Signed Languages

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Signed Languages

• with special attention to
• American Sign Language (ASL)

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Key Questions

• Is sign language a natural language? Or is it
  something else (e.g. pidgin, degenerate form of
  spoken language)?
• Is sign language based on spoken language? Is
  ASL a manual form of English?
• How do sign languages come to be? What
  socio-linguistics problems do deaf people face?

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How can we tell if Signed Languages are natural
languages?

• Q What properties would we expect to find in any
  natural language?
• Back to design features!
• Based on the reading, what design features does
  ASL demonstrate?

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Compositionality in ASL

• phonemes of spoken languages can be described in
  terms of
• voice.
• place of articulation
• manner of articulation.
• Are there any analogs in ASL?

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Yes. Signs in ASL differ with respect to

• Handshape.
• Location of sign in signing space.
• Movement.
• Palm orientation.

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Common unmarked (i.e. either hand) handshapes in
ASL
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Common marked handshapes in ASL (only on dominant
hand)
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Examples

• Handshape
• CANDY / APPLE / JEALOUS
• Location
• KEY / APPLE
• Movement
• TAPE / CHAIR / TRAIN

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Personal Pronouns

• CASE handshape
• (plain G, possessive B)
• PERSON palm orientation
• (1 inward, 2 outward, 3 side)
• NUMBER movement
• (straight singular, arc plural)

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Are natural sign languages based on spoken
languages?

• Is ASL a manual form of English?
• How can we address this question?
• If the two languages are the same what do we
  expect to find?
• only slight differences, maybe as dialects differ
  (minor deviations of lexicon, syntax, morphology,
  etc).

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If they are different?

• They should
• Share basic properties of language
• compositionality
• acquisition
• Signing and hearing children tend to pass
  through the same milestones at the same time
  Emmorey.
• Babbling, phonological simplification of
  signs/words, overgeneralization of morphological
  rules, misanalysis and subsequent reanalysis of
  constructions, misuse of pronouns, etc.

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• 2) They should differ in important ways with
  respect to lexicon, morphology, and Syntax
  (ignoring phonology)
• Lexicon
• fast slow
• new old
• happy sad
• right wrong / heavy

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• Morphology
• Derivation different categories available.
• Inflection in ASL several verbs inflect for
  Subject, and Object
• ASK, SEND, LOOK AT, HATE (orientation direction
  of movement)
• INFORM, GIVE (direction of movement)
• CRITICIZE, OWE, PITY (orientation)

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• Syntax.
• Topic comment structure, word order, copula
• BUS YOU RIDE-ON SCHOOL? Do you ride the bus to
  school?2.
• DENTIST, HOW OFTEN YOU GO? How often do you go
  to the dentist?
• 3. MY IDEA, SHE NEED FORGIVE HIM.
• 4. WATCH TV, I NEVER
• 5. I STUDENT I

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How do signed languages come to be?

• Q Is it the case that wherever there are deaf
  people, there is a sign language?
• evidence against?

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What are the key issues affecting the acquisition
and transmission of signed languages?

• most deaf children born to hearing parents (lt90)
• incidence of deafness (.1 of the population
  under 45) results in wide distribution of the
  deaf population.
• practical difficulty in educating deaf children.
• societal prejudice

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How did ASL arise?

• Abbè de l'Epée (1712-1789) Establishes school for
  the deaf in Paris.
• Purpose to be able to give deaf people the
  sacraments (do deaf people have a soul?).
• Paris at the time is one of the largest cities in
  the world (1750 pop 565,000).

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• In Eastern U.S. parents of deaf children looking
  for a way to educate them. Thomas Hopkins
  Gallaudet travels to Europe (first England,
  developers of BSL won't share their system, it is
  proprietary). Abbè Sicard (successor) however
  is touring Europe, showing off the French
  methods.
• 1817 T.H. Gallaudet brings Laurent Clerc back to
  the US as an instructor at school for the deaf in
  Hartford Connecticut.
• 1864 Abraham Lincoln signs charter for first deaf
  college (later Gallaudet U. which is still the
  only 4 year deaf college).

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1880 Milan Congress declaration that oral
instruction is superior to manual instruction.

• First two resolutions of the Milan Congress
• The Convention, considering the incontestable
  superiority of articulation over signs in
  restoring the deaf-mute to society and giving him
  a fuller knowledge of language, declares that the
  oral method should be preferred to that of signs
  in the education and instruction of deaf-mutes.
• The Convention, considering that the simultaneous
  use of articulation and signs has the
  disadvantage of injuring articulation and
  lip-reading and the precision of ideas, declares
  that the pure oral method should be preferred.

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• 1890 Alexander Grahm Bell sets up American
  Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to
  the Deaf.
• Leads to a dark era for ASL Deaf teachers loose
  their jobs in residential schools across the
  country, ASL is prohibited in residential schools
  (Gallaudet, however, maintains the use of ASL as
  primary language of instruction). Deaf children
  taught English and lip reading but NOT ASL.

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How does ASL survive?