The interaction of eye blinks and other prosodic cues in German Sign Language

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Eye Blinks ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
German Sign Language ◽  
Insight Into

As an interface phenomenon, prosody interacts with all components of grammar, even though it is often subsumed under the broad area of phonology. In sign languages, an equivalent system of prosody reveals interesting results with regard to modality-independent notions of language structure. This paper presents data from a study on German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache, DGS) and investigates prosodic cues on the basis of annotated video data. The focus of the study was on eye blinks and their use in prosodic structuring of signed utterances. Systematic methodology, annotation, and statistical evidence provided the basis for a thorough analysis of blinking behavior in DGS. The results suggest a consistent use of certain eye blinks as markers to indicate prosodic phrase boundaries. A constant 70%/30% ratio of prosodic and non-prosodic blinks further indicates the efficient use of this device. Even though some aspects of blinking are subject to inter-signer variation, the prosodic use of blinks is intriguingly similar across signers. However, blinks are not obligatory boundary markers in DGS. I propose an analysis that takes into account various factors such as syntactic constituency, prosodic structuring, and particularly the interplay of various nonmanuals such as eye gaze, head nods, and facial expressions. The fine-grained distinction of blinks resulting from a modified categorization for eye blinks and additional statistical computations give insight into how visual languages realize phrase boundaries and prosodic marking and to what extent they use the system consistently.

The emerging grammar of nouns in a first generation sign language

Gesture ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Haviland
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Hearing Child ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Generation Family ◽  
Physical Objects ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Insight Into

A first generation family homesign system, dubbed “Z”, from the Tzotzil-speaking township of Zinacantán, in Chiapas, Mexico, provides insight into how a new sign language can begin to distinguish formally different “part-of-speech” categories. After describing the small signing community, consisting of 3 deaf sibling and their intermediate hearing sister, plus a younger cousin — the entire set of fluent adult signers — plus the hearing child of the oldest deaf signer, and setting out some of the theoretical issues surrounding the nature of “part-of-speech” in sign languages, the paper considers three sorts of mechanisms the language has developed to help distinguish signs that refer to objects from signs that refer to actions. These include a set of size-shape specifiers that co-occur with presumed nominal signs, an iconic contrast between different sign formational elements that somewhat inconsistently signal a noun/verb distinction, and, perhaps most interestingly, a construction involving a clearly grammaticalized locative or copular element that allows Z signers to make clear that they are referring to (physical) objects rather than actions. The paper concludes by considering the overall effect of these quite different formal strategies on the evolving language structure.

Eye gaze and verb agreement in German Sign Language

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Hosemann
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Dependency Relation ◽  
German Sign Language

Eye gaze as a nonmanual component of sign languages has not yet been investigated in much detail. The idea that eye gaze may function as an agreement marker was brought forward by Bahan (1996) and Neidle et al. (2000), who argued that eye gaze is an independent agreement marker occurring with all three verb types (plain verbs, spatial verbs, and agreeing verbs) in American Sign Language (ASL). Thompson et al. (2006) conducted an eye-tracking experiment to investigate the interdependency between eye gaze and ASL verb agreement in depth. Their results indicate that eye gaze in ASL functions as an agreement marker only when accompanying manual agreement, marking the object in agreeing verbs and the locative argument in spatial verbs. They conclude that eye gaze is part of an agreement circumfix. Subsequently, I conducted an eye-tracking experiment to investigate the correlation of eye gaze and manual agreement for verbs in German Sign Language (DGS). The results differ from Thompson et al.’s, since eye gaze with agreeing verbs in the DGS data did not occur as systematically as in ASL. Nevertheless, an analysis of verb duration and the spreading of a correlating eye gaze suggests that there is a dependency relation between eye gaze and manual agreement.

scholarly journals person climbing up a tree

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Pfau ◽  
Markus Steinbach
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Functional Structure ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
Functional Elements ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Spatial Properties ◽  
Cognitive Theories ◽  
German Sign Language ◽  
Diachronic Changes ◽  
Functional Position

Studies on sign language grammaticalization have demonstrated that most of the attested diachronic changes from lexical to functional elements parallel those previously described for spoken languages. To date, most of these studies are either descriptive in nature or embedded within functional-cognitive theories. In contrast, we take a generative perspective on sign language grammaticalization, adopting ideas by Roberts & Roussou (2003), who suggest that grammaticalization can be characterized as “reanalysis ‘upwards’ along the functional structure”. Following an overview of some of the attested modality-independent pathways, we zoom in on the grammaticalization of two types of agreement auxiliaries, the lexical sources of which are the verb give and the noun person. We argue that the grammaticalization of give-aux (in Greek Sign Language and Catalan Sign Language) follows directly from Roberts & Roussou’s model because a lexical verb is reanalyzed as an element which is merged in a structurally higher functional position (little v). The same is true for person, but this change has an additional modality-specific flavor. In spoken languages, agreement affixes typically enter the functional domain of V via cliticization. In contrast, in German Sign Language and Catalan Sign Language, person, after having been reanalyzed as a determiner-like element, ‘jumps’ directly from D into AgrO — most probably because it has the relevant spatial properties necessary to express agreement. Thus, grammaticalization in sign languages, while being structurally similar, allows for types of reanalysis that are not attested in spoken languages.

scholarly journals Word classes in sign languages

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Schwager ◽  
Ulrike Zeshan
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Village Community ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
German Sign Language ◽  
Language Literature

The topic of word classes remains curiously under-represented in the sign language literature due to many theoretical and methodological problems in sign linguistics. This article focuses on language-specific classifications of signs into word classes in two different sign languages: German Sign Language and Kata Kolok, the sign language of a village community in Bali. The article discusses semantic and structural criteria for identifying word classes in the target sign languages. On the basis of a data set of signs, these criteria are systematically tested out as a first step towards an inductive classification of signs. Approaches and analyses relating to the problem of word classes in linguistic typology are used for shedding new light on the issue of word class distinctions in sign languages.

scholarly journals The Signs of Silence – An Overview of Systems of Sign Languages and Co-Speech Gestures

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-144
Author(s):  
Emilija Mustapić ◽  
Frane Malenica
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Simple Form ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Bona Fide ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Single Modality ◽  
Spatial Modality

The paper presents an overview of sign languages and co-speech gestures as two means of communication realised through the visuo-spatial modality. We look at previous research to examine the correlation between spoken and sign language phonology, but also provide an insight into the basic features of co-speech gestures. By analysing these features, we are able to see how these means of communication utilise phases of production (in the case of gestures) or parts of individual signs (in the case of sign languages) to convey or complement the meaning. Recent insights into sign languages as bona fide linguistic systems and co-speech gestures as a system which has no linguistic features but accompanies spoken language have shown that communication does not take place within just a single modality but is rather multimodal. By comparing gestures and sign languages to spoken languages, we are able to trace the transition from systems of communication involving simple form-meaning pairings to fully fledged morphological and syntactic complexities in spoken and sign languages, which gives us a new outlook on the emergence of linguistic phenomena.

scholarly journals Processing pronominal pointing signs in German Sign Language: Neurophysiological evidence for the first mention effect

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Wienholz ◽  
Derya Nuhbalaoglu ◽  
Nivedita Mani ◽  
Annika Herrmann ◽  
Edgar Onea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Pronoun Resolution ◽  
Potential Study ◽  
N400 Component ◽  
German Sign Language ◽  
Present Event

While the first mention bias has been well investigated in spoken languages, little is known about the presence of a similar bias in sign languages. In sign languages, pronominal pointing signs are directed towards referential locations in the ipsilateral and contralateral area of the signing space usually associated with referents in previous contexts. The present event-related potential study investigates the presence of a first mention effect during pronoun resolution in German Sign Language. We present participants with sentence sets containing two referents in the first sentence and a pronominal sign at the beginning of the second sentence directed to the ipsilateral or contralateral area of the signing space. Results show an N400 component for contralateral compared to ipsilateral pronominal signs suggesting increased processing costs associated with the second referent assigned to the contralateral area. Thus, the current study provides evidence for a first mention effect highlighting its modality independent nature.

Matching propositional content and formal markers

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martje Hansen ◽  
Jens Hessman
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Propositional Content ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Dynamic Features ◽  
Short Sample ◽  
Eye Blinks ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Manual Signs ◽  
German Sign Language

The question of sentence boundaries in sign language texts is approached by way of a case study in this paper. A short sample German Sign Language (DGS) text is segmented into elementary units and subjected to a functional analysis that identifies topics, predications, adjuncts and conjuncts as the constituents of textual units of a sentence or clause type, i.e. units with propositional content. Results largely agree with and partly refine the results of an earlier more intuitively based analysis. We then turn to a consideration of formal markings of sentence boundaries, reviewing a number of candidates for ‘boundary markers,’ i.e. specific manual signs, gestures, head nods, eye blinks, and dynamic features such as gaze direction, pauses, and transitions, inspecting if these co-occur with any consistency with the boundaries established on the basis of our consideration of propositional content. Results indicate that, while there is a certain correlation between sentence boundaries and the occurrence of these form elements, neither of these functions consistently or exclusively as boundary marker. Formal markings can be predicted to enter but not dominate the larger interpretative process of making sense of a signed text and recognizing its constituent sentences.

scholarly journals The representation of action in Italian Sign Language (LIS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Elena Tomasuolo ◽  
Chiara Bonsignori ◽  
Pasquale Rinaldi ◽  
Virginia Volterra
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe present study investigates the types of verb and symbolic representational strategies used by 10 deaf signing adults and 13 deaf signing children who described in Italian Sign Language 45 video clips representing nine action types generally communicated by five general verbs in spoken Italian. General verbs, in which the same sign was produced to refer to several different physical action types, were rarely used by either group of participants. Both signing children and adults usually produced specific depicting predicates by incorporating, through a representational strategy, the object and/or the modality of the action into the sign. As for the different types of representational strategies, the adults used the hand-as-object strategy more frequently than the children, who, in turn, preferred to use the hand-as-hand strategy, suggesting that different degrees of cognitive complexity are involved in these two symbolic strategies. Addressing the symbolic iconic strategies underlying sign formation could provide new insight into the perceptual and cognitive processes of linguistic meaning construction. The findings reported here support two main assumptions of cognitive linguistics applied to sign languages: there is a strong continuity between gestures and language; lexical units and depicting constructions derive from the same iconic core mechanism of sign creation.

The point of agreement

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronnie B. Wilbur
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Infinite Number ◽  
Real World ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Person Marking

This paper reconsiders arguments suggesting that sign language analyses must proceed differently to take into account their gestural, iconic origins. Lillo-Martin & Meier (2011) argue that agreement is ‘person marking’, shown by directionality. Liddell (2003, 2011) argues that directional verbs move between locations associated with referents; given an infinite number of points, the forms of these verbs are unlistable, and therefore just gestural indicating; he claims that this makes sign languages different from spoken languages, a position that I will argue against. In their response, Lillo-Martin & Meier then agree that real-world referent locations are not part of grammar, so language must interface closely with the gestural system. In contrast, Quer (2011) argues that Liddell’s reasoning is flawed. I will present evidence to agree with Quer and argue that the linguistic discussion was prematurely derailed by noting the recent alternate analysis offered by Gökgöz (2013). There may well be a role for visual iconicity in relation to sign language structure, as demonstrated by Schlenker (2013a,b), but unless we pursue linguistic analysis further, we will never get a clear understanding of what that role is.

scholarly journals Ikonizität und Indexikalität im gebärdensprachlichen Lexikon – Zur Typologie sprachlicher Zeichen

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Kutscher
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Reference Object ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Iconic Signs ◽  
German Sign Language

AbstractThe paper deals with the iconic and indexical relations of lexical signs in German Sign Language (DGS). It is argued that the theory of signs as established by Charles S. Peirce is particular fruitful with respect to the description and classification of signs in the visual-gestural modality, but also needs some additional discussion on the nature of the relation between sign and reference object. As will be demonstrated, motivated signs in German Sign Language are more complex with respect to indexicality and iconicity as is recognized in contemporary research. Accordingly, the paper discusses the necessity to modify the typology of linguistic signs with respect to sign languages. It will be demonstrated that there has to be established a class of schematic signs within the group of hypoicons. Secondly, it is argued that DGS has a class of motivated but non-iconic signs, which show a designative-indexical relation which relates to the spoken or written form of a word of the oral contact language German. In sum, a modified typology of lexical signs is established which not only includes the sign types symbol, index and (image)icon but also the new types schematic icon and indicator (‘Hinweis’).

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