Cover not available
Part of
Sonic Signatures: Studies dedicated to John Harris
Edited by Geoff Lindsey and Andrew Nevins
[Language Faculty and Beyond 14] 2017
► pp. 231–262

The phonology of handshape distribution in Maxakalí sign

| University College London
| University College London

We provide an analysis of the distribution of handshapes on the dominant and non-dominant hand in the incipient village sign language found in the Maxakalí community in Brazil. The most frequent handshapes reflect tendencies in choosing from the crosslinguistically unmarked set of handshapes, and are particularly well-suited to quantitative analyses of handshape complexity found in models such as Ann (2006) and Brentari (2003), in addition to favouring a core set chosen from the most maximally dispersed handshapes.

Keywords: village sign language, handshape complexity, sign language phonology, markedness, non-dominant hand
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Village sign languages
    • 1.2Data and methods
  • 2.Results of handshapes and discussion of models
    • 2.1Handshape dispersion and distinctness in Maxakalí
    • 2.2Maximal dispersion of handshapes and Sandler et al 2011’s model
    • 2.3The inventory of unmarked handshapes and how to derive them
    • 2.4Selected finger parameters in van der Hulst’s (1996a) model
    • 2.5 Battison’s (1978) Symmetry and Dominance conditions
    • 2.6Towards a quantitatively verifiable metric of ease of articulation
    • 2.7 Brentari’s (1998) handshape complexity model
    • 2.8Perceptual distinctness
  • 3.The non-dominant hand
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Appendix
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.14.c14
References
Anderson, John M. & Colin J. Ewen
1987 Principles of Dependency Phonology (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ann, J
2006 Frequency of Occurrence and Ease of Articulation of Sign Language Handshapes: The Taiwanese Example. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Backley, P
2011 An Introduction to Element Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Battison, R
1974 Phonological deletion in American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 5: 5–19.Google Scholar
1978 Lexical Borrowing in American Sign Language. Silver Spring, MD: Linstok Press.Google Scholar
Blevins, J
1993 The nature of constraints on the nondominant hand in ASL. Phonetics and Phonology 3: 43–62.Google Scholar
Boyes-Braem, P
1990 Acquisition of the handshape in American Sign Language: A preliminary analysis. In V. Volterra & C.J. Erting (eds.) (1994) From Gesture to Language in Hearing and Deaf Children, 107–127. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brentari, D
1998 A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
2011 Sign language phonology. In J. Goldsmith, J. Riggle, & A. Yu (eds.), The Handbook of Phonological Theory, 2nd edn, 691–721. UK: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brentari, D., M. Coppola, P.W. Cho & A. Senghas
2016 Handshape complexity as a precursor to phonology: Variation, emergence, and acquisition. Language Acquisition, accepted for publication. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brentari, D, M. Coppola, L. Mazzoni & S. Goldin-Meadow
2012 When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesigners. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 30(1): 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corina, D., & W. Sandler
1993 On the nature of phonological structure in sign language. Phonology 10(2), 165–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crasborn, O
2011 The other hand in Sign Language Phonology. In M. van Oostendorp, C. Ewen, E. Hume & K. Rice (eds.) (2011) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, 223–240. UK: Blackwell Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Vos, C
2007, August. Kata Kolok: A village-based Sign Language of Northern Bali. In International Symposium On the Languages of Java . Semarang, Java, Indonesia.
Frishberg, N
1975 Arbitrariness and iconicity: Historical change in American Sign Language. Language 51: 696–719. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1985 Dominance relations and discourse structures. In W. Stokoe & V. Volterra (eds.), SLR ’83: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Sign Language Research, 79–90. Rome: Consiglo Nazionale delle Ricerche.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J
1966 Language Universals: With Special Reference to Feature Hierarchies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Harris, John & Geoff Lindsey
1995 The elements of phonological representation. In Jacques Durand & Francis Katamba (eds.), Frontiers of Phonology, 34–79. Harlow, Essex: Longman.Google Scholar
Hulst, H.G. van der
1996a Acquisitional evidence for the phonological composition of handshape. In C. Koster & F. Wijnen (eds.) (1985) Proceedings of Gala, 39–56.Google Scholar
1996b On the other hand. Lingua: International Review of General Linguistics 98(1–3): 121–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnston, T. & A. Schembri
2007 Australian Sign Language: An Introduction to Sign Language Linguistics. UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kakumasu, J
1968 Urubu Sign Language. International Journal of American Linguistics 34: 275–281. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kisch, S
2012 Demarcating generations of signers in the dynamic sociolinguistic landscape of a shared sign-language: The case of the Al-Sayyid Bedouin. In U. Zeshan & C. de Vos (eds.) (2012) Sign Languages in Village Communities, 87–125. Boston, MA: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klima, E. & U. Bellugi
1979 The Signs of Language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lane, H., P. Boyes-Braem & U. Bellugi
1980 A featural analysis of handshapes. In E. Klima & U. Bellugi (eds.) (1980) The Signs of Language, 164–180. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Liljencrants, J. & B. Lindblom
1972 Numerical simulation of vowel quality systems: The role of perceptual contrast. Language 48(4): 839–862. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mandel, M.A
1981 Phonotactics and Morphophonology in ASL. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Matthews, P.H
2014 The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGregor, W
2015 Linguistics: An Introduction. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.Google Scholar
Meurant, L., A. Sinte, M. van Herreweghe & M. Vermeerbergen
(eds.) 2013 Sign Language Research, Uses and Practices: Crossing Views on Theoretical and Applied Sign Language Linguistics. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morgan, H. & R. Mayberry
2012 Complexity in two-handed signs in Kenyan Sign Language. Sign Language Linguistics 15(1): 147–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, C
1994 Simultaneous constructions in Quebec Sign Language. In M. Brennan & G. Turner (eds.) (1994) Word-Order Issues in Sign Language, 89–112. Durham, NC: ISLA.Google Scholar
Nespor, M. & I. Vogel
1986 Prosodic Phonology. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Prillwitz, S., R. Leven, H. Zienert, T. Hanke & J. Henning
1989 HamNoSys, version 2.0; Hamburg Notation System for Sign Languages: An introductory guide. International Studies on Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf 5 . Hamburg: Signum.
Rice, K
2007 Markedness in phonology. In P. De Lacy (eds.) (2007) The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology, 79–97. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rozelle, L
2003 The Structure of Sign Language Lexicons: Inventory and Distribution of Handshape and Location. PhD dissertation, University of Washington.Google Scholar
Sandler, W
1993 Hand in hand: The roles of the nondominant hand in Sign Language Phonology. The Linguistic Review 10(4): 337–390. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995 Markedness in American Sign Language Handshapes: A componential analysis. In H.G. van der Hulst & J.M. van de Weijer (eds.), Leiden in Last: HIL Phonology Papers I. The Hague: Distributed by Holland Academic Graphics.Google Scholar
1996 Representing handshapes. In W. Edmondson & R. Wilbur (eds.) (1996) International Review of Sign Linguistics, Vol. 1, 115–159. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
2011 The phonology of movement in Sign Language. In M. van oostendorp, C. Ewen, E. Hume & K. Rice (eds.) (2011) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, 577–603. UK: Blackwell Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 The phonological organization of Sign Languages. Language and Linguistics Compass 6(3): 162–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandler, W., I. Meir, C. Padden & M. Aronoff
2005 The emergence of grammar in a new sign language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102(7): 2661–2665. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandler, W. & D. Lillo-Martin
2006 Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandler, W., M. Aronoff, I. Meir & C. Padden
2011 The gradual emergence of phonological form in a new language. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 29: 503–543. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schein, J. & D. Stewart
2002 Language in Motion. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Stoianov, D
2016 Phonological Dispersion in Maxakalí Sign. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London.Google Scholar
Stokoe, W
1960 Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communications systems. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 10(1): 3–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stungis, J
1981 Identification and discrimination of handshape in American Sign Language. Perception and Psychophysics 29: 261–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sturm, V
1987, July. The Phonemic Nature of Sign Language. In Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium . Utah, U.S.A.
van der Kooij, E
2002 Phonological categories in Sign Language of the Netherlands. The Role of Phonetic Implementation and Iconicity. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
Washabaugh, W
1979 Hearing and deaf signers on Providence Island. Sign Language Studies 24: 191–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woodward, J
1987 Universal constraints across Sign Languages: Single finger contact handshapes. Sign Language Studies 0(57): 375–385. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Costa, Edivaldo da Silva, Erich Teles Bezerra & Leoni Ramos Souza Nascimento
2022. Etnoterminologia de etnias das línguas de sinais das terras indígenas brasileiras. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 22 ► pp. e022006 ff. DOI logo
Reed, Lauren W.
2020. “Switching caps”. Asia-Pacific Language Variation 6:1 ► pp. 13 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 september 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.