Onno Crasborn

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.

Signed languages and globalization

DeafpeoplewhoformpartofaDeafcommunitycommunicateusingashared sign language. When meeting people from another language community, they can fall back on a flexible and highly context-dependent form of communication called INTERNATIONAL SIGN, in which shared elements from their own sign languages and elements of shared spoken languages are combined with pantomimic elements. Together with the fact that there are few shared sign languages, this leads to a very different global language situation for deaf people as compared to the situation for spoken languages and hearing people as analyzed in de Swaan (2001). We argue that this very flexibility in communication and the resulting global communication patterns form the core of deaf culture and a key component of the characterization of deaf people as “visual people.” (Globalization, sign language, international sign, Deaf culture, language contact, multilingualism)*

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.

Nonmanual structures in sign language

Non-manual articulations are a fundamental component of all sign languages. They include not only various aspects of facial expression but also eye gaze and the position and movement of the head and upper body. These articulators occur in all domains of sign language structure, from the lexicon to syntax and discourse. Both because of their function and because of their realization simultaneous to manual signs, non-manual structures are often compared to intonation in spoken languages.

Alignment of two languages: The spreading of mouthings in Sign Language of the Netherlands

Mouthings and mouth gestures are omnipresent in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT). Mouthings in NGT are mouth actions that have their origin in spoken Dutch, and are usually time aligned with the signs they co-occur with. Frequently, however, they spread over one or more adjacent signs, so that one mouthing co-occurs with multiple manual signs. We conducted a corpus study to explore how frequently this occurs in NGT and whether there is any sociolinguistic variation in the use of spreading. Further, we looked at the circumstances under which spreading occurs. Answers to these questions may give us insight into the prosodic structure of sign languages. We investigated a sample of the Corpus NGT containing 5929 mouthings by 46 participants. We found that spreading over an adjacent sign is independent of social factors. Further, mouthings that spread are longer than non-spreading mouthings, whether measured in syllables or in milliseconds. By using a relatively large amount of natural data, we succeeded in gaining more insight into the way mouth actions are utilised in sign languages.

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.

ISOcat data categories for signed language resources

As the creation of signed language resources is gaining speed world-wide, the need for standards in this field becomes more acute. This paper discusses the state of the field of signed language resources, their metadata descriptions, and annotations that are typically made. It then describes the role that ISOcat may play in this process and how it can stimulate standardisation without imposing standards. Finally, it makes some initial proposals for the thematic domain ‘sign language’ that was introduced in 2011.

What Does "Informed Consent" Mean in the Internet Age?: Publishing Sign Language Corpora as Open Content

Recent technologies in the area of video and Internet are allowing the creation and online publication of large signed language corpora. Primarily addressing the needs of linguists and other researchers, because of their unique character in history these data collections are also made accessible online for a general audience. This “open access” publication may benefit the language communities from which the recordings stem, yet they also raise some ethical concerns. In particular, informed consent is hard to obtain if, due to future technological developments, the consequences of online publication cannot be foreseen. While this problem cannot be resolved, in this article I propose that the benefits of open access publication outweigh the possible objections. The first-time availability of large-scale language resources to not only researchers but also members of the deaf communities that are involved opens up a new era for sign language studies, and has a potential political effect that should not be underestimated.

The prominence of spoken language elements in a sign language

Abstract Code-blends in sign languages consist of simultaneously articulated manual signs and spoken language words. These “mouthings” (typically silent articulations) have been observed for many different sign languages. The present study aims to investigate the extent of such bimodal code-mixing in sign languages by investigating the frequency of mouthings produced by deaf users of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT), their co-occurrence with pointing signs, and whether any differences can be explained by sociolinguistic variables such as regional origin and age of the signer. We investigated over 10,000 mouth actions from 70 signers, and found that the mouth and the hands are equally active during signing. Moreover, around 80 % of all mouth actions are mouthings, while the remaining 20 % are unrelated to Dutch. We found frequency differences between individual signers and a small effect for level of education, but not for other sociolinguistic variables. Our results provide genuine evidence that mouthings form an inextricable component of signed interaction. Rather than displaying effects of competition between languages or spoken language suppression, NGT signers demonstrate the potential of the visual modality to conjoin parallel information streams.