Sign Languages Commons^™

Referring Strategies In American Sign Language And English (With Co-Speech Gesture): The Role Of Modality In Referring To Non-Nameable Objects, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Brenda Nicodemus, Jennifer Petrich, Karen Emmorey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

American Sign Language (ASL) and English differ in linguistic resources available to express visual–spatial information. In a referential communication task, we examined the effect of language modality on the creation and mutual acceptance of reference to non-nameable figures. In both languages, description times reduced over iterations and references to the figures’ geometric properties (“shape-based reference”) declined over time in favor of expressions describing the figures’ resemblance to nameable objects (“analogy-based reference”). ASL signers maintained a preference for shape-based reference until the final (sixth) round, while English speakers transitioned toward analogy-based reference by Round 3. Analogy-based references were more time efficient …

Memory And The Realization Of The Nothingness. On A Letter Of Vittorio Sereni To Giuseppe Ungaretti, Stefano Giannini

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

The problematic relationship of Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) with Alexandria of Egypt – his city of birth – sheds light on the interplay between memory and oblivion in his poetry and prose. The shuttling back and forth between these poles marks the nature of his unfulfilled desire to recreate a lost Alexandrian atmosphere. In Ungaretti’s works, language opacity is coupled with his attempts to represent a city—as he writes—that is suffocated by the sun and whose hidden ancient port is submerged in the depth of the sea. Blinding light and the darkness of the deep waters make the understanding of Ungaretti’s …

Referring Forms And Cognitive Status In Non-Narrative American Sign Language Texts, Tamara Michelle Grosso

Theses and Dissertations

In their work on referring expressions and cognition, Gundel et al. (1993) propose a model called the Givenness Hierarchy which suggests that there are basic referring expressions in languages which can signal the cognitive status of their referents. Supported by cross-linguistic research, the theory proposes six cognitive statuses which have forms associated with them such that if that form is used (successfully), the referent must have at least that status on the scale. In 2002, Swabey published a doctoral dissertation researching the Givenness Hierarchy for American Sign Language (ASL) in narrative texts. She compared the distribution of referring forms cross-linguistically …

The N170 Erp Component Differs In Laterality, Distribution, And Association With Continuous Reading Measures For Deaf And Hearing Readers, Karen Emmorey, Katherine J. Midgley, Casey B. Kohen, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Phillipp J. Holcomb

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

The temporo-occipitally distributed N170 ERP component is hypothesized to reflect print-tuning in skilled readers. This study investigated whether skilled deaf and hearing readers (matched on reading ability, but not phonological awareness) exhibit similar N170 patterns, given their distinct experiences learning to read. Thirty-two deaf and 32 hearing adults viewed words and symbol strings in a familiarity judgment task. In the N170 epoch (120–240 ms) hearing readers produced greater negativity for words than symbols at left hemisphere (LH) temporo-parietal and occipital sites, while deaf readers only showed this asymmetry at occipital sites. Linear mixed effects regression was used to examine the …

Structural Narratology In Romanian Sign Language Personal Experience Narratives, Jessica Sohre

Theses and Dissertations

The primary focus of this paper is to examine how personal experience narratives in Romanian Sign Language (LSR) compare to previous research in structural narratology in spoken languages and in American Sign Language (ASL). One main area of comparison is the differences and similarities in the type of information found in structural narrative categories as described by Labov and Waletsky (1967), Labov (1972), Brewer (1984), Dooley and Levinsohn (2001) and Mulrooney (2009). The second main area of comparison is the grammatical devices that correlate to certain categories, in particular, using Liddell's (2003) concepts of surrogate, depicting verb and token blends. …

Improving Deaf Citizens' Participation In The American Electoral Process, Jehanne Mccullough

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Improving Deaf people’s participation in politics involved a service-learning project with three activities. First, the Deaf People for Hillary campaign focused on maintaining nationwide social media platforms; increasing Deaf representation in the Hillary for America (HFA) campaign and its disability community taskforce; and testing get-out-the-vote (GOTV) strategies among Deaf people in the Nevada primary. Second, an internship with the HFA campaign at the national headquarters included a first in campaign and political party history: an American Sign Language (ASL) voter assistance videophone hotline operated by volunteers to serve all voters regardless of party. Third, a post-election survey of Deaf non-voters …

Lexical Categories In Lengua De Señas Argentina, Roman Caceres

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to identify lexical categories of Lengua de Señas Argentina (LSA). Sign languages, in general, have not been extensively researched. For example, the LSA section of the World Atlas of Language Structures only mentions irregular negatives and question particles.

The research methodology included interviews with fluent deaf signers. Different descriptions in LSA were video recorded, annotated and analyzed. The researcher made initial hypotheses about the syntactic nature of signs based on the strategy used for their elicitation. Then, the researcher tested the hypotheses through syntactic analysis.

During the analysis, the researcher identified two varieties of …

Implicit Co-Activation Of American Sign Language In Deaf Readers: An Erp Study, Gabriela Meade, Katherine J. Midgley, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Phillipp J. Holcomb, Karen Emmorey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

In an implicit phonological priming paradigm, deaf bimodal bilinguals made semantic relatedness decisions for pairs of English words. Half of the semantically unrelated pairs had phonologically related translations in American Sign Language (ASL). As in previous studies with unimodal bilinguals, targets in pairs with phonologically related translations elicited smaller negativities than targets in pairs with phonologically unrelated translations within the N400 window. This suggests that the same lexicosemantic mechanism underlies implicit co-activation of a non-target language, irrespective of language modality. In contrast to unimodal bilingual studies that find no behavioral effects, we observed phonological interference, indicating that bimodal bilinguals may …

Pirandello And Satire. The Imaginary Journey Of Four Authors In Search Of A Character According To Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff (1889-1930), Stefano Giannini

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

Drawing on a little-known work by Scott-Moncrieff, this article investigates Luigi Pirandello’s intellectual and literary reach across genres and space, from theater to pamphlets, from Italy to the English-speaking world. A talented writer and translator, Charles K. Scott-Moncrieff published “The Strange & Striking Adventures of Four Authors in Search of a Character” by P. G. Lear & L. O in 1926. The title of the pamphlet, and the acronym of the fictional author are references to Pirandello and to his Six Characters in Search of an Author. Scott-Moncrieff had all the documents in order to write about, or in …

American Sign Language I Asl 101, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

American Sign Language Ii Asl 102, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Computer-Assisted Vocabulary Learning For Deaf Learners Of Foreign Sign Languages, Benjamin J. Cavaletto

Theses and Dissertations

Deaf people have as great or greater need and desire to learn foreign languages as their hearing peers. Currently it is difficult for these learners to find courses and materials that are appropriate for their learning needs. Especially difficult is finding courses or learning materials for learning sign languages, which are more motivating and more accessible for Deaf learners than spoken languages. Additionally, evidence is presented that learning a foreign sign language can act as a bridge to learning a spoken language from the same region. The study presented in this thesis tested the efficacy of a computer-assisted vocabulary learning …

Handshapes In Afghan Sign Language, Justin Power

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents aspects of handshapes in Afghan Sign Language [afg]. Afghan Sign Language is a Deaf sign language found in Afghanistan (Lewis, Simons, and Fennig 2014).

Signs in Afghan Sign Language contrast based on the handshape parameter. Furthermore, handshapes contrast based on selected fingers, thumb configuration, arrangement, and aperture. The thesis gives evidence for the selected fingers features [one], [two], [three], and [four]; for the thumb configuration features [opposed], [radial], and [contacting]; for the arrangement features [spread], [joined], and [crossed]; and for the aperture features [open] and [closed].

Of the 22 expected feature combinations, 18 are found in the …

Numeral Incorporation In American Sign Language, Vanessa L. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Numeral incorporation is a moderately productive process in ASL which combines a numeral and a base to form a compounded fully formed sign. Numeral-incorporated signs involve some sort of simultaneity of the base and the numeral. I interviewed six individuals who use ASL as their primary language in order to gather examples of numeral-incorporated signs in ASL, thus getting a sampling of variation in the American deaf community.

Traditionally, numeral incorporation has been viewed as a process of combining a numeral sign with a noun, which I call a source sign. Instead, I found that the source signs are separate …

Resemblance-Oriented Communication Strategies: Understanding The Role Of Resemblance In Signed And Spoken Languages, Daniel R. Eberle

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to propose that resemblance plays an important role in human communication. Saussure proposed a characteristic principle of the linguistic sign: that connections between linguistic codes and the objects they signify are arbitrary; however, I intend to show that resemblance, which I define as the visual or aural similarity between a stimulus, the thought it is intended to activate, and the real world target that utterance is about, is an important part of human communication and should be taken into consideration when defining language and proposing theories of human communication.

I have chosen Relevance Theory …

A Survey Of Those In The U.S. Deaf Community About Reading And Writing Asl, Jennifer Keogh

Theses and Dissertations

On average, students who are deaf do not develop English literacy skills as well as their hearing peers. The linguistic interdependence principle suggests that literacy in American Sign Language (ASL) may improve literacy in English for students who are deaf. However, the Deaf community in the United States has not widely adopted a written form of ASL. This research surveys individuals in the U.S. Deaf community to better understand the opinions surrounding literacy in ASL.

The survey was presented online, containing both ASL in embedded videos and written English. The survey asked for the participants' demographic information, language and educational …

Toward A Further Understanding Of The Extensibility Of Sign Languages, Jason Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

Sign language video recordings have limited extensibility when compared with live, face-to-face communication by signers. In an effort to improve the extensibility of video recordings this study explores the possibility of leveraging a common meaning negotiation technique, depictional signing, to increase understanding of recorded texts. In an effort to gauge the understanding of depictional signing compared to lexical signing a Recorded Text Test was devised using two texts, one with a high number of visual depictions, the other with a high number of lexical signs. While a comparison of the results of the two tests did not substantiate the hypothesis …

The Mouthing Of Verbs In Japanese Sign Language, Mark Penner

Theses and Dissertations

Analyzing four publicly available stories told by Japanese Deaf people, this paper shows that verbs are mouthed in natural Japanese Sign Language roughly 20% of the time, whereas other word classes are mouthed roughly 46% of the time. More than half of mouthed verbs are always or nearly always mouthed as one of their lexical properties. Abstract verbs tend to be mouthed more frequently than concrete verbs. When a Japanese Sign Language verb corresponds to a word that is not a verb in Japanese, it is far more likely to be mouthed. Verbs in headed relative clauses are mouthed whenever …

Locative Expressions In Signed Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison, Sarah E. Eberle

Theses and Dissertations

The primary focus of this paper is to examine whether sign languages organize their locative expressions similarly to spoken languages. Paving the way in the study of spatial relations by focusing on the structuring of ON and IN locatives in spoken languages, Bowerman and colleagues (Bowerman 1980; Melissa Bowerman & Eric Pederson 1992a; Bowerman 1993; 1994; 1996a; 1996b; Bowerman & Levinson 2001) found that spoken languages organize the locative phrases representing the relationships of ON and IN in a continuum which is called the ON-IN continuum.

This thesis shows that sign languages do not linguistically pattern similarly to spoken languages …

Predicate Structures, Gesture, And Simultaneity In The Representation Of Action In British Sign Language: Evidence From Deaf Children And Adults, Kearsy Cormier, Sandra Smith, Zed Sehyr

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

British Sign Language (BSL) signers use a variety of structures, such as constructed action (CA), depicting constructions (DCs), or lexical verbs, to represent action and other verbal meanings. This study examines the use of these verbal predicate structures and their gestural counterparts, both separately and simultaneously, in narratives by deaf children with various levels of exposure to BSL (ages 5;1 to 7;5) and deaf adult native BSL signers. Results reveal that all groups used the same types of predicative structures, including children with minimal BSL exposure. However, adults used CA, DCs, and/or lexical signs simultaneously more frequently than children. These …

Classifier Constructions As Procedural Signs In American Sign Language, Stephen Perry Jones Ii

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I will be analyzing what has typically, in sign language literature, been termed classifiers and classifier constructions. I will be approaching them from the pragmatic perspective by applying Relevance Theory to explain their usage as representations that manipulate and modify their referents. The data comes from texts signed by native users of American Sign Language and are from academic lectures, interviews, narrative, and course curriculum. I have found that Relevance Theory adequately describes why and when classifiers constructions are used and that they function as a procedural referring expression.

The Paradox Of Amnesia: Tondelli's Un Weekend Postmoderno, Stefano Giannini

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

Tondelli opens his Un weekend postmoderno. Cronache dagli anni Ottanta declaring an intention opposite to the display of amnesia. In the long table of contents of his book, he writes down everything, in an excruciating streaming of details, so that the table of content becomes an exhaustive index of names and ideas. Yet, hidden within the hundreds of analytical snapshots, one of its many characters mentions the importance of dissimulation. Dissimulation, according to Tondelli, hides what is known, to protect the dissimulator and to mask the truth. Also, amnesia is a voluntary practice that can be enacted in order to …

Participatory Methods In Sociolinguistic Sign Language Survey: A Case Study In El Salvador, Julia Ciupek-Reed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a three-week sociolinguistic survey of El Salvador's Deaf community that was carried out in June and July 2009. The survey utilized various traditional tools that have been used in previous sign language surveys, as well as some new tools derived from participatory research methodology. Results from the various tools were analyzed to form conclusions about the language community and its goals for language development. El Salvador's Deaf community uses Salvadoran Sign Language (LESSA) most commonly, but various subgroups also use American Sign Language (ASL), and Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO), as well as switching between language varieties …

Lexicalization And De-Lexicalization Processes In Sign Languages: Comparing Depicting Constructions And Viewpoint Gestures, Kearsy Cormier, David Quinto-Pozos, Zed Sehyr, Adam Schembri

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper, we compare so-called “classifier” constructions in signed languages (which we refer to as “depicting constructions”) with comparable iconic gestures produced by non-signers. We show clear correspondences between entity constructions and observer viewpoint gestures on the one hand, and handling constructions and character viewpoint gestures on the other. Such correspondences help account for both lexicalisation and de-lexicalisation processes in signed languages and how these processes are influenced by viewpoint. Understanding these processes is crucial when coding and annotating natural sign language data.

Student Interpreters Show Encoding And Recall Differences For Information In English And American Sign Language, Jesse R. James, Kara I. Gabriel

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study investigated whether student interpreters encode and recall words differently in signed and spoken languages. Participants viewed and then recalled word lists, half of which were related through specific encoding strategies (i.e., experimental lists), and half of which lacked the availability of those strategies (i.e., control lists). Total words recalled and the temporal recall order were compared across experimental and control lists. Student interpreters utilised different strategies to remember words in English and American Sign Language (ASL), suggesting that student interpreters do not default to first-language (English) spoken strategies when encoding second-language (ASL) signed lists. However, the total number …

Sign Language Word List Comparisons: Toward A Replicable Coding And Scoring Methodology, Jason Parks

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes and evaluates a methodology for sign language word list comparisons. The purpose of this sociolinguistic research tool is to identify similarity relationships among sign language varieties by assessing similarities of lexical items. Similarities are calculated using the Levenshtein distance metric which measures the number of differences between signs.

In this study, the methodology was refined for optimal efficiency through an analysis of: which parameters of a sign should be compared, which values should be included in each parameter value inventory, and which items should be used in the word list. As a result of the study, I …

A Grammar Of Signwriting, Stuart M. Thiessen

Theses and Dissertations

Signed languages have not enjoyed the benefits of writing for lack of an effective writing system. Writing systems designed for spoken languages are not easily adaptable to signed languages because signed languages are not based on sound. A successful writing system for sign languages must convey a different set of articulators, namely the configurations and movements of the hands, head, and body to convey meaning. This necessarily means that writing systems for signed languages must find a way to express those articulators, reducing a three-dimensional event to a written representation.

One such writing system is SignWriting, a system developed by …

Comparing Deaf Native Signers And Deaf Early Signers With Respect To Phonological Perception, Ian Deandrea-Lazarus

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Common criteria for a native ASL signer include exposure to ASL from birth and having Deaf parents. This study questions the necessity of the second criterion by comparing two groups: 16 Deaf adults with Deaf parents and exposed to ASL from birth, and 16 Deaf adults with hearing parents and exposed to ASL before age two. All determined whether pairs of pseudosigns, sometimes differing in phonological details, matched. The two groups did not differ significantly on accuracy, but the first group responded faster than the second group on average. These findings suggest processing differences between the two groups, but otherwise …

Place Names In Israeli Sign Language, Bettina Revilla

Theses and Dissertations

One of the obstacles in translating the Hebrew Scriptures into sign language is the lack of signs for Biblical places in most sign languages of the world. What solutions are there? One possibility is to borrow existing signs for Biblical places from another sign language, particularly from Israeli Sign Language, since Israeli Deaf already have signs for the places where they live.

There is a trend towards borrowing foreign place name signs (toponyms), especially when a language does not have a sign. This research provides a corpus of Israeli Sign Language (ISL) toponyms for ninety-two place names, documenting in photos …

Luciano Bianciardi’S Aprire Il Fuoco: On The Function Of Literature In Society, Stefano Giannini

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

This is the first article to assess the importance of Luciano Bianciardi’s last novel, Aprire il fuoco [Open Fire!](1969), a work often overlooked, that offers crucial insights into Bianciardi’s commitments to social causes. A so-called “irregular” of 20th-century Italian literary panorama, Luciano Bianciardi (1922-1971) in his Aprire il fuoco discusses his idea of literature as an activity that must aim at assuming the role of ethical guide in societies. In my article, I gloss the often obscure historical and literary references of the novel, and provide a critical assessment of its impact.