Implicational Variation in American Sign Language: Negative Incorporation

Woodward, James

doi:10.1353/sls.1974.0006

Cited by 28 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…38 There is a small number of lexicalized forms in ASL that include a negative suffix different from the suffix described here (Woodward 1974). In these forms, the base sign truncates, yielding a morphologically complex word with the canonical LML form (Sandler 1993a(Sandler , 1999.…”

Section: Iconicity In Spoken Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Paradox of Sign Language Morphology

Aronoff¹,

Meir²,

Sandler³

2005

lan

280

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sign languages have two strikingly different kinds of morphological structure: sequential and simultaneous. The simultaneous morphology of two unrelated sign languages, American and Israeli Sign Language, is very similar and is largely inflectional, while what little sequential morphology we have found differs significantly and is derivational. We show that at least two pervasive types of inflectional morphology, verb agreement and classifier constructions, are iconically grounded in spatiotemporal cognition, while the sequential patterns can be traced to normal historical development. We attribute the paucity of sequential morphology in sign languages to their youth. This research both brings sign languages much closer to spoken languages in their morphological structure and shows how the medium of communication contributes to the structure of languages.* Si l'on pouvait inventer une langue dont les dictions eussent leur signification naturelle, de sorte que tous les hommes entendissent la pensée des autres à la seule prononciation sans en avoir appris la signification, comme ils entendent que l'on se rejoueit lorsque l'on rit, et que l'on est triste quand on pleure, cette langue serait la meilleure de toutes les possibles; car elle ferait la mesme impression sur tous les auditeurs, que feraient les pensées de l'esprit si elles se pouvaient immédiatement communiquer entre les hommes comme entre les Anges. (Mersenne, Harmonie universelle, 1636) [If one could invent a language whose expressions had their natural signification, so that all men could understand the thought of others by pronunciation alone without having learned its signification, as they understand that one is happy when one laughs, and that one is sad when one cries, this language would be the best of all possible: for it would make the same impression on all hearers as would the thoughts of the spirit if they could be communicated immediately between men as between the angels.] [our translation] If humans could communicate by telepathy, there would be no need for a phonological component, at least for the purposes of communication; and the same extends to the use of language generally. (Noam Chomsky, The minimalist program, 1995:221)

show abstract

Section: Iconicity In Spoken Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Paradox of Sign Language Morphology

Aronoff¹,

Meir²,

Sandler³

2005

lan

280

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to Woodward (1974), these predicates include GOOD, WANT, LiKe, and, now very marginally, HAVe. note that they are all stative predicates.…”

Section: Negative Derivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This process occurs in many sign languages, and according to Sutton-Spence and Woll (1999:77), "these verbs are often verbs of experience or sensation". examples include: 'have-not', 'like-not', 'want-not', 'know-not', 'disagree', 'believe-not', 'should-not' (Deuchar, 1984;Baker-Shenk & Cokely, 1996;Woodward, 1974).…”

Section: Turnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interrogative and Negative Constructions in Sign Language

Zeshan¹

2006

179

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Sign Language Typology Series is dedicated to the comparative study of sign languages around the world. Individual or collective works that systematically explore typological variation across sign languages are the focus of this series, with particular emphasis on undocumented, underdescribed and endangered sign languages. The scope of the series primarily includes cross-linguistic studies of grammatical domains across a larger or smaller sample of sign languages, but also encompasses the study of individual sign languages from a typological perspective and comparison between signed and spoken languages in terms of language modality, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to sign language typology. We started talking about sign languages and deaf communities, and, becoming more and more surprised at all the strange facts I was bringing to his notice, he summed up our discussion with the words: "I only came to find a new television, but I found a whole new world!". Since 1994, my work in the world of deaf communities in various countries has brought with it a constant stream of memorable moments. A nightly journey in 1998 on a bicycle-rickshaw through a quarter of the old city in Delhi to visit a deaf family, in almost total darkness due to one of the usual electricity cuts. The first Indian conference on bilingualism in deaf education in Hyderabad in 2001. A long evening in Eskişehir learning the local games of chance in the deaf club together with some of my first Turkish signs. A week trapped in snowstorms in the worst Istanbul winter in decades, and severe Monsoon floodings in Mumbai. And above all, the long nights of relentless and addictive signing.Working in developing countries means working under the constant strain of insufficient resources and, at times, personal hardship, but more often than not, this is counterbalanced by the amazing human resources to be found in the deaf communities themselves. I gratefully acknowledge that they have been my main source of inspiration, and so it is to them that I wish to dedicate this volume.On the academic side, I am no less grateful to the many people who have accompanied me on various stages of the journey towards the beginnings of sign language typology. I owe a lot to the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT) in Australia, which was my host institution in Canberra and in Melbourne between 1999 and 2003. The framework for a large cross-linguistic study on negatives and interrogatives in sign languages, which has resulted in the present volume, first took shape at the RCLT. The subsequent development of the project is something that still surprises me. Having designed questionnaires and contacted possible collaborators around the world, the sensible expectation, which luckily I was not aware of at the time, would have been to get some basic information from a handful of respondents, if not less. Instead, I received responses for sign languages from 18 countries, varying from a few basic written answers to complete 20-page papers. Mo...

show abstract

“…ASL is a systematic natural form of communication among a stable community of users. The language is transmitted by deaf parents to their deaf (and some hearing) children and has the degree of regularity and structure required of a fully developed language (Battison, 1974; Bellugi, Klima, & Siple, 1975;Frishberg, 1975;Klima & Bellugi, 1979;Woodward, 1974; Grosjean, Teuber, & Lane, Note 1; Stokoe,Note 2).…”

Section: James Stungismentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification and discrimination of handshape in American Sign Language

Stungis

1981

Perception & Psychophysics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lane, Boyes-Braem, and Bellugi (1976) suggested that American Sign Language (ASL) was perceived according to distinctive features, as is the case with speech. They advanced a binary model of distinctive features for one component of ASL signs, handshape. To test the validity of this model, three native users of ASL and three English speakers who knew no ASL participated in two experiments. In the first, subjects identified ASL handshapes obscured by visual noise, and confusion frequencies yielded similarity scores for all possible pairs of handshapes. Pairs that shared more features according to the model produced higher similarity scores for both groups of subjects. In the second experiment, subjects discriminated a subset of all possible handshape pairs in a speeded "same-different" task; discrimination accuracy and reaction times yielded a d' and a d s value, respectively, for each pair. Pairs that shared more features according to a slightly revised version of the model produced lower discrimination indices for both groups. While the binary model was supported, a model in which handshape features varied continuously in two dimensions was more consistent with all sets of data. Both models describe hearing and deaf performance equally well, suggesting that linguistic experience does little to alter perception of the visual features germane to handshape identification and discrimination.American Sign Language (ASL) is the manual, visual language used by the deaf community in the United States. It is not finger-spelling, pantomime, or English on the hands. ASL is a systematic natural form of communication among a stable community of users. The language is transmitted by deaf parents to their deaf (and some hearing) children and has the degree of regularity and structure required of a fully developed language (Battison,

show abstract

Implicational Variation in American Sign Language: Negative Incorporation

Cited by 28 publications

References 4 publications

The Paradox of Sign Language Morphology

The Paradox of Sign Language Morphology

Interrogative and Negative Constructions in Sign Language

Identification and discrimination of handshape in American Sign Language

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About