scholarly journals Formal variation in the Kata Kolok lexicon

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Lutzenberger ◽  
Connie de Vos ◽  
Onno Crasborn ◽  
Paula Fikkert
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Village Community ◽  
Token Frequency ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Language Emergence ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Combining Methods ◽  
Frequency Weightings

Sign language lexicons incorporate phonological specifications. Evidence from emerging sign languages suggests that phonological structure emerges gradually in a new language. In this study, we investigate variation in the form of signs across 20 deaf adult signers of Kata Kolok, a sign language that emerged spontaneously in a Balinese village community. Combining methods previously used for sign comparisons, we introduce a new numeric measure of variation. Our nuanced yet comprehensive approach to form variation integrates three levels (iconic motivation, surface realisation, feature differences) and allows for refinement through weighting the variation score by token and signer frequency. We demonstrate that variation in the form of signs appears in different degrees at different levels. Token frequency in a given dataset greatly affects how much variation can surface, suggesting caution in interpreting previous findings. Different sign variants have different scopes of use among the signing population, with some more widely used than others. Both frequency weightings (token and signer) identify dominant sign variants, i.e., sign forms that are produced frequently or by many signers. We argue that variation does not equal the absence of conventionalisation. Indeed, especially in micro-community sign languages, variation may be key to understanding patterns of language emergence.

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

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-40 ◽  
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.

Iconicity and interpretability in language emergence

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-157
Author(s):  
Carla L. Hudson Kam ◽  
Oksana Tkachman
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Spatial Relationships ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
The Face ◽  
Language Emergence ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Spatial Modulations

Abstract The iconic potential of sign languages suggests that the establishment of a conventionalized set of form-meaning pairings should be relatively easy. However, even an iconic form has to be interpreted correctly for it to conventionalize. In sign languages, spatial modulations are used to indicate real spatial relationships (locative) and grammatical relations. The former is a more-or-less direct representation of how things are situated with respect to each other. Grammatical space, in contrast, is more abstract. As such, the former would seem to be more interpretable than the latter, and so on the face of it, should be more likely to conventionalize in a new sign language. But in at least one emerging sign language the grammatical use of space is conventionalizing first. We argue that this is due to the grammatical use of space being easier to understand correctly, using data from four experiments investigating hearing non-signers interpretation of spatially modulated gestures.

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.

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.

Phonological parameters in Croatian Sign Language

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 33-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninoslava Šarac Kuhn ◽  
Tamara Alibašić Ciciliani ◽  
Ronnie B. Wilbur
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Sign Structure ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
Movement Orientation ◽  
Do So

We present an initial description of the sign parameters in Croatian Sign Language. We show that HZJ has a comparable phonological structure to other known sign languages, including basic sign parts, such as location, handshape, movement, orientation, and nonmanual characteristics. Our discussion follows the Prosodic Model (Brentari 1998), in which sign structure is separated into those characteristics which do not change during sign formation (inherent features) and those that do (prosodic features). We present the model, along with discussion of the notion of constraints on sign formation, and apply it to HZJ to the extent that we are able to do so. We identify an inventory of the relevant handshapes, orientations, locations, and movements in HZJ, and a partial inventory of nonmanuals. One interesting feature of the HZJ environment is the existence of two fingerspelling alphabets, a one-handed and a two-handed system. We also provide additional analytical steps that can be taken after the initial inventory has been constructed. Both minimal pairs and constraints on sign formation are especially useful for demonstrating the linguistic systematicity of sign languages and separating them from gesture and mime.

Evidence for minimal pairs in Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-230
Author(s):  
Bahtiyar Makaroğlu ◽  
İpek Pınar Bekar ◽  
Engin Arik
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Feature Classification ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Phonological Features ◽  
British Sign

Abstract Recently, many studies have examined the phonological parameters in sign languages from various research perspectives, paying close attention in particular to manual parameters such as handshape, place of articulation, movement, and orientation of the hands. However, these studies have been conducted on only a few sign languages such as American and British Sign Languages, and have paid little attention to nonmanual features. In this study, we investigated yet another sign language, Turkish Sign Language (TİD), focusing on both manual and nonmanual features to examine "minimal pairs", a cornerstone concept of phonology. We applied Brentari's (2005) feature classification and Pfau and Quer's (2010) phonological (or lexical) nonmanual categorization. Our analysis showed that both phonological features and constraints on TİD sign formation have a phonological structure similar to other well-studied sign languages. The results indicate that not only are phonological features a necessary notion for the description of both manual and nonmanual parameters at the lexical level in TİD, but also that nonmanuals have to be considered an essential part of sign as a way of better understanding their phonological roles in sign language phonology.

scholarly journals Language emergence can take multiple paths: Using motion capture to track axis use in Nicaraguan Sign Language

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asha Sato ◽  
Simon Kirby ◽  
Molly Flaherty
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
The Body ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Emergence Patterns ◽  
Spatial Grammar ◽  
Multiple Paths ◽  
Language Emergence ◽  
Tracking Technology

Research on emergent sign languages suggests that younger sign languages may make greater use of the z-axis, moving outwards from the body, than more established sign languages when describing the relationships between participants and events (Padden, Meir, Aronoff, and Sandler, 2010). This has been suggested to reflect a transition from iconicity rooted in the body (Meir, Padden, Aronoff, and Sandler, 2007) towards a more abstract schematic iconicity. We present the results of an experimental investigation into the use of axis by signers of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). We analysed 1074 verb tokens elicited from NSL signers who entered the signing community at different points in time between 1974 and 2003. We used depth and motion tracking technology to quantify the position of signers’ wrists over time, allowing us to build an automated and continuous measure of axis use. We also consider axis use from two perspectives: a camera-centric perspective and a signer-centric perspective. In contrast to earlier work, we do not observe a trend towards increasing use of the x-axis. Instead we find that signers appear to have an overall preference for the z-axis. However, this preference is only observed from the camera-centric perspective. When measured relative to the body, signers appear to be making approximately equal use of both axes, suggesting the preference for the z-axis is largely driven by signers moving their bodies (and not just their hands) along the z-axis. We argue from this finding that language emergence patterns are not necessarily universal and that use of the x-axis may not be a prerequisite for the establishment of a spatial grammar.

scholarly journals Sign Language Linguistics

Linguistics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Börstell ◽  
Wendy Sandler ◽  
Mark Aronoff
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
The 1960S

Sign language linguistics is one of the younger areas of linguistic research, having been a field in its own right only since the 1960s, when the first research investigating sign languages from a linguistic perspective was published. Since sign language was historically considered not to be language at all, but merely a gesture-based aid for basic communication, early research was focused on demonstrating the linguistic status of sign languages—that they are indeed languages in their own right, equivalent to spoken languages. The earliest research used traditional linguistic tools to investigate the phonological structure of sign language (specifically American Sign Language [ASL]), and to demonstrate that sign languages had duality of patterning, but the field soon expanded in all directions. Within the following decades, more in-depth analyses of the phonological and grammatical structure of sign languages were published, as well as investigations on the acquisition and use of sign language. With time, existing theoretical models for spoken language were applied to sign languages as well, and a number of new models for representing the syntax and phonology of sign languages were introduced. Cross-linguistic research on different sign languages, as well as on different social environments (e.g., urban versus village sign languages), has become more and more popular, as have cross-modal comparisons with spoken languages. In applied fields of linguistics, education and interpreting have become two of the main areas of investigation, as has the study of sign language in artistic use (e.g., poetry), often in close connection to the field of deaf studies. The interface between sign language and gesture has become a hot topic, especially within the domains of language emergence and foundations of human cognition. Finally, neurolinguistics has also expanded to include sign language within the scope of research.

Crosslinguistic similarity and variation in the simultaneous morphology of sign languages

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.

scholarly journals Interpretation of Swedish Sign Language Using Convolutional Neural Networks and Transfer Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustaf Halvardsson ◽  
Johanna Peterson ◽  
César Soto-Valero ◽  
Benoit Baudry
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Transfer Learning ◽  
Convolutional Neural Networks ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Training Dataset ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Image Perception ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
High Level

AbstractThe automatic interpretation of sign languages is a challenging task, as it requires the usage of high-level vision and high-level motion processing systems for providing accurate image perception. In this paper, we use Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and transfer learning to make computers able to interpret signs of the Swedish Sign Language (SSL) hand alphabet. Our model consists of the implementation of a pre-trained InceptionV3 network, and the usage of the mini-batch gradient descent optimization algorithm. We rely on transfer learning during the pre-training of the model and its data. The final accuracy of the model, based on 8 study subjects and 9400 images, is 85%. Our results indicate that the usage of CNNs is a promising approach to interpret sign languages, and transfer learning can be used to achieve high testing accuracy despite using a small training dataset. Furthermore, we describe the implementation details of our model to interpret signs as a user-friendly web application.

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