sign language phonology ii

1. Sign Language Phonology II METU COGS 524, A. Hohenberger, Spring semester 2007 Sandler & Lillo-Martin 2006, chapter 10: Hand configuration

3. HC: Parameters of contrast in ISL(Sandler & L-Martin 2006: 146-7) 1. Selected fingers: DANGEROUS (all fingers) vs. INTERESTING (thumb and pinky finger) 2. Shape, position of fingers ALREADY (open) vs. DOCUMENT (closed) 3. orientation: COMPARE (palms up) vs. Vacillate (palms down)

4. HC: Parameters of contrast in ISL 4. change in HC: finger position or orientation of hand may change (internal movement) TAKE-ADVATAGE-OF, DEAD (5.) Hand-internal movement: WINE vs. FLAT-TIRE

5. Phonetically vs. Phonologically inspired HC inventories Phonetic HamNoSys (Hamburger Notations System, Prillwitz 1989) Captures subtle phonetic differences between signs Phonological Only the contrastive features enter the inventory which are involved in phonological generalizations of the language

6. Feature Geometry: Why features? In Feature Geometry, phonological features reside on autosegmental tiers which are organized in a hierarchical way Features are the smallest units that participate in phonological processes Features are universal There is a finite number of features

7. Feature Geometry: Why hierarchical organization? Features may belong to more than one segment (feature spreading) Vowel harmony, assimilation One segment may have multiple feature specifications --> affricates [pf], [ts], --> dipthong [ai], [oi] Features are organized in classes corresponding to physical articulators: laryngeal, dorsal, etc.

8. Feature trees/geometries Feature geometry employs feature trees to represent privileged feature classes Non-terminal nodes represent feature classes, e.g. �Place�; terminal nodes represent more specific phonetic content The association lines connecting nodes represent phonological dependency and (in the phonetic realm) temporal overlap

9. Dependent vs. independent features Dependent features: related to another feature --> [round] is dependent on [labial] Independent/free features: Universal differences in any language, do not assimilate Features of higher classes, [son], [cons], [syll] Constriction features [cont], [nas], [lat]

10. Basic operations Feature spreading: Assimilation Delinking of an association: Reduction

11. Dependency Phonology DP reflects the relative markedness of phonological elements. DP assumes as few features as possible (parsimony)

12. HC as an autosegment HC is independent of location and movement Evidence: Either HC as a whole or only orientation assimilates in compounds while locations and movements are deleted

13. HC assimilation(Sandler 2006:191)

14. Central claims 1. HC is made up of hand shape and orientation 2. Hand shape consists of finger selection and their position Finger position relates to the extension or flexion of the the joints 3. Orientation is a subclass of handshape, i.e., of selected fingers

15. A hierarchical model of HC features HC Selected Fingers [joined] Fingers Thumb Position unsel. Fingers [open] [close] [ulnar] [one] [all] [radial] [opposed] Joints [base] [flex] Aperture [open] [closed] Orientation [palm] [wrist] [front][fingertips] [ulnar] [radial]

16. HC: handshape Each morpheme has a fixed set of selected fingers which may not be changed � only the position of the fingers may change Apparent counter example: JOB But: JOB comes from an earlier fingerspelled form:

17. HC: handshape The generalization that selected fingers may not change but finger position may change within a morpheme is captured by separating both in the feature tree.

18. Selected fingers � finger position Whatever fingers are selected, they all have to be in the same position, i.e., all extend, all curve, all close, all bend at the same joints Hierarchy of selected finger and finger position features: Hand configuration Selected fingers Finger position

19. Internal movement Two kinds of movement are distinguished: path movement and local/internal movement through change of handshape or change of orientation HS change: only position features (open, close, bend) may change. Selected fingers remain constant. The HS change is expressed by branching of the the finger position node, orientation change by branching of the orientation node: position orientation [open] [close] [radial] [ulnar]

20. Handshape Sequence Constraint (HSC) HSC: If there are two finger positions in a sign, then one must be open or closed. The following sequences are OK or *: open-close *bent-curved bent-open *curved-bent

21. Assimilation including HS change HC HC SF SF [one] [all] position position [open] [closed] [open]

22. Orientation Orientation is sometimes considered an independent fourth phonological parameter. However, a feature can be contrastive while not being a major phonological category. Often, orientation changes along with HC. This relation is expressed in the feature geometry. External evidence comes from slips of the hand.

23. Hand orientation is anticipated along with HC in a phonological slip Error: SIT (F-hand)

24. Orientation assimilation in compounds

25. Assimilation of Orientation

26. Total assimilation If HC assimilates completely, both handshape and orientation assimilate. This is another version of OVERSLEEP (S&L-M 2006: 157-8) HC HC SF SF

27. Universality of feature geometry in SL The proposed feature geometry account is thought to be universal In feature geometry, the features under HC are grouped together in terms of articulators: Fingers Finger joints Palm of hand ... The relation of the features to the anatomy of the human hand makes the representation more explanatory

28. Terminal features and Dependency Phonology The terminal features, the handshapes, are readily captured by Dependency Phonology Dep Phon has two characteristics Phonological features are unary, not binary Relative markedness is directly reflected by relative complexity in the representation Why unary? Because no evidence has been adduced for the [-] values of binary features. Since theories should be parsimonious (not too big), they resent binary features Why markedness? Because there is good evidence that signs are more or less marked

29. Unmarked handshapes (Battison 1978) The set of unmarked handshapes comprises: A, (S), G (Index), C, O, (B), flathand The flathand is the least marked handshape They are �maximally distinct, basic geometrical shapes� (Battison 1978) Easiest to articulate motorically Most frequently occurring First to be acquired Most often substituted for other handshapes by children

30. What is Dependency Phonology? The assumption that is fundamental to phonological structure is the dependency, or head/dependent, relation. Phonological structure involves constructions, and, secondly, each of these constructions has a determinate head. The head is also atomic; it is a single segment, or minimal unit. It is associated with some substantive property that distinguishes it from other members of the construction; in phonology this is perceptual salience.

31. What is Dependency Phonology? Expl.: The head of the syllable 'pat' in English is the vowel represented as [a]: it is salient by virtue of inherent sonority and its place at the energy peak in the articulation of the syllable, and it identifies the construction as a syllable. Constructions are constituted by a head and all its ultimate dependents. Here, [a] is the head (straight line) and [p] and [t] are its dependents (angled lines). The syllable structure is [onset-rhyme] and [Nucleus-Coda]

32. The dependency HC model Reflects relative markedness in terms of relative complexity of representation, ignoring irrelevant detail Relies only on two features for fingers (all, one, (ulnar)) and two features for Position (base, flex) , hence the hand is either relatively open (all) or relatively pointy (one), and finger positions are either open (base) or closed (flexed)

33. Unmarked handshapes in Dependency Phonology In Dependency phonology, handshapes with only one feature in each category (of fingers and positions) have no dependency relation. These are exactly the unmarked handshapes. Only specified nodes are activated. Nodes that dominate default specifications are not included in the representation (for simplification)

34. Default specifications �Unselected fingers� are hardly ever activated. They are restricted to being [open] or [closed], and their position is predictable.

35. Representation of less and more marked handshapes HC HC HC SF SF SF [all] [all] [all] fing pos fing pos fing pos [one] [one] [open] [open] [closed] [open]

36. Feature geometry and Dependency Phonology: A mixed model In the model, the feature geometric tree structure is preserved At the level of the terminal nodes, unary features are proposed which can enter into dependency relationships In Dependency Phonology, the feature inventory is highly restricted since there is only a small set of unary features that are allowed to combine

37. Markedness of joints and aperture(Selected fingers: [all], for all 3 handshapes) Finger position Finger position Finger position joints aperture joints aperture joints aperture [closed] [flex] [closed] [flex] [closed] [base]

38. Orientation features An additional feature, �facing�, has been proposed that specifies the part of the hand that faces the location towards which the hand moves. This is important for agreement. However, they renounce such a feature because it is redundantly comprised in the interaction between handshape, orientation, and place.

39. Summary: The HC node Aperture o o Joints o o Position o o Selected fingers o o Hand configuration o o L M L L M L

40. References Battison, R. (1978). Lexical borrowing in American Sign Language. Silver Spring, MD: Linstok Press.

41. Historical change: EATand SLEEP --> HOME iconicity is lost in the process of phonologization

42. Iconicity is relative The sign TREE in 3 different sign languages