American Sign Language:
Some further points
LING 400
Winter 2010
Overview
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General characteristics
Iconicity
Phonetic dimensions of ASL
Iconicity vs. phonology
Simultaneous morphology in ASL
Questions from Lance Forshay lecture
• What is the difference between deaf and
Deaf?
• What is the key to ASL culture?
• What was the main contribution of William
Stokoe to ASL studies?
• How long has ASL been regularly offered at
UW?
• Why two interpreters?
• Where is ASL signed?
• Dominant vs. non-dominant hand?
General characteristics of sign languages
• full fledged languages, not substitutes for language
• fully expressive
• the primary means of communication among deaf
people
• found wherever deaf people are found
– Ethnologue 16th ed. lists 130 sign languages
(http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=2316)
• are not universal in form
• were not invented
• are not what some chimpanzees have learned
General characteristics of sign(ed)
languages
• Language  speech
– spoken languages use auditory modality
– sign languages use visual/gestural modality
• What is a sign?
– meaning  pronunciation

i.e. in many cases, a morpheme
Iconicity in spoken languages
• Sound  meaning
– generally arbitrary, non-iconic
– homophony: [hEr] ‘hair’ vs. ‘hare’
• Onomatopoeia (sound imitating environment)
– to neigh, meow, mew, bark, woof, moo, oink, etc.
– But cross-linguistic differences
• English [mi|jaw] ‘meow’
• Italian [maw]
Iconicity issue in signed languages
To what extent does the form of a sign resemble its
referent? Can you guess the meanings of these
signs?
HAIR
CANADA
What do these signs mean?
ALASKA
SUN
Meanings of these signs?
EYE
BLACK
Historically iconic signs
MILK
COFFEE
Differences between
sign languages
• TREE in ASL vs.
Chinese SL
• BREAD in ASL vs.
French SL
Phonetic dimensions of ASL
• Signs are not random combinations of
gestures
– small number of phonetic parameters
– but more settings of those parameters than in
spoken languages
Phonetic dimensions of ASL
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handshape
orientation
location
movement
number of hands
non-manual expression
Handshape
Some different handshapes
TEN
FLY
Handshape
MOTHER
(5 hand)
BOY (2 variants)
Signs which change handshape
UNDERSTAND
HOW MANY?
DIVORCED
http://commtechlab.msu.edu
/sites/aslweb/browser.htm
Minimal pairs for handshape
PEOPLE
BICYCLE
Minimal pairs for handshape
• SEATTLE vs. NEUTRAL vs. TWIN
• NUMBER vs. INTERPRET
• DORM vs. DEAF
Orientation
• Palm of hand faces some direction
ACROSS
Sign with change in orientation
DEATH
BOOK
Near-minimal pairs for orientation
YOUR
vs. MY
CHILD
Near-minimal pairs for orientation
vs. CHAIR
NAME
vs. STAR
SOCK
Location
on parts of face
FUNNY
WATER
Location
on leg or arm
DOG
HOSPITAL
Location
• (neutral space) CAR
• (weak hand) STAND
Signs with change in location
DEAF
FUN
Signs with change in location
KING
YESTERDAY
BLUE
Near-minimal pair for location
APPLE
ONION
Movement
• Some different types of movement
PERCENT
SEPARATE(D)
“Local” Movement
COLOR
WHERE?
Movement
of body part other than hands
YES
BED
Number of hands
• Some one-handed signs
MOTHER
COOL (adj.)
Number of hands
• Some two-handed signs
HERE
BICYCLE
DOOR
COOL (v.)
Non-manual expressions
i.e. facial expression
PHOOEY
Minimal pair for non-manual expression
HERE
WHAT?
Sign language transcription
• IPA for sign languages?
• Different systems proposed
– Sign Writing: www.signwriting.org
– Hamburg Sign Language Notation System
(HamNoSys): http://www.sign-lang.unihamburg.de/projects/HamNoSys.html
• None widely used by sign language
linguists
Do sign languages have phonology?
• Phonology = systematic restrictions on
form. What can contrast?
• E.g. for spoken languages
– Sound inventories
• Spanish has /x/ but not /h/; English has /h/ but not
/x/
– Sound sequences
• English allows [st] at beginning of word; Spanish
does not
Phonology in sign languages
• ‘For sign languages, a phonology systematically separates
the set of gestures which may represent meanings in a
given sign language from the entire range of gestures
which may be produced by the human body...iconicity is
inversely related to phonological…structure. This is
because an iconic relation is a direct analog mapping
between some aspect(s) of a sign and some aspect(s) of its
referent, with no regard to the way other signs are made.
For a phonology, however, relations between the form of
signs is everything.’ (Battison 1974:2) (emphasis added)
• Phonology as a (very general) template that form of signs
must conform to
A phonological restriction in ASL
• A constraint on two-handed signs
• The Symmetry Condition (Battison 1974)
– ‘if both hands move independently during a given two-handed
sign...then the specifications for handshape and movement must be
identical, and the orientations must be either identical or polar
opposites (reciprocals). Locations...must also be specifed either as
symmetrical or as polar opposites.’
DIE/DEAD
Consequences of The Symmetry
Condition
• Two-handed signs
– If handshapes not identical
• only one hand can move:
DRAW or PAINT
 both hands cannot move
PAINT
Simultaneous morphology in ASL
• Sequential morphology
– sleep+s
– tray+table
• Simultaneous morphology
– morpheme
|
morpheme
Modern Standard Arabic verbal
morphology
Some forms of ‘write’ /ktb/
perfective
I
II
III
active
passive
katab
kutib
‘wrote’
‘was written’
kattab
kuttib
‘made write’
‘was made to write’
kaatab
kuutib
‘corresponded with’
‘was corresponded with’
Simultaneous morphology
morphemes in [kuutib] ‘was corresponded with’
ui
perfective passive
CVVCVC
III wazn: ‘to direct, strive to, act in
conjunction with’
ktb
‘write’
‘correspond’
Verb root (consonants)
# of Cs
3
2
1
example
/ktb/
/sm/
/j/
‘to write’
‘to poison’
‘to write the letter y’
Simultaneous morphemes in ASL
MOTHER
GIRL
AUNT
WOMAN
FATHER
UNCLE
BOY
MAN
Some ASL morphemes
chin (location)
forehead (location)
‘female’
‘male’
chin (location) ‘female’
MOTHER
5 (handshape) ‘parent’
Simultaneous morphology
• morpheme
|
morpheme
• Rare in spoken languages
• Not rare in signed languages