The notation of signed texts

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Antinoro Pizzuto ◽  
Paola Pietrandrea
Keyword(s):  
General Problem ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Future Work

This paper focuses on some of the major methodological and theoretical problems raised by the fact that there are currently no appropriate notation tools for analyzing and describing signed language texts. We propose to approach these problems taking into account the fact that all signed languages are at present languages without a written tradition. We describe and discuss examples of the gloss-based notation that is currently most widely used in the analysis of signed texts. We briefly consider the somewhat paradoxical problem posed by the difficulty of applying the notation developed for individual signs to signs connected in texts, and the more general problem of clearly identifying and characterizing the constituent units of signed texts. We then compare the use of glosses in signed and spoken language research, and we examine the major pitfalls we see in the use of glosses as a primary means to explore and describe the structure of signed languages. On this basis, we try to specify as explicitly as possible what can or cannot be learned about the structure of signed languages using a gloss-based notation, and to provide some indications for future work that may aim to overcome the limitations of this notation.

The notation of signed texts

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Antinoro Pizzuto ◽  
Paola Pietrandrea
Keyword(s):  
General Problem ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Future Work

This paper focuses on some of the major methodological and theoretical problems raised by the fact that there are currently no appropriate notation tools for analyzing and describing signed language texts. We propose to approach these problems taking into account the fact that all signed languages are at present languages without a written tradition. We describe and discuss examples of the gloss-based notation that is currently most widely used in the analysis of signed texts. We briefly consider the somewhat paradoxical problem posed by the difficulty of applying the notation developed for individual signs to signs connected in texts, and the more general problem of clearly identifying and characterizing the constituent units of signed texts. We then compare the use of glosses in signed and spoken language research, and we examine the major pitfalls we see in the use of glosses as a primary means to explore and describe the structure of signed languages. On this basis, we try to specify as explicitly as possible what can or cannot be learned about the structure of signed languages using a gloss-based notation, and to provide some indications for future work that may aim to overcome the limitations of this notation.

On The Relevance of Signed Languages to Research in Interpretation

Target ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
William P. Isham
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Visual Channel ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Research Opportunity ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Research using interpreters who work with signed languages can aid us in understanding the cognitive processes of interpretation in general. Using American Sign Language (ASL) as an example, the nature of signed languages is outlined first. Then the difference between signed languages and manual codes for spoken languages is delineated, and it is argued that these two manners of communicating through the visual channel offer a unique research opportunity. Finally, an example from recent research is used to demonstrate how comparisons between spoken-language interpreters and signed-language interpreters can be used to test hypotheses regarding interpretation.

scholarly journals Signed Languages: A Triangular Semiotic Dimension

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Capirci ◽  
Chiara Bonsignori ◽  
Alessio Di Renzo
Keyword(s):  
The Core ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Linguistic Unit ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Linguistic Sign ◽  
Linguistic Units

Since the beginning of signed language research, the linguistic units have been divided into conventional, standard and fixed signs, all of which were considered as the core of the language, and iconic and productive signs, put at the edge of language. In the present paper, we will review different models proposed by signed language researchers over the years to describe the signed lexicon, showing how to overcome the hierarchical division between standard and productive lexicon. Drawing from the semiotic insights of Peirce we proposed to look at signs as a triadic construction built on symbolic, iconic, and indexical features. In our model, the different iconic, symbolic, and indexical features of signs are seen as the three sides of the same triangle, detectable in the single linguistic sign (Capirci, 2018; Puupponen, 2019). The key aspect is that the dominance of the feature will determine the different use of the linguistic unit, as we will show with examples from different discourse types (narratives, conference talks, poems, a theater monolog).

Discussion of Issues Related to Assessment Constructs in Spoken and Signed Languages

2021 ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
Susy Macqueen ◽  
Tobias Haug
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Assessments

Thinking about what is assessed—the construct—in any language assessment raises questions about the nature of language use, the nature of developmental trajectories, and whose language patterns determine what is ‘standard’. The assessment of signed languages draws attention to assessment practices and understandings that are entrenched, for better or worse, in the assessment of spoken languages. Spoken language assessments of standardized varieties tend to value the written sentence as an ideal unit, a legacy of standardization. Signed language assessments, on the other hand, may be emerging alongside processes of standardization. Capturing semiotic complexity in the construct remains a significant challenge for both signed and spoken language assessments, despite the development of corpora which exemplify it. This chapter discusses these theoretical, ideological, and practical challenges for assessing signed and spoken language abilities. It brings together key ideas from chapters Chapters 7.1 and 7.2 and offers future directions in the development of theory and practice in signed and spoken language assessments.

scholarly journals Comparing signers and speakers: building a directly comparable corpus of Auslan and Australian English

Corpora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Hodge ◽  
Kazuki Sekine ◽  
Adam Schembri ◽  
Trevor Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Spoken Language ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Development Pathway ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Bilingual Corpora ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Deaf Signers

The Auslan and Australian English archive and corpus is the first bilingual, multi-modal documentation of a deaf signed language (Auslan, the language of the Australian deaf community) and its ambient spoken language (Australian English). It aims to facilitate the direct comparison of face-to-face, multi-modal talk produced by deaf signers and hearing speakers from the same city. Here, we describe the documentation of the bilingual, multi-modal archive and outline its development pathway into a directly comparable corpus of a signed language and spoken language. We differentiate it from existing bilingual corpora and offer some research questions which the resulting corpus may be best placed to answer. The Auslan and Australian English corpus has the potential to redress several significant misunderstandings in the comparison of signed and spoken languages, especially those that follow from misapplications of the paradigm that multi-modal signed languages are used and structured in ways that are parallel to the uni-modal spoken or written conventions of spoken languages.

Towards a comparative semiotics of pointing actions in signed and spoken languages

Gesture ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Spoken Language ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Mode I ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
Language Description

Co-speech pointing actions have been under-analysed or ignored in language description and linguistic theory and this has led to an over-interpretation of their role and status in signed languages as signs belonging to particular grammatical classes, such as pronouns, determiners, and locatives. I argue that the pointing signs found in signed languages are not fundamentally different from the pointing actions found in the composite utterances of spoken languages in their face-to-face mode. I show how pointing signs and pointing actions are both symbolic indexical signs (signs that have partly conventional elements and partly contextual elements and are thus hybrids of conventional and non-conventional signs). I conclude that pointing signs are not a fundamentally different kind of phenomena when they occur in signed language composite utterances (so-called ‘linguistic’ pointing) compared to when they occur in spoken language composite utterances (so-called ‘gestural’ pointing).

scholarly journals Libras and Articulatory Phonology

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124
Author(s):  
Adelaide H. P. Silva ◽  
André Nogueira Xavier
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Phonological Representation ◽  
Articulatory Phonology ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Brazilian Sign Language ◽  
Traditional Approaches

This paper proposes a new approach to the phonological representation of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). We depart from the observation that traditional analyses have overlooked features of signed languages which have no (exact) correspondence in spoken languages. Moreover, traditional approaches impose spoken language theoretical constructs on signed languages analyses and, by doing so, they disregard the possibility that signed languages follow different principles, as well as that analytical categories for spoken languages may be inaccurate for signed languages. Therefore, we argue that an approach grounded on a general theory of movement can account for signed language phonology in a more accurate way. Following Articulatory Phonology, we propose the analytical primes for a motor-oriented phonological approach to Libras, i.e., we determine which are the articulatory gestures that constitute the lexical items in a signed language. Besides, we propose a representation for the sign BEETLE-CAR in terms of a gestural score, and explain how gestures coordinate in relation to each other. As it is discussed, this approach allows us to more satisfactorily explain cases of variation attested in our data.

Discussion of Issues Related to Discourse Analysis in Signed and Spoken Language Assessments

2021 ◽  
pp. 361-370
Author(s):  
Rachel McKee ◽  
Kellie Frost
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
Advance Theory

The analysis of discourse in language proficiency interviews reveals many similarities and some issues that are specific to the modality and social context of spoken and signed languages. In this chapter, we comment on points of intersection and difference in the preceding two chapters to highlight how the exchange of insights from signed and spoken language research in this area can stimulate further inquiry and advance theory across both fields. This chapter is a joint discussion of key items related to discourse analysis related to signed and spoken language assessment that were discussed in Chapters 10.1 and 10.2.

scholarly journals A corpus-based study of the role of headshaking in negation in Auslan (Australian Sign Language): Implications for signed language typology

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Negative Sign ◽  
Language Typology ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
English I

Abstract Signed languages have been classified typologically as being manual dominant or non-manual dominant for negation. In the former negation is conveyed primarily by manual lexical signs whereas in the latter negation is primarily conveyed by nonmanual signs. In support of this typology, the site and spread of headshaking in negated clauses was also described as linguistically constrained. Headshaking was thus said to be a formal part of negation in signed languages so it was linguistic, not gestural. This paper aims to establish the role of headshaking in negation in Auslan with reference to this typology. In this corpus-based study, I show that Auslan users almost always negate clauses using a manual negative sign. Although headshakes are found in just over half of these manually negated clauses, the position and spreading behaviour of headshakes do not appear to be linguistically constrained. I also show that signers use headshakes as the sole negating element in a clause extremely rarely. I conclude that headshaking in Auslan appears similar to headshaking in the ambient face-to-face spoken language, English. I explore the implications of these findings for the proposed typology of negation in signed languages in terms of the type of data that were used to support it, and assumptions about the relationship between gesture and signed languages that underlie it.

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