Sign Language Linguistics Course texts Overview Assessment Week 1: Introduction and history of sign language research

Transcription

1 Sign Language Linguistics 27910/37910 Instructor: Jordan Fenlon Office hours: Thursdays, 10:45-11:45 Winter quarter: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00-10:20 The course introduces students to sign languages through the core areas of linguistics (e.g., phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax, semantics and pragmatics) and with a focus on two sign languages: American Sign Language and British Sign Language. The course will cover a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of sign languages and address questions such as: 'What impact does communication modality have on language?', 'Why is the study of sign language important for understanding linguistic universals?', and 'What is the relationship between sign language and gesture?'. No previous knowledge of sign language is assumed. Course texts Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Johnston, T. and A. Schembri, (2007). Australian Sign Language: An introduction to sign language linguistics. Cambridge University Press. Overview Week Topic 1 Introduction to sign language and the deaf community 2 Phonology 3 Morphology 4 Lexicon 5 Sign language documentation (dictionaries and corpora) 6 Syntax 7 Semantics, pragmatics, and discourse 8 Bilingualism and language contact 9 Sociolinguistics 10 Issues in sign language research Assessment 1) Classroom participation and attendance (10%) 2) one 1000-word report (worth 30%) on a journal article. Due date: Thurs Week 5. 3) one 2000-word essay (worth 60%). Due date: Tuesday Week 11. Week 1: Introduction and history of sign language research Topics covered: History of deaf community; different types of sign language communities (micro/macro); Introduction to deaf culture (UK/US); issue of counting the world s sign languages; issue of counting the number of signers; sign language and endangerment; history of sign language research

2 s Press. Chapter 1 s McBurney, S. (2012), History of sign languages and sign language linguistics. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter ^Johnston, T., (2004). Whither the Deaf Community? Population, Genetics and the Future of Australian Sign Language. American Annals of the Deaf. 148(5), ^Mitchell, R.E., Young, T.A., Bachleda, B., & M. A. Karchmer, (2006). How many people use ASL in the United States? Why Estimates Need Updating. Sign Language Studies, 6(3), ^Woll, B., Sutton-Spence, R., & F. Elton, (2001). Multilingualism: The global approach to sign languages. In C. Lucas (ed.), The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages, Cambridge University Press, p8-32 Week 2: Sign language phonology Topics covered: Sign language parameters; overview of different phonological models; comparing spoken and signed languages; constraints on sign language structure; sign language syllable; phonological processes; crosslinguistic comparison of phonological variation s Press. Chapter 4 s Brentari, D. (2002). Modality differences in sign language phonology and morphophonemics. In R.P. Meier, K. Cormier & D. Quinto-Pozos (eds.), Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages. Cambridge University Press. p ^Schembri, A., McKee, D., McKee, R., Pivac, S., Johnston, T., & D. Goswell (2009). Phonological variation and change in Australian and New Zealand Sign Languages: The location variable. Language Variation and Change, 21(02), 193 ^Fenlon, J., Schembri, A., Rentelis, R., & K. Cormier, (2013) Variation in handshape and orientation in British Sign Language: The case of the 1 hand configuration. Language and Communication, 33(1), Week 3: Sign language morphology Topics covered: overview of different types of morphological processes; simultaneity and sequentiality; inflection vs. derivational morphology; compounding; sign

3 language pronouns; different types of verbs in sign languages; factors underlying directional modification of verbs. Press. Chapter 5 De Beuzeville, L., Johnston, T., & A. Schembri (2009). The use of space with indicating verbs in Auslan: a corpus based investigation. Sign Language and Linguistics, 12(1), ^Lillo-Martin, D. & R. P. Meier, (2011) On the linguistic status of agreement in sign languages. Theoretical Linguistics. 37(3-4), *Sandler, W. & D. Lillo-Martin, (2006). Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 3 & 4. ^Cormier, K. (2012). Pronouns. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach & B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp ^Aronoff, M., Meir, I., & W. Sandler, (2005). The paradox of sign language morphology. Language, 81(2), Week 4: The sign language lexicon Topics covered: Different types of signs; frequency of sign types; different models of the sign language lexicon; characteristics of each component of the lexicon how do they differ; overview of fingerspelling in BSL and ASL; classifiers in spoken and signed languages Press. Chapter 6 Zwitserlood, I., (2012). Classifiers. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, *Cormier, K., Schembri, A., & M. E. Tyrone (2008). One hand or two? Nativisation of fingerspelling in ASL and BANZSL. Sign Language & Linguistics, 11(1), ^Schembri, A. (2003). Rethinking "classifiers" in signed langauges. In K. Emmorey (Ed.), Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates ^Schembri, A., Jones, C., & Burnham, D. (2005). Comparing action gestures and classifier verbs of motion: evidence from Australian Sign Language, Taiwan Sign Language, and nonsigners' gestures without speech. Journal of Deaf Studies and Education, 10(3),

4 *Cormier, K., Quinto-Pozos, D., Sevcikova, Z., & Schembri, A. (2012). Lexicalisation and de-lexicalisation processes in sign languages: Comparing depicting constructions and viewpoint gestures. Language and Communication, 32(4), ^Fenlon, J., Schembri, A., Rentelis, R., Vinson, D., & Cormier, K. (2014). Using conversational data to determine lexical frequency in British Sign Language: The influence of text type. Lingua, 143, Week 5: Sign language dictionaries Topics covered: different types of dictionaries, representing signs in print; lemmatisation; online dictionaries; lexical databases; sign language This week s readings Zwitserlood, I Sign Language Lexicography in the Early 21st Century and a Recently Published Dictionary of Sign Language of the Netherlands. International Journal of Lexicography 23.4: Schembri, A., Fenlon, J., Rentelis, R., Reynolds, S., & Cormier, K. (2013). Building the British Sign Language Corpus. Language Documentation and Conservation, 7, Suggested further readings (*Recommended, ^if you have time) ^Fenlon, J., Cormier, K., & A. Schembri, (submitted), Building BSL SignBank: The lemma dilemma revisited. Available on Chalk. ^Johnston, T. and A. Schembri On Defining Lexeme in a Signed Language. Sign Language and Linguistics 2.2: ^Kristoffersen, J. and T. Troelsgård Electronic Sign Language Dictionaries In Granger, S. and M. Paqout (eds), Electronic Lexicography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ^Zwitserlood, I., J. Kristoffersen and T. Troelsgard Issues in Sign Language Lexicography In Jackson, H. (ed.), The Bloomsbury Companion to Lexicography. London: Bloomsbury, Week 6: Syntax Topics covered: Sentence types; clausal structure, topic and focus, interrogatives, negation, non-manual markings, prosody s Press. Chapter 7 s Zeshan, U., (2006), Negative and interrogative constructions in sign languages: a case study in sign language typology. In U. Zeshan (ed.) Interrogative and Negative Constructions in Sign Language. Ishara Press, ^Bahan, B., Kegl, J., Lee, R., MacLaughlin, D., & Neidle, C. (2000). The licensing of null arguments in American Sign Language. Linguistic inquiry, 31(1), *Nespor, M., & Sandler, W. (1999). Prosody in Israeli Sign Language. Language and

5 Speech, 42(2-3), ^Thompson, R., Emmorey, K., & Kluender, R. (2006). The Relationship between Eye Gaze and Verb Agreement in American Sign Language: An Eye-tracking Study. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 24(2), *Sandler, W., & Lillo-Martin, D. (2006). Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Unit IV on Syntax) Week 7: Semantics, pragmatics and discourse Topics covered: iconicity; metaphor; pragmatics of conversation and interaction; genre, style, register; politeness; turn-taking; constructed action Press. Chapter 8&9 s Taub (2012) Iconicity and metaphor. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ^Brennan, M. (2005). Conjoining Word and Image in British Sign Language (BSL): An Exploration of Metaphorical Signs in BSL. Sign Language Studies, 5(3), *Meir, I. (2010). Iconicity and metaphor: Constraints on metaphorical extension of iconic forms. Language, 86(4), ^Mapson, R., (2014). Polite appearances: How non-manual features convey politeness in British Sign Language. Journal of Politeness Research, 10(2), *Perniss, P., (2012) Use of sign space. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ^Taub, S. (2001). Language from the Body: Iconicity and Metaphor in American Sign Language. Cambridge University Press (Chapter 5,6,7) Quinto-Pozos, D., & Mehta, S. (2010). Register variation in mimetic gestural complements to signed language. Journal of Pragmatics, 42, Week 8: Language contact and bilingualism Topics: Mouthings; fingerspelling; code switching; code blending; international sign; pidgins & creoles; language endangerment; Adam, R. (2012). Language contact. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, TBA Suggested further readings (*Recommended, ^if you have time)

6 *Adone, D. (2012). Language emergence and creolisation In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ^Capek, C., Waters, D., Woll, B., MacSweeney, M., Brammer, M. J., McGuire, P. K., David, A. S., & R. Campbell, (2008). Hand and mouth: Cortical correlates of lexical processing in British Sign Language and speech-reading English. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(7), ^Crasborn, O., van der Kooij, E., Waters, D., Woll, B., & J. Mesch, (2008). Frequency distribution and spreading behaviour of different types of mouth actions in three sign languages. Studies in Language, 11(1), ^Vinson, D. P., Thompson, R.L., Vigliocco, G., Skinner, R., Woolfe, T., & N. Fox, (2010). The hands and mouth do not always slip together in British Sign Language. Psychological Science, 21(8), ^Woll, B., (2001). The sign that dares to speak its name: echo phonology in British Sign Language (BSL). In P. Boyes-Braem & R. Sutton-Spence (eds.), The Hands are the Head of the Mouth: The Mouth as Articulator in Sign Languages, Hamburg: Signum, Week 9: Sociolinguistics and language change Topics: lexical, morpho-syntax, syntactic variation; language change; grammaticalisation; sociolinguistic typology Schembri, A. & T. Johnston, (2012). Sociolinguistic aspects of variation and change. In Pfau, R., M. Steinbach and B. Woll (eds), Sign Language: An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Stamp, R., Schembri, A., Fenlon, J., Rentelis, R., Woll, B., & K. Cormier, Lexical variation and change in British Sign Language. PLOS One, 9(4). ^McKee, R., Schembri, A., McKee, D., & Johnston, T. (2011). Variable 'subject' presence in Australian Sign Language and New Zealand Sign Language. Language Variation and Change, 23(3), ^Sutton Spence, R., Allsop, L., & B. Woll, (1990). Variation and recent change in fingerspelling in British Sign Language. Language Variation and Change, 2(3), ^Sutton-Spence, R. & L. Day (2001). Mouthings and mouth gestures in British Sign Language (BSL). In P. Boyes-Braem & R. Sutton-Spence (eds.), The Hands are the Head of the Mouth: The Mouth as Articulator in Sign Languages, Hamburg: Signum, Week 10: Issues in sign language and linguistics Topics: Formalist vs. functionalist approaches to language; data collection; sign language corpora; linguistic theories and sign language; multimodal approach to language; pointing

7 Sandler, W., & D. Lillo-Martin, (2006). Sign language and linguistic universals. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 25, ^Johnston, T. (2013). Towards a comparative semiotics of pointing actions in signed and spoken languages. Gesture, 13(2), *Cormier, K., Schembri, A., & B. Woll (2013). Pronouns and pointing in sign languages. Lingua, 137, ^Stukenbrock, A. (2014). Pointing to an empty space: Dexis am Phantasma in faceto-face interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 74,