Sign languages Flashcards
Sign languages
Languages that transmit information through the electromagnetic spectrum (sight) by modifying the position of the hands, arms, and other body parts
Modality of sign languages
Manual-visual
Number of sign languages in the world
100-300
Iconicity
connection between form and meaning
* For spoken languages, onomatopoeia
Iconicity in sign languages
Iconicity is more common in sign languages and operates over different words
* However, sign languages are not simply visual imitations of the real world (i.e. pantomime)
Sign languages and spoken languages are most similar at the ____ level (syntax and semantics) and most different at the ____ level (phonetics and phonology)
Most similar at the high level
Most different at the low level
Joints in manual articulation from proximal to distal
- Shoulder
- Elbow
- Radioulnar
- Wrist
In hand : - Base knuckles
- Interphalangeal
All sign languages occasionally also make use of these non-manual articulators
- Face, torso, etc. for prosody
Abduction vs adduction
left-right, up-down
* Shoulder, wrist, base knuckles
Abduction is moving away from
Adduction is moving toward
Flexion vs extension
away-toward, up-down
* Shoulder, elbow, wrist, base knuckles, interphalangeal joints
Flexion is moving towards
Extension is moving away from
Rotation
- Shoulder, radioulnar joint
Movement is defined with respect to the position of the ____
Joint (not absolute 3D position)
4 dimensions of signs
- Handshape: configuration of base and interphalangeal joints
-
Orientation: (absolute) direction of the hand
- Palm orientation: the direction of the palm
- Finger orientation: the direction of the metacarpals (bones that end in knuckles, not the fingers themselves) - Location: where, relative to the body, the sign is taking place
- Movement: the type of movement
Minimal pairs in sign language can differ on…
- Orientation (both palm and finger orientation can differ in a single minimal pair)
- Location
- Movement (e.g. move in vs away)
Unmarked handshapes across sign languages
flat-B, 5, A, S, O, C, I
