Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language, Phase II

美国手语的社会语言学变化，第二阶段该项目是NSF资助#93110116的延续。 美国手语（ASL）的社会语言学变异将根据美国七个地点的聋人ASL手语者制作的会话ASL录像带进行分析（斯汤顿，弗吉尼亚州， 弗雷德里克，医学博士，波士顿、新奥尔良、密苏里州堪萨斯城、加利福尼亚州弗里蒙特，和华盛顿州的贝灵汉），在三个不同的年龄组，中产阶级和工人阶级的社会经济地位。非裔美国人和高加索人的签名人数相等。 社会语言学变异是指语言项目（声音、手形、单词、语法结构）与社会因素（如年龄、种族、性别、地区和社会经济阶层）之间的相关性。社会语言学变异的研究是重要的，因为它们为我们理解语言的基本性质和语言如何变化提供了信息。 这个项目将集中在一个符号语言的变化，因此将使我们开始看到什么样的变化特点的各种人类语言和什么样的变化是模态特定的，即专门的口语或符号语言的特点。重点将放在目标变量，包括1-手形标志，标志产生的一侧的额头，和变量代词。所有这些变量的数量都足够大，可以进行与口语变异相同的统计分析。词汇变化的数据也将进行分析。结果将是一个全面的描述社会语言学的变化，在美国手语，沿着与具体变量的定量分析。该项目的一个必然目标是制作一盘关于社会语言变异的录像带和手册，供广大聋人社区使用：供儿童、教师、家长和社区成员使用。

Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language, Phase II The project is a continuation of NSF Grant #93110116. Sociolinguistic variation in American Sign Language (ASL) will be analyzed based on videotapes of conversational ASL produced by deaf ASL signers from seven sites in the U.S. (Staunton, Va., Frederick,MD., Boston, New Orleans, Kansas City,Mo., Fremont, Ca., and Bellingham, Wash.), in three different age groups, and of middle-class and working-class socio-economic status. African American and Caucasian signers are represented equally. Sociolinguistic variation is variation that shows a correlation between linguistic items (sounds, handshapes, words, grammatical constructions) and social factors such as age, ethnicity, gender, region, and socioeconomic class. Studies of sociolinguistic variation are important because they inform our understanding of the fundamental nature of language and of how languages change. This project will focus on variation in a signed language and hence will allow us to begin to see what kinds of variation characterize all kinds of human languages and what kinds of variation are modality-specific, i.e. characteristic exclusively of spoken languages or signed languages. The focus will be on target variables including 1-handshape signs, signs produced on the side of the forehead, and variable pronouns. All of these variables occur in large enough numbers to allow for the same kind of statistical analyses that have been used for spoken language variation. Lexical variation in the data will also be analyzed. The result will be a comprehensive description of sociolinguistic variation in ASL, along with a quantitative analysis of specific variables. A corollary goal of the project is the preparation of a videotape and manual about sociolinguistic variation for use by the deaf community at large: for children, teachers, parents, and community members.