Typological Comparisons and Considerations: Phonological and Morphological Evidence from Sign Language Creation.

Abstract

In this article, we compare two languages that are approximately fifty years old-Central Taurus Sign Language (CTSL) and Lengua de Señas Nicaragüense (LSN)-by employing two studies. Study 1 analyzes emerging phonology, specifically the size and complexity of the handshape inventories of the two languages, and Study 2 analyzes emerging information packaging in complex predicates, specifically for agency and number. In both studies, we compare data across three groups of CTSL signers and three groups of Nicaraguan signers. The results of both studies show variation across languages and cohorts; the patterns of variation, we argue, are grounded in factors of community size, contact among signers, and the sociocultural makeup of the community, factors that are used in large typological studies on spoken languages. The main findings are as follows: (1) The patterns observed across the Nicaraguan groups display more variation than those across the CTSL groups and (2) The variation among Nicaraguan groups demonstrate that homesigns exhibit a wide range of forms that were pared down in the first decade of LSN and developed and reorganized during LSN's second decade. We suggest that a more precise and nuanced manner of describing sign language communities that considers the following is needed: (1) the degree to which the cultural practices are shared; (2) the size of the deaf community; (3) the ratio of deaf signers to hearing L2 signers; and (4) the rate that new child learners are added. We also call for more comparative work on new sign languages that will assist in determining the effects and interactions of factors of interest to researchers of signed and spoken languages.