Phonology and Phonological Process in ASL and English

1. Phonology and Phonological Process in ASL and English EDU 707.01 Class 3 –Sept. 10

2. Today’s Agenda • Housekeeping • Finish last week’s topic • Phonology • The Stokoe System • The Movement-Hold Model • Reading assignment for next week

3. Housekeeping • Teams for the group project • I need a final list with all new members’ names and specialization. • Please sit next to your team members you will be working together today

4. Homework!! Questions? What did you learn from this practice? What was easy? What was difficult?

5. Phonology: • “Phonology is the study of the sound system of language: the rules that govern pronunciation.” (P&R, pg. 105) • “The study of the smallest contrastive units of language and how they are structured and organized.” (V&L, 2005) • Since ASL does not use sounds as its building blocks, Stokoe initially suggested to use the term Cherology to refer to the study of the smallest contrastive units in a signed language.

6. Terminology • Phonemes: The smallest unit in a language without meaning. • A.K.A: Segments, discrete units, contrastive units. (ex. Consonants, vowels). • Segments contain distinctive features. • In spoken languages, segments correspond to speech sounds. • Speech sounds are spoken and heard as continuous sounds but perceived(by your brain) as discrete segments.

7. /aɪ/kən/nat/bəliv/ /aɪ/hæv/tu/ tek//ðɪs/klæs/ Phonology Phonemes: Mental or Psychological representation blahblahblahblah blahblahblahblah Speech Physical Production Speech

8. Cross-section of the vocal tract Physical dimensions

9. Terminology • Phoneme: type of segment perceived when we hear speech. The velar \k\ of cool and cop and the palatal \k\ of keel and keep . • Phonemes are not easily represented by spelling. pea, key, me = /i/ • Variations of the same phonemes are called allophones. /t/ = [th], [t] • Stokoe suggested the term Cheremes to refer to ASL parameters.

10. ough Spelling pronunciation cough “off” Tough “uff” Bough “ow” Through “u” Though “o” Thoroughfare “a” See Senile Sea Seize Siege Ceiling Cedar Cease Juicy Glossy Sexy /si/ Consider the two lists

11. Terminology • Phonemic Transcription System: Developed to capture phonemic distinctions by assigning one symbol to one phoneme. (International Phonetic Alphabet). • Phonemic description is enclosed in slashes // to distinguish it from conventional orthography.

12. Distinctive Features • Vowels = described in terms of 4 physical dimensions: height, frontness, rounding & tenseness (R&L fig. 6.2) • Consonant = described in terms of three physical dimensions. place, manner & voicing (R&L fig 6.3)

13. English Segment or Phoneme /b/ /i/ Place: bilabial Tongue: +high Frontness: +front Manner: stop Lip Rounding +spread Tenseness: : +tense Voice : +voice • The segment or phoneme /b/ or /i/ are divisible units in themselves and contain distinctive features. The phoneme /b/ could be the first sound in the words bat, boy, busy, baby, bear, etc.

14. VOWELS /ε/ /æ/ /o/ CONSONANTS / Ĵ / / ŋ/ / š/ Lets play!Use your charts pgs. 109 & 113 to describe the distinctive features in each segment Open your book (R&L) to page 115 exercise B section 1

15. Minimal Pair • Label for words (or signs) that are contrastive in meaning but are identical in all segments except for one. Pat bat (initial consonant) Feet foot (vowel sound) Cat cap (final segment) Minimal pairs are helpful because they show that units are made out of segments.

16. Simultaneous contrast • Dictates that distinctive features combine simultaneously to form meaningless segments. Place: bilabial Manner: stop Voice : Place: bilabial Manner: stop Voice : /b/ /p/ voiced voiceless Distinctive features Distinctive features

17. Sequential Contrast • Dictates that segments can combine with other segments and form words. Phonemes: /r/, /p/, /o/, and /s/. pores, spores ropes *prso When ordered, some combinations have meaning but notall combinations are allowed in English.

18. Sequential Contrast p æ t b æ t Place: bilabial alveolar bilabial alveolar Manner: stop stop stop stop Voice : Voiceless voiceless voiced voiceless This kind of contrast demonstrates that pat and bat have different meanings and the different meaning is linked to p and b making them different words.

19. Terminology • ASL Parameters include: • Handshape • Location • Movements • Orientation • Nonmanual signals • Stokoe called each parameter cheremesbelieving that each parameter was equivalent to a phoneme.

20. Stokoe’s Transcription System • He aimed to create a phonemic system to analyze and transcribe ASL signs. • In order to begin describing signs, he proposed that signs had three parts: TAB (place), DEZ (handshape) and SIG (movement). See chart in V,L&M pgs. 25,26.

21. Practice Using Stokoe’s System Now go to V,L&M pg. 27 transcribe a-d

22. Think about this… • All languages known to linguists exhibit both sequential and simultaneous contrast. In Stokoe’s System contrast is seen as simultaneous contrast and sequential contrast is not discussed. • Any problems here?

23. English Place: bilabial Manner: nasal Voice : +voice ASL Place: forehead Hdshp: B Mvt: T In addition, is this comparison equivalent? /m/ FATHER

24. Liddell and Johnson (1984)Questions about Stokoe’s model • Signs seem to have sequential movement. • NMS match only certain manual sequences. • Some signs have internal movement.

25. Sequentially in ASL signs • Handshape: RUN-OUT, GET, GUESS • Location: PARENTS, CHRIST BODY • Orientation: DIE, DON’T-KNOW, REVOLT, BAD

26. The Movement-Hold ModelLiddell and Johnson (1989). • It is a notation system that aims to represent both the sequential and simultaneous contrast in ASL. • Consists of: • Holds (H)- times when all features of the articulation bundle are in a steady state. (likely to occur when there is a contact during the segment) • Movements (M)- times when some aspects of the articulation are in transition. • “X” segments- Much like Hold segments but with a shorter duration. (less likely to include a contact)

27. Can you see a beginning, middle and an end to this signs? GOOD Hold - H Movement - M Hold - H

28. THINK X- segment Movement- M Hold - H

29. GOOD

30. THINK

31. Let’s try these in small groups. FALSE INTERESTING EAT TREE

32. SO what has this model accomplished? • This model shows sequential contrasts exists in ASL just like in any other language. • Provides a more complete way to transcribe ASL signs and solves the problems that Stokoe’s System had. • Claims that the 5 ASL parameter are distinctive features within articulation bundles and not segments themselves.

33. This comparison provides a closer equivalency. This segment could be the first sound in the words bat, boy, busy, baby, bear etc This segment could be the first position for the sign GOOD, BAD, GOOD-MORNING, etc. • Each segment is a bundle of features (simultaneous opposition) . Alone they are meaningless, but if you combine them in sequence with other segments, they form meaningful words and signs (sequential contrast).

34. As future teachers, why should any of this matter to you? • The number one concern in the education of deaf children is the development of language and literacy skills. • The written systems of spoken languages are broadly based on a sound-symbol association. • As we saw earlier, in English this graphophonemic relationship is not always consistent nor predictable.

35. The field of deaf education has long debated the issue of whether or not deaf children should be exposed to phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. • The field of bilingual education for deaf children argues in favor of transference of skills from the child’s first language to their second language. Therefore understanding that words are made out of segments should come after or in conjunction with understanding that signs are made out of parts.

36. Reading assignment for next week • Phonological processes in ASL and English • Valli, Lucas & Mulrooney (VL&M) pgs 40-45 • Parker and Riley (P&R) pgs 118-127. • Trask and Mayblin (T&M) pgs 14-25