Sign Language and Gesture

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1 Sign Language and Gesture Introduction to Applied Linguistics Vivian Raithel

2 Remember the talk about gesture? There are codified and non-codified gestures (among others) Non-codified gestures: beat gestures Codified (conventionalized) gestures: symbolic gestures and deictic gestures

3 Deictic gestures are, for example: pointing, showing, giving,... Symbolic gestures are, for example: eat, drink,...

4 Where else would you find codified gestures? In sign languages!

5 Applied Linguistics??? Is sign language the same as a spoken language? Do we find corresponding parts in a sign language for levels of expression separate lexicon separate grammar phonetics phonology? How is sign language acquired? How do Deaf people learn to deal with non-dgs skills (German reading/writing, math)? How do you write a sign language dictionary?

6 Questions about Sign Language Is sign language universal? no, it is not! every language community has its own sign language - German Sign Language - Austrian Sign Language - Irish Sign Language - Australian Sign Language - British Sign Language - American Sign Language - French Sign Language -...

7 Sign Language is an officially recognized language in Germany (since May 2003)

8 Are there different dialects? Yes, there are. e.g. there are different signs for some lexical items in Hamburg, Berlin, Aachen, Munich,...

9 Iconic Signs Before we talked about symbolic gestures In sign language they are called iconic signs

10 Iconic Signs Task I: Think of some iconic signs. How would you sign the following items: - PROFESSOR - STUDENT - LINGUISTIK - PHONETIK -KURS -BIELEFELD

11 Iconic signs are also called transparent Task II: Why are also called transparent?

12 Examples: ESSEN HAUS SCHLAFEN...

13 Structure of Sign Language

14 Phonology (= Chirology) Manual vs. non-manual components Handshape Position of hand(s) Place of signing Movement of sign Manual dominance (one-handed and twohanded signs)

15 Phonology (= Chirology)... Manual vs. non-manual components Handshape Position of hand(s) = place of articulation Place of signing Movement of sign = manner of articulation Manual dominance (one-handed and twohanded signs)

16 ... Phonology (= Chirology) Manual vs. nonmanual components Facial expression Gaze Head Expression of mouth (Mundbild) Upper body

17 ... Phonology (= Chirology) Manual vs. nonmanual components Facial expression Gaze Head Expression of mouth (Mundbild) Upper body prosody

18 Morphology Smallest meaningful linguistic unit Classifiers (Klassifikatoren) bicycle car... Singular dual plural ein Glas, zwei Gläser, viele Gläser (three or more glasses) Comparative small, smaller, smallest to read, to read a lot...

19 Lexis Directional verbs kommen/gehen bringen/hintragen Local prepositional objects fahren nach... Incorporating signs lesen, schließen, tragen, anziehen,...

20 Syntax Sentence types declarative / interrogative / imperative / vocative / conditional facial expression

21 German Sign Language Word order: S O V Du Apfel essen. Ich Buch lesen. No verbal inflection the way we know it Tense marking at the beginning of an utterance Morgen ich Schule gehen.

22 German Sign Language GSL (DSG) makes use of the 3-dimension signing space Ich treffe eine andere Person. Wir treffen einander. Pronominal reference within the signing space.

23 Language Acquisition Do Deaf and hearing children go through the same stages of language acquisition?

24 Language Acquisition Yes, they do!!

25 Language Acquisition Deaf children start with babbling and nonverbal communication Facial expressions and gestures are very important This repertoire is extended by Deaf children Their interactional development is very often impaired

26 Hearing children on the other hand do not only use facial and manual gestures but also vocal gestures Starting with three months hearing children produce more and more sounds without any relation to their mother tongue These first three months with babbling can also be seen in Deaf children

27 At the time when hearing children start imitating the sounds of their mother tongue we see that Deaf children reduce their babbling drastically Yet, children between the age of nine and 13 months use vocalization and gestures to the same extent regardless of their mother tongue (spoken or signed)

28 At the age of 12 months children start to use certain sounds in reference to their denoted objects At the age of 18 months children start to use two-word / -sign utterances (both using the gestural and acoustic modality)

29 But: Hearing children will produce two-word utterances only - gestures will still be used but to a lesser extent - this will happen only in a hearing environment Deaf children will produce two-sign utterances - this will happen only in a signed environment (regardless of whether the child is Deaf or hearing)

30 Consequently, we can say that words and signs appear at the same time and that both hearing and Deaf children go through the same language acquisition stages

31 Language Acquisition Problems Why is SL acquisition often difficult for Deaf children/people? What is different from the acquisition of spoken languages?

32 Language Competence and Performance... Deaf people are born with the same faculty for language learning as hearing children Many Deaf children have hearing parents who do not "speak sign language These children very often learn/encounter sign language for the first time when they enter elementary school Up to then they have not had the chance of developing a full language system

33 Can you imagine not having a language to communicate in with your parents? Imagine they cannot understand you or you, them! Now in school you think everything is going to be better for Deaf children!

34 Ha! Here children encounter the next problem They are taught in spoken language and may not use sign language inside the classroom a few exceptions are possible Why is that a problem?

35 Because they have to read from the teacher s lips or use hearing aids in order to activate the little that is left of their hearing Deaf children have to learn how to read and write a language that is not their own in a language that is not their own remember: German Sign Language has a reversed word order and no inflections etc.

36 ...Language Competence and Performance If they have a sign language environment they will acquire (sign) language the way hearing children acquire spoken language

37 Question: What can be done to help Deaf children learn how to read and write?

38 Project AILB (Aachener Internetlernsoftware zur Qualifizierung berufsuchender Gehörloser) What is the goal? How can it be reached?

39 By the time young Deaf people leave school (usually Haupt- or Realschule) their reading skills are on the level of fourth graders and their math skills on the level of sixth graders How are these young people supposed to compete and survive in the working world?

40 The goal of AILB is to help these young people who are seeking a job AILB is an internet platform which offers courses in German reading and writing ( , advertisement, information texts,...) as well as in basic mathematical training (percentage calculation, fractions, units of measurement,...)

48 Applied Linguistics??? Homework Is sign language the same as a spoken language? Do we find corresponding parts in a sign language for levels of expression separate lexicon separate grammar phonetics phonology? How is sign language acquired? How do Deaf people learn to deal with non-dgs skills (German reading/writing, math)? How do you write a sign language dictionary?

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