Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effect of Iconicity on Phonetic and Phonological Processes in American Sign Language

博士论文研究：象似性对美国手语语音和音系过程的影响

• 批准号: 1941813
• 负责人: Elizabeth Zsiga
• 金额: $ 1.56万
• 依托单位: Georgetown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-03-01 至 2023-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1941813&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Effect; Iconicity; Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Effect; Iconicity

This dissertation research project examines a difference in the structure of spoken and signed languages. Although they are gestural/visual rather than auditory, signed languages, such as American Sign Language (ASL), are full languages with equal expressive complexity. This has only been recently recognized, however, so ASL research is in its infancy. Comparing signed and spoken languages can reveal the basic cognitive principles that underlie human language. The present study focuses on iconicity, which means that a word or sign resembles its meaning. For example, the sounds in the English word 'pop' mimic a popping noise, and the arrangement of the arm and fingers in the ASL sign 'tree' resemble a tree trunk and branches. Most spoken words are not iconic, but iconic signs are the norm rather than the exception in ASL. This study asks whether iconicity impacts the grammatical patterns of ASL. Do iconic and non-iconic signs function differently? Answering this question will help us better understand how the physical form of a language (speech or sign) impacts its mental organization.To answer this question, grammatical patterns that occur in natural, everyday signing are compared in how they apply to iconic and non-iconic signs. Deaf adult participants are video recorded responding to open-ended prompts about Deaf cultural events. They then watch video clips of ASL signs and sentences in which specific grammatical patterns apply to iconic and non-iconic signs. They respond to each clip, indicating whether the ASL they saw is grammatically correct. If participants apply grammatical patterns differently to iconic versus non-iconic signs, this is evidence that iconicity is part of the grammatical structure of ASL, not just of individual signs, suggesting a fundamental difference from the structure of spoken languages. But if grammatical patterns apply in the same way to iconic and non-iconic signs, this suggests that even though individual signs are more iconic than spoken language words, this property does not impact the language’s grammatical structure. These findings will deepen our understanding of human language beyond what we can learn through spoken language research alone. This knowledge can inform a wide range of applications, such as language acquisition for Deaf babies and training for ASL interpreters. The video narratives collected in the study will be made publicly available and can also serve research in language teaching, interpretation, and Deaf cultural studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

尽管它们是手势/视觉而不是听觉的，但符号语言，例如美国手语（ASL），是具有均等表达复杂性的完整语言。但是，这只是最近才被认可，因此ASL研究处于起步阶段。比较签名和口语可以揭示人类语言基础的基本认知原则。本研究的重点是标志性，这意味着单词或符号类似于其含义。例如，英语单词“ pop”中的声音模仿了流行噪音，而ASL标志“树”中的手臂和手指的排列类似于树干和分支。大多数口语不是标志性的，但是标志性的符号是常态，而不是ASL中的例外。这项研究询问标志性是否影响ASL的语法模式。标志性和非偶像标志的功能是否不同？回答这个问题将有助于我们更好地理解语言的物理形式（语音或符号）如何影响其心理组织。回答这个问题，在自然中发生的语法模式，每天签名都可以在它们适用于标志性和非偶像迹象的方式中进行比较。聋人成人参与者是记录的视频，以响应有关聋人文化活动的开放式提示。然后，他们观看ASL标志和句子的视频剪辑，其中特定的语法模式适用于标志性和非偶像标志。他们响应每个剪辑，表明他们看到的ASL是否在语法上正确。如果参与者将语法模式应用于标志性的标志与非偶像符号不同，则证据表明，标志性是ASL的语法结构的一部分，而不仅仅是单个符号的语法结构，这表明与口语结构有根本的差异。但是，如果语法模式以相同的方式适用于标志性和非偶像标志，这表明即使单个符号比口语单词更具标志性，但该属性不会影响语言的语法结构。这些发现将使我们对人类语言的理解深度超出我们仅通过口语研究就能学到的东西。这些知识可以为广泛的应用程序提供信息，例如聋婴儿的语言获取以及对ASL口译员的培训。该研究中收集的视频叙述将公开可用，还可以在语言教学，解释和聋人文化研究方面提供研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来评估。