Formational Units in Sign Languages
Description
Sign languages and spoken languages have an equal capacity to communicate our thoughts. Beyond this, however, while there are many similarities, there are also fascinating differences, caused primarily by the reaction of the human mind to different modalities, but also by some important social differences. The articulators are more visible and use larger muscles with consequent greater effort. It is difficult to visually attend to both a sign and an object at the same time. Iconicity is more systematic and more available in signs. The body, especially the face, plays a much larger role in sign. Sign languages are more frequently born anew as small groups of deaf people come together in villages or schools. Sign languages often borrow from the written form of the surrounding spoken language, producing fingerspelling alphabets, character signs, and related signs. This book examines the effects of these and other differences using observation, experimentation and theory. The languages examined include Asian, Middle Eastern, European and American sign languages, and language situations include home signers and small village signers, children, gesturers, adult signers, and non-native signers.
Reviews / Votes
"This volume will no doubt stimulate further discussion and investigation that will carry the field into the future."Leah C. Gear in: Sign Language & Linguistics 15:2/2012More details
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Content
2 - Part I. Observation [Seite 23]
2.1 - Marked Hand Configurations in Asian Sign Languages [Seite 25]
2.2 - The phonetics and phonology of the TID (Turkish Sign Language) bimanual alphabet [Seite 49]
2.3 - Child-directed signing as a linguistic register [Seite 71]
3 - Part II. Experiment [Seite 91]
3.1 - Sign language comprehension: Insights from misperceptions of different phonological parameters [Seite 93]
3.2 - Lexical and Articulatory Influences on Phonological Processing in Taiwan Sign Language [Seite 113]
3.3 - When does a system become phonological? Potential sources of handshape contrast in sign languages [Seite 131]
3.4 - A phonological awareness test for deaf children using Brazilian Sign Language [Seite 157]
3.5 - Phonological category resolution in a new Sign Language: A comparative study of handshapes [Seite 183]
3.6 - American Sign Language Tone and Intonation: A Phonetic Analysis of Eyebrow Properties [Seite 209]
4 - Part III. Theory [Seite 233]
4.1 - Are dynamic features required in signs? [Seite 235]
4.2 - A constraint-based account of distributional differences in handshapes [Seite 267]
4.3 - ASL Movement Phonemes and Allophones [Seite 291]
4.4 - Movement types, Repetition, and Feature Organization in Hong Kong Sign Language [Seite 321]
5 - Language index [Seite 345]
6 - Subject index [Seite 347]
