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SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey Midterm Study Guide Know all the terms and be able to answer the questions listed below. For the terms, know what the word means and how it specifically applies to sign language. Knowing some examples will help you understand the material, though it is not necessary to memorize every example presented in the readings or lectures. Be able to answer the following questions: General Introduction: ● What are some myths about sign language? o Sign language is universal o sign languages are made up of pictorial gestures and are similar to mimes o sign languages cannot convey the same subtleties and complex meanings as spoken languages can o Sign languages are bases on spoken languages ● What are some differences between pantomimes and sign language? o pantomimes differ from sign language in systemic ways o mimes can be produced by the whole body o mimes are idiosyncratic across individuals o many mimes are not possible signs o sequential mimes are required to convey a concept that is expressed by a single sign ● How did signers around the world know that the interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s funeral was a fake? o Lack of facial expression, limited number of signs and repetition. o Huge gaps in translation. o All Signs languages use facial expression in syntax and morphology, no facial morphemes, no mouthing o Nothing was set up in space ● What are some differences between sign systems (Manually Coded English/Signed Exact English) and sign languages? 1

SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey o Sign System ▪ invented for educational purposes ▪ borrows from the lexicon of an existing language ▪ suffixes and prefixes represent spoken languages ▪ syntax follows the spoken language o Sign Language ▪ emerges from a community of deaf people ▪ lexical creation of rules and word formation ▪ morphology is natural simultaneous, not linear ▪ syntax is independent of the surrounding spoken language Sign Language Structure and Features ● What are the phonological parameters (units) of sign? o location o handshape o movement o orientation ● Are phonological parameters always produced simultaneously? o No, they can also have a significant sequential property o tend to be produced simultaneously but not always ● What do slips of the hand reveal about signs? o slips of the hand reveal that signs are not holistic gestures and are rather composed of units that can me mis-selected during language productions o signs gave to be assembled, evidence that are creating these forms o one of the phonological units or parameters, might be substituted or exchanged ● Can you have an accent in sign language? What is an example? o In sign language, they have different hand shapes which slightly differ showing the accent. There is also a hearing person accent. o In Philadelphia they have different signs. In standard ASL you fingerspell the months, but in Philly they have signs for most of the months of the year. Aren't used anywhere except for philadelphia ● Can a sign lose its iconicity over time? How? o Yes, as time goes on it becomes ▪ smaller signing space ▪ Non-dominant hand shape assimilates to the dominate handshape o generational differences for example we no longer use a phone signs where telephones look like they are on the wall 2

SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey ● What are some of the ways that ASL signs have changed in their form over the last 100 years? o two handed signs became one handed o reduced signing space o non dominant handshape assimilates to the dominant handshape o handshape assimilation - happens in both sign and spoken units o loss of iconicity ● What is fingerspelling? How do sign languages differ in their fingerspelling systems? o Fingerspelling is the practice of spelling out (often borrowed words) with letters in sign language o Some languages need to also use 2 hands such as FSL and turkish sl ● Do signs vary by region? Is there a Black dialect of ASL? What was the unusual type of lexical variation found in Irish Sign Language? o Signs can vary by region o There is a black dialect of ASL ▪ more formal and often uses 2 hands o Irish Sign Language features males and female signs dues to gender specific schools for the deaf ● Do sign languages prefer simultaneous or sequential morphology? Do some sign languages have prefixes or suffixes? o Sign languages prefer simultaneous morphology o Some sign languages have prefixes and suffixes but it is less common for sign languages o Sequential: Phonology sequence of sounds Cat, in ASL Commitie and Communication; Morphology (linear): Prefixes and Suffixes added to words o Simultaneous: all of it is happening at once, rising or falling tone, in sign language; Morphology: everything happening at the same time, adding facial expressions - mouth patterns directing a verb towards or away from someone - ● What is the difference between pointing gestures and pronouns in sign language? o pointing gestures are canonically made with the index finger and do not change form based on grammatical information o asl pronouns change for to mark case (reflex, possessive) and number (singular, plural) o pointing gestures are always directed toward their referent o ASL pronouns do not always point toward their referent ● What is the function of AUX (auxiliary verb) in some sign languages (e.g., Taiwanese and Brazilian Sign Languages)? o gives a clause tense, emphasis o AUX verbs carries information about subject and object o they are helping verbs that show agreement and appear next to other verbs ● What is the basic word order in ASL? o SVO (subject, verb, object) ● Do sign languages differ in their word order? 3

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SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey o yes, and example would be the german sign language uses SOV (women cake sweet bake) ● Is the word order of a sign language copied from the surrounding spoken language? o No, for example Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (SOV) but the the arabic language around it does not have that same type of construction ● What is the difference between agreeing and spatial/locative verbs? o agreeing verbs moves toward/away locations to indicate subject and object ▪ subject: often the agent or actor ▪ object: the person/object that receives the action of the verb o spatial/locative verbs indicate spatial relationship between objects or motion in space o the location or direction of the verb indicates spatial information o agreeing verb: small differences in location dont change meaning o spatial verb: small differences in location do change meaning ● Do signers prefer to use prepositions to describe spatial relationships? o rather than using prepositions, signers prefer to use signaling space and classifier handshapes to express spatial relationships between objects ● Why does understanding spatial language in ASL sometimes require mental rotation? o because you have to view it in the signer's perspective and not your own Deaf Culture and Deaf History ● What features help define the Deaf community? o community formed by hearing impaired people o united by common experiences o shared views and values o shared history ● Is anyone with a hearing loss a member of the Deaf community? o No, some people with hearing loss decided not to identify with the deaf community ● How was the first permanent school for deaf Americans established? (see A Permanent School. ) Where was this school established? o Cogswell: sent out a census to determine how many people were found in Connecticut. Realized 48 deaf people were found here, enough to establish a school. He worked with Sylbester Gilbert who had 5 deaf children o Gallaudet was asked by Cogswell to ask Eliphalet Kimball, to donate money towards sending an individual to Europe to learn about methods of educating deaf individuals. kimball agreed to donate only id he was made director of the school. From this point anyone who donated was automatically made a director of the school o Gallaudet was the individual sent to europe to study how deaf individuals were taught ▪ Brought back Laurent Clerc, who was a teacher at the Royal Institution of the Deaf in Paris ● What is the significance of the story of Abbé de l’Épée to Deaf history (see Deaf in America , chapter 2)? o formed french school, then came to USA and helped create ASL. Brought them from darkness of isolation to a bright inviting community. 4

SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey o His experiences brought the communication issues that deaf people are faced with to his attention; sought out to enhance communication between deaf people, and communication between deaf and hearing people; he learned the language of deaf people o He was able to come up with a language by using the signs that deaf communities and deaf people were already using. o The story is important to Deaf people because it represents part of their history and experience, and this story also provides a way of teaching this history to those who do not have Deaf families ● Why is Alexander Graham Bell viewed negatively in Deaf history? o Bell believed that deaf people should not marry/mate with other deaf individuals or marry/mate with hearing ppl o opposed residential school for the Deaf o oralism and eugenics ● On Martha’s Vineyard in the 1800s, many people (both deaf and hearing) could sign – how did this situation arise? o There were so many deaf people being born into the community that everyone started to sign. This was a place where there were more deaf than hearing so they learned sign to communicate with others. o 1 in 155 were deaf in Martha's Vineyard o Almost everyone could sign and most were deaf o there was a recessive gene that was passed on since there was intermarriage- resulted in non-syndromic deafness. o children learned to sign through extended family ● What was the legacy of the 1880 Milan conference? What happened there? o where they decided to use the oral method in schools. Many teachers lost their jobs because they weren't using the oral method o That oral method should be preferred. o Deaf teachers were removed from their posts. o In contrast to the 19th century, the majority of teachers at deaf schools were hearing and could not sign. o By 1945, 80% of deaf children were taught exclusively with oral methods. ● Why did the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement occur? What were their goals, and were they successful? o The Deaf President Now movement occurred because Gaulludet University appointed a hearing president even though the students felt it was time for them to have a deaf president ▪ they wanted no repercussions ▪ the president to resign ▪ the chairwomen to resign ▪ majority deaf on the board 5

SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey Language emergence ● What is homesign? o unofficial signs created and used in the homes of deaf individuals o don’t benefit from speech and aren't exposed to ASL o Created by Deaf kids born into hearing families who receive no sign or spoken input ● Do homesigners imitate the gestures of their parents or make it up themselves? o homesigners (kids) create their own gestures ● How are the terms “syntax” and “morphology” applied to homesign? o "Morphology- Meanings of combinations of handshapes and motions = meanings of the parts o Gestures begin as amalgams (unanalyzed wholes) and are then broken apart - Children learning speech follow a similar language-learning strategy o Recombine handshapes and motions to form gestures with new meanings o Syntax o Children combine gestures into strings o A structured ordering ● How did Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) emerge? Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL)? o NSL ▪ deafness stigmatized and deaf children were isolated at home ▪ Rubella epidemic created a huge influx of deaf individuals ▪ Schools opened for the deaf ▪ early exposure ▪ Intergenerational contact o ABSL ▪ traditional marriages led to high rates of genetic, nonsyndromic deafness ▪ large deaf community ▪ both deaf and hearing people use sign language ▪ early exposures through culture and extended families ▪ deaf people are not stigmatized, so they have continuous contact with each other and hearing people ▪ intergenerational contact ▪ extended family 6

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SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey ● What are some of the critical factors for language creation? o critical mass of potential speakers o early exposure o continuous contact o intergenerational contact ● How are younger signers (second cohort) of Nicaraguan Sign Language different than older signers (first cohort)? o cohort 1 had no language model and cohort 2 had cohort 1 as their language model o Second cohort signers (exposed before 10 years) produced more spatial modifications o Signers in Cohort 2 were not small children (they should have "unlearned" their "errors") o Cohort 2 signers did not simply overextend spatial modification, but rather narrowed its function to a more specific meaning (shared reference) o These labels are coming from the investigators and they are explained by generations, o cohort 1: they used to be home signers and they could be young or old they were the first group of deaf of people that are communicating - Pidgin o Cohort 2: they come in and they have input and their input is their cohort 1 signers ● How do pidgin languages become fully-developed creole languages? o pidgins become creoles when children acquire them as their first language adding systematicity and complexity o pidgin: a simple language developed for communication among speakers of mutually unintelligible languages o creole: a language which started as pidgin, adopted by a community as its native tongue and learned by children as their first language ● How does the expression of manner and path in NSL differ from the expression of manner and path in the co-speech gestures of hearing Nicaraguans? o *Spanish speakers in Nicaragua made gestures that combined manner and path into one gesture o -Co-Speech: Spanish speakers produced gestures that conflated manner and path into a single gesture o *NSL signers produced separate expressions (gestures) for manner and path o -NSL: 2nd and 3rd Cohort signers produced separate expressions for manner and for path ● What pattern of language emergence was observed in ABSL? o example of a village sign language but them there was a high number of deaf people o Emergence of strict word order in ABSL ● Why might village sign languages have more lexical variation than Deaf community sign languages? o *village have a smaller deaf population o -this allows for more variation because less people use that particular sign language, less standardized o -"Village sign languages may exhibit more lexical variation than Deaf community sign languages." this is true because someone in the village might have a specific sign for cat and everyone will understand this sign because it is his sign. In a larger 7

SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey community there are specific signs for something because there are far more people in that community and they need conformity so everyone can understand each other. o *deaf communities have a much larger population o -there needs to be a structure to the language. all of the signs need to represent the same thing so everybody can use it and understand what people are saying 1(so in ASL, people who live in New York can understand what people in California are saying, there can be no variation, must be standardized) Slip of the tongue: week long race = reek long race 8

SLHS 150 – Spring 2023 Dr. Karen Emmorey Know these terms and concepts: Phonology ● Iconicity (in signed and spoken languages) ● Duality of patterning ● Minimal pairs ● Syllables in ASL ● Symmetry and Dominance Constraints ● Non-manual phonology ● Loan signs Morphology ● Linear/sequential/concatenative vs. simultaneous/non-concatenative morphology ● Free vs. bound morphemes ● Open-class (content) vs. closed-class (function) morphemes ● Handshape assimilation ● Compounds ● Non-manual morphemes ● Lexical borrowing Syntax ● Plain verbs ● Indicating verbs (agreeing and spatial verbs) ● Depicting verbs (classifier predicates) ● Topicalization ● Non-manual grammatical markers in ASL (yes/no questions, conditionals, negation, Wh-questions) Spatial Language ● Figure and ground ● Shared space Homesign ● Types of gestures found in homesign ● Gesture ordering in homesign Language creation ● Deaf community sign languages vs. village sign languages ● Pidgin vs. Creole language ● Nicaraguan Sign Language (Cohort 1 vs. Cohort 2) ● Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) Deaf Culture and Deaf History ● Deaf vs. deaf ● Audism ● Mainstreaming ● Residential school ● The “pathological” or “medical” view of deafness ● George Veditz ● Deaf President Now (DPN) ● Thomas Gallaudet ● Abbé de l’Épée ● Laurent Clerc ● The Braidwood family ● Alice Cogswell ● William Stokoe ● Alexander Graham Bell ● I. King Jordan 9

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