Synthesis of sign and speech in a New Zealand Sign Language-target session: Oral channel variation of hearing bimodal bilingual children of Deaf parents

10.26686/wgtn.17060906 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Kaitlyn Smith

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Sign Language ◽

Language Production ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Motion Event ◽

Cognition And Culture ◽

Contact Situation ◽

Grammatical Structures ◽

New Zealand Sign Language

This thesis investigates the uniquely “bimodal” bilingual language production of some of the New Zealand Deaf community’s youngest members—hearing and cochlear-implanted Deaf children who have Deaf signing parents. These bimodal bilinguals (aged 4-9 years old) are native users of two typologically different languages (New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and English), and two modalities (visual-manual and auditory-oral). The primary focus of this study is the variation found in the oral channel produced by these bimodal bilingual children, during a sign-target session (i.e. a signed conversation with a Deaf interlocutor), involving a game designed to elicit location and motion descriptions alongside a sociolinguistic interview. The findings of this study are three-fold. Firstly, the variation of audible and visual volumes of the oral channel (the spoken modality) between and within participants’ language sessions is described. Notably, audible volume ranges from voiceless, whispered, and fully-voiced productions. Audible volume is found to have an inverse relationship with visual volume, in that reduced auditory cues reflect an increase in visual cues used for clarification. Additionally, a lowered audible volume (whispers or voiceless mouthings) is associated with reduced English, aligning with some NZSL grammatical structures, while full-voice is associated with intact English grammatical structures. Transfer in the opposite direction is also evident during descriptions of a motion event, in that English structures for encoding ‘path’ surface in the manual channel (the signed modality). Bidirectional transfer also occurs simultaneously, where structures of both languages surface in both linguistic channels. Secondly, the coordination of the oral and manual channels during descriptions of location and motion is described. Notably, the linguistic channels are tightly temporally synchronised in the coordination of meaning. The oral channel can function gesturally by modifying or emphasising meaning in the manual channel; a similar function to co-speech gesture used by hearing users of spoken languages. Thirdly, this thesis details the children’s attitudes towards their use of NZSL and English, highlighting their sensitivity to the uniqueness of their heritage language, the movement between Deaf and hearing worlds and associated languages, and their role in passing on their sign language to other hearing people. Their Deaf/Coda and hearing cultural identification is found to be entangled in use of both oral and manual channels. The oral channel is multifaceted in the ways it functions for both the bimodal bilingual child and their Deaf interlocutor, and thus operates at the intersection of language, cognition and culture. Bimodal bilinguals’ use of the oral channel is influenced by the contact situation that exists between Deaf and hearing communities, the cognitive cost of language suppression, and the interactional setting. This study contributes to growing global research conducted on the language production of bimodal bilinguals. It provides preliminary insight into oral channel features of young native NZSL users as a way of better understanding bimodal bilingual language development, the connections between audiological status and language, the interplay of codes across linguistic channels, and the role that modality plays in shaping meaning across all human languages.

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Folk Definitions as a Model for Sign Language Dictionary Definitions: A User-Focused Study of the Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language

10.26686/wgtn.17060042.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Mireille Vale

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Error Correction ◽

Sign Language ◽

Language Production ◽

User Study ◽

Vocabulary Learning ◽

Semantic Relationships ◽

Test Items ◽

New Zealand Sign Language ◽

Dictionary Definitions

This thesis addresses the question whether signed definitions, made possible by advances in electronic lexicography, should be introduced to sign language dictionaries. The thesis comprises four interrelated studies investigating different aspects of this question through a user-focused case study of the Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language (ODNZSL). A preliminary study investigated current use of the ODNZSL in order to identify what user needs signed definitions might fulfil. The study drew on two data sets: website log data for the ODNZSL, and a think-aloud protocol and interview with representatives of user groups. Results showed that in addition to a large volume of casual browsers, the most frequent and intensive users of the dictionary are beginner and intermediate students of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). These (hearing) language learners mostly search for frequent vocabulary with the aims of language production and vocabulary learning. Findings also identified reasons for unsuccessful dictionary consultations that may impact on the effectiveness of definitions. In the second study, a review of ODNZSL entries highlighted categories of lexical items for which the current description through English glosses, examples, and usage notes is inadequate. A test was developed to assess whether these categories of signs were problematic for the user group identified in the first study: hearing intermediate learners of NZSL. Twenty-one participants took a computer-based error correction test with both comprehension and production sections comprising fifty items in six different categories: culture-bound; idiomatic; polysemous; metaphoric/metonymic; vocabulary type / word class; and other. Quantitative results indicated that a small number of test items were problematic, but that none of the test categories were good predictors of the difficulties learners experienced. A qualitative examination identified linguistic factors and issues with the current dictionary information that may be improved by the addition of signed definitions. The central proposition tested in the third study was that folk definitions—informal explanations of sign meaning by Deaf sign language users—can be applied as a template for dictionary definitions. This study took fifteen of the signs that were identified as problematic for learners in the previous study, and asked thirteen Deaf NZSL users to explain the meaning of these signs. A qualitative analysis found that the folk definitions by different NZSL users shared common semantic categories and embedded information about situational and sociolinguistic variation as well as grammatical structures. Some semantic relationships that occur frequently in spoken language folk definitions, such as exemplification and synonymy, were also common in signed folk definitions. Other semantic relationships such as attribution, function, operation, and spatial relationships occurred less frequently because they were inherent in the sign construction. Due to the bilingual status of the participants, many folk definitions included reference to English words in the form of mouth patterns and fingerspelling. In the fourth study, twelve pilot dictionary definitions were created on the basis of common features found in the folk definitions and an evaluation of definition formats by Deaf NZSL users. The error correction test from the second study was repeated with a new cohort of intermediate NZSL learners. This time twelve test items were accompanied by a pilot definition; for the remaining items participants were shown a video example sentence from the ODNZSL entry. Results showed no significant improvements in scores for the test items with definitions. However, feedback from test participants showed that the definitions were comprehensible and perceived as valuable for language learning. The overall conclusion of these studies is that a selective approach should be taken to introducing signed definitions in existing multifunctional sign language dictionaries. For hearing learners of sign language, signed definitions do not meet immediate communicative (comprehension and production) needs, but they may contribute to wider vocabulary learning goals. The main contribution of this thesis is that it suggests a user-focused methodology for creating signed definitions, driven by evidence from the first empirical user study of an online sign language dictionary and therefore taking into account the particular challenges of sign language lexicography. Furthermore, the analysis of features of signed folk definitions contributes to the semantic description of sign languages.

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Folk Definitions as a Model for Sign Language Dictionary Definitions: A User-Focused Study of the Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language

10.26686/wgtn.17060042 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Mireille Vale

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Error Correction ◽

Sign Language ◽

Language Production ◽

User Study ◽

Vocabulary Learning ◽

Semantic Relationships ◽

Test Items ◽

New Zealand Sign Language ◽

Dictionary Definitions

This thesis addresses the question whether signed definitions, made possible by advances in electronic lexicography, should be introduced to sign language dictionaries. The thesis comprises four interrelated studies investigating different aspects of this question through a user-focused case study of the Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language (ODNZSL). A preliminary study investigated current use of the ODNZSL in order to identify what user needs signed definitions might fulfil. The study drew on two data sets: website log data for the ODNZSL, and a think-aloud protocol and interview with representatives of user groups. Results showed that in addition to a large volume of casual browsers, the most frequent and intensive users of the dictionary are beginner and intermediate students of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). These (hearing) language learners mostly search for frequent vocabulary with the aims of language production and vocabulary learning. Findings also identified reasons for unsuccessful dictionary consultations that may impact on the effectiveness of definitions. In the second study, a review of ODNZSL entries highlighted categories of lexical items for which the current description through English glosses, examples, and usage notes is inadequate. A test was developed to assess whether these categories of signs were problematic for the user group identified in the first study: hearing intermediate learners of NZSL. Twenty-one participants took a computer-based error correction test with both comprehension and production sections comprising fifty items in six different categories: culture-bound; idiomatic; polysemous; metaphoric/metonymic; vocabulary type / word class; and other. Quantitative results indicated that a small number of test items were problematic, but that none of the test categories were good predictors of the difficulties learners experienced. A qualitative examination identified linguistic factors and issues with the current dictionary information that may be improved by the addition of signed definitions. The central proposition tested in the third study was that folk definitions—informal explanations of sign meaning by Deaf sign language users—can be applied as a template for dictionary definitions. This study took fifteen of the signs that were identified as problematic for learners in the previous study, and asked thirteen Deaf NZSL users to explain the meaning of these signs. A qualitative analysis found that the folk definitions by different NZSL users shared common semantic categories and embedded information about situational and sociolinguistic variation as well as grammatical structures. Some semantic relationships that occur frequently in spoken language folk definitions, such as exemplification and synonymy, were also common in signed folk definitions. Other semantic relationships such as attribution, function, operation, and spatial relationships occurred less frequently because they were inherent in the sign construction. Due to the bilingual status of the participants, many folk definitions included reference to English words in the form of mouth patterns and fingerspelling. In the fourth study, twelve pilot dictionary definitions were created on the basis of common features found in the folk definitions and an evaluation of definition formats by Deaf NZSL users. The error correction test from the second study was repeated with a new cohort of intermediate NZSL learners. This time twelve test items were accompanied by a pilot definition; for the remaining items participants were shown a video example sentence from the ODNZSL entry. Results showed no significant improvements in scores for the test items with definitions. However, feedback from test participants showed that the definitions were comprehensible and perceived as valuable for language learning. The overall conclusion of these studies is that a selective approach should be taken to introducing signed definitions in existing multifunctional sign language dictionaries. For hearing learners of sign language, signed definitions do not meet immediate communicative (comprehension and production) needs, but they may contribute to wider vocabulary learning goals. The main contribution of this thesis is that it suggests a user-focused methodology for creating signed definitions, driven by evidence from the first empirical user study of an online sign language dictionary and therefore taking into account the particular challenges of sign language lexicography. Furthermore, the analysis of features of signed folk definitions contributes to the semantic description of sign languages.

Download Full-text