Rabia Ergin, Ann Senghas, Ray Jackendoff, Lila Gleitman
{"title":"Structural cues for symmetry, asymmetry, and non-symmetry in Central Taurus Sign Language.","authors":"Rabia Ergin, Ann Senghas, Ray Jackendoff, Lila Gleitman","doi":"10.1075/sll.00048.erg","DOIUrl":"10.1075/sll.00048.erg","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigate how predicates expressing symmetry, asymmetry and non-symmetry are encoded in a newly emerging sign language, Central Taurus Sign Language (CTSL). We find that predicates involving symmetry (i.e., reciprocal and symmetrical actions) differ from those involving asymmetry (i.e., transitive) in their use of the morphological devices investigated here: body segmentation, mirror-image articulators and double perspective. Symmetrical predicates also differ from non-symmetrical ones (i.e., intransitive) in their use of mirror-image configuration. Furthermore, reciprocal actions are temporally sequenced within a linear structure, whereas symmetrical actions are not. Thus, our data reveal that CTSL expresses each type of action with a particular combination of linguistic devices to encode symmetry, asymmetry, and non-symmetry. Furthermore, differences in the use of these devices across age cohorts of CTSL suggest that some have become more conventionalized over time. The same semantic distinctions have been observed - though with different realization - in another emerging sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). This converging suggests that natural human language learning capacities include an expectation to distinguish symmetry, asymmetry and non-symmetry.</p>","PeriodicalId":43398,"journal":{"name":"Sign Language & Linguistics","volume":"23 1-2","pages":"171-207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11113317/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141089036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cross-linguistic metaphor priming in ASL-English bilinguals: Effects of the Double Mapping Constraint.","authors":"Franziska Schaller, Brittany Lee, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Lucinda O'Grady Farnady, Karen Emmorey","doi":"10.1075/sll.00045.sch","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00045.sch","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Meir's (2010) <i>Double Mapping Constraint</i> (DMC) states the use of iconic signs in metaphors is restricted to signs that preserve the structural correspondence between the articulators and the concrete source domain and between the concrete and metaphorical domains. We investigated ASL signers' comprehension of English metaphors whose translations complied with the DMC (<i>Communication collapsed during the meeting</i>) or violated the DMC (<i>The acid ate the metal</i>). Metaphors were preceded by the ASL translation of the English verb, an unrelated sign, or a still video. Participants made sensibility judgments. Response times (RTs) were faster for DMC-compliant sentences with verb primes compared to unrelated primes or the still baseline. RTs for DMC-violation sentences were longer when preceded by verb primes. We propose the structured iconicity of the ASL verbs primed the semantic features involved in the iconic mapping and these primed semantic features facilitated comprehension of DMC-compliant metaphors and slowed comprehension of DMC-violation metaphors.</p>","PeriodicalId":43398,"journal":{"name":"Sign Language & Linguistics","volume":"23 1-2","pages":"96-111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8115326/pdf/nihms-1696556.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38987364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lexical Iconicity is differentially favored under transmission in a new sign language: The effect of type of iconicity.","authors":"Jennie Pyers, Ann Senghas","doi":"10.1075/sll.00044.pye","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00044.pye","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Observations that iconicity diminishes over time in sign languages pose a puzzle--why should something so evidently useful and functional decrease? Using an archival dataset of signs elicited over 15 years from 4 first-cohort and 4 third-cohort signers of an emerging sign language (Nicaraguan Sign Language), we investigated changes in pantomimic (body-to-body) and perceptual (body-to-object) iconicity. We make three key observations: (1) there is greater variability in the signs produced by the first cohort compared to the third; (2) while both types of iconicity are evident, pantomimic iconicity is more prevalent than perceptual iconicity for both groups; and (3) across cohorts, pantomimic elements are dropped to a greater proportion than perceptual elements. The higher rate of pantomimic iconicity in the first-cohort lexicon reflects the usefulness of body-as-body mapping in language creation. Yet, its greater vulnerability to change over transmission suggests that it is less favored by children's language acquisition processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":43398,"journal":{"name":"Sign Language & Linguistics","volume":"23 1-2","pages":"73-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7894619/pdf/nihms-1574126.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25389446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The clausal syntax of German Sign Language","authors":"F. Bross","doi":"10.1075/sll.00035.bro","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00035.bro","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43398,"journal":{"name":"Sign Language & Linguistics","volume":"87 1","pages":"267-274"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83437517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interrogative marking in Chinese Sign Language","authors":"Hao Lin","doi":"10.1075/sll.19001.lin","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.19001.lin","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Little research has been conducted on interrogative constructions in Chinese Sign Language (CSL) based on naturalistic data. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation of CSL interrogative constructions. Based on findings from naturalistic data, both manual and non-manual components of these constructions are described and analyzed, revealing a complex system. Firstly, manual markers in content questions consist of two basic wh-signs, what and how-many, which form two series of wh-compounds for more specific information retrieval. As for the manual marking of CSL polar questions, three types of particles are attested, namely yes, a-not-a, and some negators. Non-manual markers work as interrogative markers in two ways: morphologically and prosodically. The former way is realized by mouthings, which can be equaled to suprasegmental markers like tones in spoken language. Prosodic non-manual marking is mainly realized by brow movement while head tilt, eye gaze, etc. are excluded as optional. Considering the spread of brow movement, we find that polar questions without particles are predominantly marked by brow raise spreading over the entire sentence, while in interrogatives with manual markers, brow movement seems to be optional, since its frequency is lower and its spreading behavior less regular. CSL is proposed to be a particle-rich sign language, and some speculations are offered on what may cause this behavior.","PeriodicalId":43398,"journal":{"name":"Sign Language & Linguistics","volume":"18 1","pages":"241-266"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72982488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Carolina Plaza-Pust. 2016. Bilingualism and deafness: On language contact in the bilingual acquisition of sign\u0000 language and written language","authors":"Agnes Villwock","doi":"10.1075/sll.00040.vil","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00040.vil","url":null,"abstract":"This article reviews Bilingualism and deafness: On language contact in the bilingual acquisition of sign language and written language 978-1-5015-1396-1978-1-5015-0493-8€ 99.95","PeriodicalId":43398,"journal":{"name":"Sign Language & Linguistics","volume":"26 1","pages":"303-311"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87960429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}