Primary Movement in Sign Languages: A Study of Six Languages - Hardcover

Napoli, Donna Jo; Mai, Mark; Gaw, Nicholas

 
9781563684913: Primary Movement in Sign Languages: A Study of Six Languages
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1563684918 ISBN 13: 9781563684913
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Is it possible to identify sign languages by their prosody, that is, the rhythm and stress of sign production, and then determine if they are related to each other or other sign languages? If so, reasoned authors Donna Jo Napoli, Mark Mai, and Nicholas Gaw, perhaps they could offer such identification as a new way to typologize, or categorize sign languages by their structural features. Their new collaboration Primary Movement in Sign Languages: A Study of Six Languages traces the process and findings from this unique investigation.

Resolving on the direction of movement as the prosodic factor to track, they began their research by comparing five sign languages: American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), Italian Sign Language (LIS), French Sign Language (LSF), and Australian Sign Language (Auslan). They soon discovered that the languages in their study clustered with respect to several characteristics along genetic lines, with BSL and Auslan contrasting with LSF, LIS, and ASL. They learned that sign languages with the same geographic origin evolved differently when relocated, and they isolated differences in each individual sign language. They compared four of these established sign languages with the newly emerging Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), with the exception of ASL due to their past close contact, thereby validating their work as the first study to identify sign language relationships without depending on grammar.

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About the Author

Donna Jo Napoli is Professor of Linguistics, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA.

Mark Mai, a student at the Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, received his BA in linguistics at Swarthmore College.

Nicholas Gaw, a political professional in Washington, DC, received his BA in history and linguistics at Swarthmore College.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Gallaudet University Press
Publication date
2011
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1563684918
ISBN 13 
9781563684913
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
222