features for either modality. Studies of a young village sign language, Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), demonstrate that phonological structuring is not in evidence at the outset, but rather self-organizes gradually (Sandler et al 2011). However, our new research shows that signature phonetic features of ABSL already can be detected when ABSL signers use signs from Israeli Sign Language. This ABSL ‘accent’ points to the existence of phonetic features that may not be distinctive in any sign language but can distinguish one sign language from another, even at an early stage in the history of a language. Taken together, the findings suggest that physiological, cognitive, and social factors are at play in the emergence of phonetic and phonological features.

Taboos and euphemisms in sex-related signs in Asian sign languages

Linguistics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Y. B. Sze ◽  
Monica Xiao Wei ◽  
Aaron Yiu Leung Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Visual Reference ◽  
Japanese Sign Language ◽  
Hong Kong Sign Language ◽  
Deaf Signers

AbstractThis paper investigates sex-related euphemisms in four Asia sign languages, namely, Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL), Jakarta Sign Language (JakSL) (Indonesia), Sri Lankan Sign Language (SLSL) and Japanese Sign Language (JSL). It aims at finding out if direct visual reference to sex-related body parts or concepts is taboo to Deaf signers and if this is the case, what strategies they adopt to form the corresponding euphemistic expressions. It will be argued that even though Deaf signers are used to the visual explicitness of the signing modality, the highly iconic nature of certain sex-related signs can still be offensive at times, thus giving rise to euphemistic expressions. While certain euphemistic strategies by the Deaf signers target at toning down the degree of visual iconicity originally associated with the taboo signs, most of the remaining strategies show striking resemblance to those used in spoken languages, suggesting the universality of these verbal politeness strategies across language modalities.

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