Lexical layering of manual and nonmanual components within specific signs.
An empirical study of German Sign Language (DGS)
(poster presentation in English)
It is well known that languages in the visual-manual modality exhibit a phonological structure
comparable with that of languages in the oral-auditory modality (cf. Stokoe 1960). While
there are comprehensive studies on the manual parts of signs (cf. Sandler 1989, Brentari
1998) – handshape, hand orientation, place of articulation and movement – there is a lack of
empirically based research concerning the status of nonmanual-lexical markers. A promising
approach is to consider lexical facial expressions as a conglomerate of markers of the upper
and lower face and, thus, also include mouth gestures in their direct mimic surroundings.
In this presentation, I discuss elicited data from German Sign Language (DGS). I
annotated the videos with ELAN and investigated the consistent or inconsistent occurrence of
facial markers with individual signs within and across signers. This analysis of the
nonmanuals was always carried out in relation to the corresponding manual signs.
To be counted as a phonological component the following criteria are essential: (i) A
nonmanual feature must clearly be an obligatory, inherent part of a sign. (ii) In addition, it
must not spread across other signs and (iii) variation in execution can only occur in certain
limits. (iv) Furthermore, it always has to be checked whether the use of nonmanual
components implies (gradual) differences in meaning. Thereby, they would not just be
inherent lexical parts of the sign but modifying elements.
I present new examples of the lexical manual-nonmanual layering within signs of
DGS and explain different characteristics of lexical facial expressions. An important result is
that these nonmanuals occur in two different constitutive shape patterns: single, specific
determined components of the upper and lower face – eyebrows, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth,
corner of the mouth, lips, tongue – (shape pattern I) and holistic facial expressions (shape
pattern II). Furthermore, my study indicates that – on the lexical level – the relationship
between the upper and lower face for DGS seems to be more balanced than previous research
suggests. This contradicts the general assumption that syntactic and prosodic functions are
realized in particular with the upper face, whereas the lower face markers are assumed to be
the most relevant for morphological and phonological functions (cf. e.g. Coerts 1992).
Additionally, I analyze aspects of lexical facial expressions like arbitrariness and motivation,
adaption of lexical mouth gestures in relation to handedness, mimic-manual sign variants and
the transfer of “echo phonology” (cf. Woll 2001) on the upper face. And finally, I discuss
how the term ‘lexical’ can be specified. One essential approach is the analogy to pitches in
tonal languages such as Thai (cf. Diamantidis et al. 2010, Herrmann & Köhler 2009, Liddell
2003). Pitches in sign languages can be defined as simultaneously nonmanual phonological
intensifications, which occur regularly with certain signs.
Based on an empirically founded theoretical classification of lexical nonmanuals –
facial expressions and posture of the body and head – it is especially interesting to examine
the interaction between these markers and other linguistic nonmanuals (e.g. syntactic facial
expressions and aspect marking).
References
• Brentari, D. (1998): A prosodic model of sign language phonology. Cambridge u.a.:
MIT. • Coerts, J. (1992): Nonmanual grammatical markers. An analysis of interrogatives,
negations and topicalisations in Sign Language of the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Univ.
Academisch proefschrift.
• Diamantidis, B., Herrmann, A., Köhler, B. and Waleschkowski, E. (2010):
Gebärdensprachen im Fokus der Sprachwissenschaft. In: Helmut Brentel and Tilla
Siegel (eds.): Nachwuchsforschung in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften.
Dokumentation des FGS-Forschungstages 2009. Frankfurt am Main: GoetheUniversität, Frankfurt Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 83-87.
• Herrmann, A. and Köhler, B. (2009): Tones in spoken and signed languages. As poster
presented at the conference „Nonmanuals in Sign Languages (NISL)“, Frankfurt am
Main, Germany.
• Liddell, S. K. (2003): Grammar, gesture, and meaning in American Sign Language.
Cambridge u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Sandler, W. (1989): Phonological representation of the sign. Linearity and
nonlinearity in American Sign Language. Dordrecht u.a.: Foris Publ.
• Stokoe, W. C. (1960): Sign language structure. An outline of the visual
communication systems of the american deaf. Buffalo NY: Univ. of Buffalo.
• Woll, B. (2001): The sign that dares to speak its name: echo phonology in British Sign
Language (BSL). In: Penny Boyes Braem and Raches Sutton-Spence (eds.): The
hands are the head of the mouth: the mouth as articulator in sign languages. Signum:
Hamburg, 87-98.