Connie De Vos

Mixed signals: Combining linguistic and affective functions of eyebrows in questions in Sign Language of the Netherlands

The eyebrows are used as conversational signals in face-to-face spoken interaction (Ekman, 1979). In Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT), the eyebrows are typically furrowed in content questions, and raised in polar questions (Coerts, 1992). On the other hand, these eyebrow positions are also associated with anger and surprise, respectively, in general human communication (Ekman, 1993). This overlap in the functional load of the eyebrow positions results in a potential conflict for NGT signers when combining these functions simultaneously. In order to investigate the effect of the simultaneous realization of both functions on the eyebrow position we elicited instances of both question types with neutral affect and with various affective states. The data were coded using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS: Ekman, Friesen, & Hager, 2002) for type of brow movement as well as for intensity. FACS allows for the coding of muscle groups, which are termed Action Units (AUs) and which produce facial appearance changes. The results show that linguistic and affective functions of eyebrows may influence each other in NGT. That is, in surprised polar questions and angry content question a phonetic enhancement takes place of raising and furrowing, respectively. In the items with contrasting eyebrow movements, the grammatical and affective AUs are either blended (occur simultaneously) or they are realized sequentially. Interestingly, the absence of eyebrow raising (marked by AU 1+2) in angry polar questions, and the presence of eyebrow furrowing (realized by AU 4) in surprised content questions suggests that in general AU 4 may be phonetically stronger than AU 1 and AU 2, independent of its linguistic or affective function.

Turn-timing in signed conversations. Coordinating stroke-to-stroke turn boundaries

In spoken interactions, interlocutors carefully plan, and time their utterances, minimizing gaps and overlaps between consecutive turns. Cross-linguistic comparison has indicated that spoken languages vary only minimally in terms of turn-timing, and language acquisition research has shown pre-linguistic vocal turn-taking in the first half year of life. These observations suggest that the turn-taking system may provide a fundamental basis for our linguistic capacities. The question remains, however, to what extent our capacity for rapid turn-taking is determined by modality constraints. The avoidance of overlapping turns could be motivated by the difficulty of hearing and speaking at the same time. If so, turn-taking in sign might show greater toleration for overlap. Alternatively, signed conversations may show a similar distribution of turn-timing as spoken languages, thus avoiding both gaps and overlaps. To address this question we look at turn-timing in question–answer sequences in spontaneous conversations of Sign Language of the Netherlands. The findings indicate that although there is considerable overlap in two or more signers’ articulators in conversation, when proper allowance is made for onset preparation, post-utterance retraction and the intentional holding of signs for response, turn-taking latencies in sign look remarkably like those reported for spoken language. This is consistent with the possibility that, at least with regard to responses to questions, speakers and signers follow similar time courses in planning and producing their utterances in on-going conversation. This suggests that turn-taking systems may well be a shared cognitive infrastructure underlying all modern human languages, both spoken and signed.

The Kata Kolok pointing system: morphemization and syntactic integration.

Signed utterances are densely packed with pointing signs, reaching a frequency of one in six signs in spontaneous conversations (de Vos, 2012; Johnston, 2013a; Morford & MacFarlane, 2003). These pointing signs attain a wide range of functions and are formally highly diversified. Based on corpus analysis of spontaneous pointing signs in Kata Kolok, a rural signing variety of Bali, this paper argues that the full meaning potentials of pointing signs come about through the integration of a varied set of linguistic and extralinguistic cues. Taking this hybrid nature of pointing phenomena into account, it is argued that pointing signs may become an intrinsic aspect of sign language grammars through two mechanisms: morphemization and syntactic integration. Although not entailed in this research, this approach could implicate that some highly systematized pointing systems of speaking communities may to a degree be grammatical as well.

Cardinal numerals in rural sign languages: Approaching cross-modal typology

Abstract This article presents data on cardinal numerals in three sign languages from small-scale communities with hereditary deafness. The unusual features found in these data considerably extend the known range of typological variety across sign languages. Some features, such as non-decimal numeral bases, are unattested in sign languages, but familiar from spoken languages, while others, such as subtractive sub-systems, are rare in sign and speech. We conclude that for a complete typological appraisal of a domain, an approach to cross-modal typology, which includes a typologically diverse range of sign languages in addition to spoken languages, is both instructive and feasible.

Kata Kolok color terms and the emergence of lexical signs in rural signing communities

ABSTRACT How do new languages develop systematic ways to talk about sensory experiences, such as color? To what extent is the evolution of color terms guided by societal factors? This article describes the color lexicon of a rural sign language called Kata Kolok that emerged approximately one and a half centuries ago in a Balinese village. Kata Kolok has four color signs: black, white, red, and a blue-green term. In addition, two non-conventionalized means are used to provide color descriptions: naming relevant objects, and pointing to objects in the vicinity. Comparison with Balinese culture and spoken Balinese brings to light discrepancies between the systems, suggesting that neither cultural practices nor language contact have driven the formation of color signs in Kata Kolok. The few lexicographic investigations from other rural sign languages report limitations in the domain of color. On the other hand, larger, urban signed languages have extensive systems, for example, Australian sign Language has up to nine color terms. These comparisons support the finding that rural sign languages like Kata Kolok fail to provide the societal pressures for the lexicon to expand further.ABSTRACTHow do new languages develop systematic ways to talk about sensory experiences, such as color? To what extent is the evolution of color terms guided by societal factors? This article describes the color lexicon of a rural sign language called Kata Kolok that emerged approximately one and a half centuries ago in a Balinese village. Kata Kolok has four color signs: black, white, red, and a blue-green term. In addition, two non-conventionalized means are used to provide color descriptions: naming relevant objects, and pointing to objects in the vicinity. Comparison with Balinese culture and spoken Balinese brings to light discrepancies between the systems, suggesting that neither cultural practices nor language contact have driven the formation of color signs in Kata Kolok. The few lexicographic investigations from other rural sign languages report limitations in the domain of color. On the other hand, larger, urban signed languages have extensive systems, for example, Australian sign Language has up...

Sampling shared sign languages

This article addresses some of the theoretical questions, ethical considerations, and methodological decisions that guided the creation of the Kata Kolok corpus as well as the Kata Kolok child signing corpus. This discussion is relevant to the formation of prospective sign corpora that aim to portray the various sociolinguistic landscapes in which sign languages, whether rural or urban, emerge and evolve.

Interactive sequences modulate the selection of expressive forms in cross-signing

This study looks at how linguistic conventions arise in the context of face-toface, real-time interaction. This topic is difficult to study because initial contact events for most languages happened long ago. Two approaches try to tackle this. The first is experimental semiotics: putting people in a situation where they need to improvise a new communication system. Studies have considered the relative role of different biases in this process (Tamariz, et al., 2014) such as frequency bias (where the more frequent signs prevail), content bias (where the more iconically motivated, and/or easily articulated form is selected), and coordination bias (where participants attempt to match each other’s usage). However, these experiments typically involve an artificial language or a restricted or unfamiliar communication medium which are used by participants who already share a common language and culture. This limits the ecological validity of these experiments, especially relating to face-to-face interaction. Another approach has been to study the emergence of new signed languages which emerge spontaneously from scratch, allowing the study of the formation processes of modern human languages in real life. This process has been welldocumented in the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language, which emerged over the course of several decades in a deaf school (Senghas & Coppola, 2001), as well as in multiple ‘deaf villages’ where a local sign language has emerged from the interaction of deaf and hearing community members (Meir et al. 2010). Lesser-known instances of de novo signed communication arises between deaf and hearing nonsigners (trans-languaging), and among deaf signers who do not know a common written or signed language (cross-signing, Kusters et al. 2017; Buyn et al., 2017). Cross-signing is of particular interest as it creates a real-time pressure to establish a shared communicative repertoire. However, these studies are often not designed to be experimentally controlled, and rarely capture the very first period of the emergence of a signed language. In this study we combine the control of experimental semiotics with the eco67

[Review of the book Deaf around the World: The impact of language / ed. by Mathur & Napoli]

(first paragraph) Since its advent half a century ago, the field of sign language linguistics has had close ties to education and the empowerment of deaf communities, a union that is fittingly celebrated by Deaf around the world: The impact of language. With this fruitful relationship in mind, sign language researchers and deaf educators gathered in Philadelphia in 2008, and in the volume under review, Gaurav Mathur & Donna Jo Napoli (henceforth M&N) present a selection of papers from this conference, organised in two parts: ‘Sign languages: Creation, context, form’, and ‘Social issues/civil rights ’...