Mouth Gestures and Mouthing in Two Sign Languages (LIS and LSF)
Languages: English, ASL
Several studies had been conducted on mouth patterns in sign languages, focusing on their
function at different levels of analysis (Boyes Braem, Sutton-Spence, 2001; Fontana, 2008) and on
their distinction in two main categories: mouthings, which are related to a spoken language, and
mouth gestures, which seem to be independent and idiomatic.
It has been pointed out that mouthings are more often related to lexical items, with different
forms and functions (see, among others, Sutton-Spence, 2007), while mouth gestures seems to have
a morphological role (Ebbinghaus & Hessmann 2001).
According to the distinction between lexical items and productive signs (Highly Iconic
Structures, hereafter HIS) proposed by Cuxac (2000) and Cuxac & Sallandre (2007), our research
aims to investigate the systematic discourse patterns related to the use of mouthings and mouth
gestures.
The Cuxac’s semiological distinction is actually based on nonmanual features (eye gaze, facial
expressions, body postures and mouth patterns). So, it is important to test how mouth patterns are
distributed in signed discourse, and what this distribution depends on.
In order to compare the relation between lexical items/HIS and mouth patterns, we examined 24
signed narratives performed by deaf adults in two sign languages, French Sign Language (LSF) and
Italian Sign Language (LIS). We collected narratives of four different signed stories:
1) The Horse Story (6 LSF signers);
2) The Frog Story (6 LIS signers)
3) “Doctor Jekill and Mr. Mouse” - Tom and Jerry series (6 LSF signers)
4) “The egg and Jerry” - Tom and Jerry series (6 LIS signers).
Despite the differences of subjects, the stories are fully comparable because they are respectively
narratives based on picture stories (The Frog and The Horse) and on cartoons (Tom and Jerry
series). Furthermore, we investigated text sequences of comparable content and duration in time
(approximately one minute of signed productions).
Our analyses provide results on the relations between mouth patterns and HIS: while lexical
items co-occur with both mouth gestures and mouthing, HIS never co-occur with mouthing, but
only with mouth gestures. So, the difference between HIS and lexical items seems to be stressed by
mouth patterns, in addition to eye gaze and other non manual features.
Our findings show how mouthing and mouth gestures, added to all non-manual patterns, are
included in the sign language relevant features, in particular for their role in the discourse
organization. Furthermore, it is important to note that the distribution of mouthing and mouth
gestures shows the crucial role of a transcription system and an annotation tool which allow the
researchers to recognize and annotate the mouth patterns. Further research will need indeed
adequate tools to analyze all relevant features in signed discourse.
References
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