American Sign Language
Phonetics and Phonology
LING 200
Spring 2006
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American Sign Language: Phonetics and Phonology, Slides of Sign Language
An overview of American Sign Language (ASL), including its general characteristics, relationship to other sign languages, and phonetic dimensions. It covers topics such as sign language families, iconicity, and phonetic parameters like handshape, location, movement, and orientation. The document also discusses minimal pairs and near-minimal pairs for various parameters, as well as non-manual expressions and sign language transcription.
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American Sign Language
Phonetics and Phonology
LING 200Spring 2006
Overview
- Sign languages: general characteristicsā¢ American Sign Language and other sign
languages
- Iconicity vs. arbitrarinessā¢ Phonetic dimensions of ASLā¢ Iconicity vs. phonology
What is a sign?
ā¢^
Sign in sign languages
word in spoken languages
-^
Traditionally, signs arereferred to (in English) bytranslation (gloss) of sign
-^
Translation conventionallygiven in capital lettersā CAT
American Sign Language
- The preferred language of the Deaf
community of the US and Canadaā deaf vs. Deaf
- Has dialects
- rural south ASL is most divergent
- Usually learned from
- peers at residential schoolsā adult members of the Deaf community
- Usually learned from
- rural south ASL is most divergent
Sign language families
ā¢^
Signed languages are not signed versions ofspoken languages
-^
The sign language of an area does not belong tothe same family of languages as the spokenlanguage of that area
-^
Signed languages can be grouped into historicalfamilies
-^
Families of spoken languages
families of sign
languages
American Sign Language and related
languages
Old Kentish SL MVSL
Old ASL
Old French Sign Language
ASL
French SL
ROISL
Span SL
NGT
QSL
ASL = American Sign LanguageMVSL = Marthaās Vineyard Sign LanguageNGT = Dutch Sign LanguageROISL = Republic of Ireland Sign LanguageQSL = Quebec Sign LanguageOld French SL: attested 300 years ago
Iconicity in spoken language
ā¢^
Sound
meaning
- arbitrary, non-iconicā [h
ļ r] āhairā vs. āhareā
ā¢^
Onomatopoeia (sound imitating environment)ā to neigh, meow, mew, bark, woof, moo, oink, etc.ā But cross-linguistic differences:
- [b
ļrk] ābarkā
- Tsekāene [y
ļht
hic
ļ ], Witsuwitāen [y
ļ«ts
hļ
] āitās barkingā
Iconicity in signed languagesIs sign language pantomime?
Historically iconic signs
MILK
COFFEE
Differences between
sign languagesā¢
TREE in ASL vs.Chinese SL
-^
BREAD in ASL vs.French SL
Phonetic dimensions of ASL
ā¢^
Parametersā
handshape
-^
location
-^
movement
-^
orientation
-^
number of hands
-^
non-manual expression
ā¢^
Values of parameters realized simultaneously
-^
In some signs, a parameter may have two or morevalues (sequenced)
One- vs. two-handed signs
- Some signs articulated with one hand only
- strong or dominant hand
- Some signs articulated with two hands
- weak or non-dominant hand is restricted
- Some signs articulated with two hands
- strong or dominant hand
Handshape
MOTHER(5 hand)
BOY (2 variants)
Signs which change handshape
UNDERSTAND HOW MANY?
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm
DIVORCED