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Linguistics Chapter 10: Sign Languages - Coggle Diagram
Linguistics Chapter 10: Sign Languages
Introduction to Sign Languages
Manual / Visual Modality.
Sign Language Myths:
Not real languages - gestures & pantomines
Sign Language = preferred term. More holistic sense of the language.
Signed languages ≠ Gestures
Co - Speech Gestures
Gesticulation (Co - speech gestures required to accompany languages).
e.g. hand movements, eyebrow raises, etc.
Are signs (composed of a signifier & signified).
Pantomine (iconic - resemble the actions & referents they represent).
e.g. finger to the lips = signals quiet.
Emblems (symbolic - they do not resemble the actions or
referents they represent).
e.g. thumbs up = signals acceptance.
Signed Language Grammar
All signed languages = all the design features of human languages.
A lexicon - finite set of signs.
A grammar - capacity to combine the finite signs.
Phonetics of signed languages:
Place of articulation.
Manner of articulation.
4 basic parameters to define articulation:
Hand Shape.
Location.
Movement.
Orientation.
Morphology & Syntax of signed languages:
Structural ambiguities exist in signed languages, just as they exist in spoken languages.
The Diversity and Origins of Sign Languages
SIgn languages = classified into genealogical, areal, and
typological relationships.
300 signed languages in use, 20+ language families.
Sign languages belonging to different language families = suggests diverse origins.
ASL & other French Sign languages = descend from common ancestor.
Deaf communities innovate new systems. Systems become languages.
e.g. Nicaruaguan Sign Language.