Els van der Kooij

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.

The phonology of focus in Sign Language of the Netherlands

Signed languages are similar to spoken languages in the overall organisation of their grammars, displaying a prosodic level of organisation that is not isomorphic to the syntactic organisation. Their rich inventory of manual and non-manual features allows for a prolific range of functions if used prosodically. New data from Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT, Nederlandse Gebarentaal) are discussed to demonstrate that focused constituents are not marked by a single prosodic feature, but rather by multiple properties that can also have other functions in the prosodic phonology of the language. These findings are integrated in an overall model of sign language prosody that emphasises the distinction between phonetic appearance and phonological representation and that allows for the interaction of linguistic and paralinguistic cues in visual communication.

Topic agreement in NGT (Sign Language of the Netherlands)

Abstract In this article we investigate topics in NGT (Sign Language of the Netherlands). NGT is a topic-prominent language in which sentences start with the topic(s) and the remainder of the sentence is interpreted as a comment about that topic. Topics are identifiable in NGT first and foremost by their prosody: they always form a separate prosodic unit. We show that NGT has different types of topics that can precede the rest of the sentence: argument topics and spatio-temporal topics. Both types of topic occur sentence-initially, but when both are present in one sentence, argument topics precede spatio-temporal topics. The main aim of our article is to argue that all types of topics can be referred to by sentence-final indexes, contra Bos (Pronoun copy in Sign Language of the Netherlands: 1–3, Signum, 1995) who claimed that copied sentence-final indexes always refer to subjects. We will analyze these clause-final anaphoric pronouns as an instantiation of topic agreement. Thus, we argue that NGT has topic agreement.

Coarticulation of hand height in Sign Language of the Netherlands is affected by contact type

Abstract Recently, several studies found coarticulation effects for hand location in American Sign Language. In the present study, we established similar effects for Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT). Moreover, we examined whether the degree of coarticulation of location is sensitive to phonological distinctions. We investigated whether types of major locations in the lexicon (i.e., ‘weak hand’, ‘torso’, and ‘neutral space’) showed different degrees of sensitivity to the surrounding signs. Additionally, we investigated whether different types of movement (i.e., initial contact or final contact with the body) influenced the susceptibility of a sign to change its location under the influence of neighbouring signs. Five deaf adult signers participated in our study. The data were collected using CyberGlove and Flock of Bird, respectively tracking the bending of the fingers with 22 resistant bend-sensors and the X , Y , and Z coordinates. Location of hand height was measured in sign series, comparing the effect of surrounding signs at high and low locations. Results showed that height of the neighbouring signs influenced location height of the target sign. Moreover, coarticulation of location was sensitive to phonological distinctions in the lexicon. Strongest effects of coarticulation were observed at the location ‘weak hand’, and were heavily influenced by contact type.