Collaborative research: The structure of the ASL lexicon: experimental and statistical evidence from a large lexical database (ASL-LEX)

合作研究：ASL 词典的结构：来自大型词汇数据库 (ASL-LEX) 的实验和统计证据

• 批准号: 1625761
• 负责人: Ariel Goldberg
• 金额: $ 7.04万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2020-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1625761&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; research; structure; ASL; lexicon

This collaborative project will record and study the properties of lexical forms in American Sign Language. Almost everything we know about human language comes from the study of spoken languages. However, only by studying sign languages is it possible to discover which linguistic rules and constraints are universal to all human languages and which depend on the particular properties of an individual language. By studying sign languages researchers can uncover language patterns that are tied to the nature of the articulators (i.e., the hands vs. the vocal tract) or that are linked to the specific way a language is perceived (i.e., visually vs. auditorally). Researchers can also uncover language patterns that result from properties that systematically vary between spoken and signed languages, such as the high prevalence of iconic forms (words that resemble what they mean) in sign languages. Psychological and linguistic research on spoken languages has relied on lexical databases--repositories of information about the words of a language--to identify factors that influence how words are comprehended and produced, to understand how words are organized and structured in the mind and brain (in our "mental lexicon"), and to discover the linguistic patterns that are present in languages. Unfortunately however, there is currently no comparably large lexical database for American Sign Language (ASL), the sign language used by deaf and hearing people in the United States.A primary aim of this project is to create a large, searchable, and publically available database of approximately 2,500 ASL signs. The database (called ASL-LEX) will contain the following information for each sign: subjective frequency-of-use ratings, iconicity ratings from both deaf signers and hearing non-signers, sign duration measures, lexical category information (e.g., noun, verb, etc.), and codes for sign-based phonological features (e.g., location, handshape, movement) that can be used to calculate whether the form of a sign is relatively common (has many form 'neighbors') or relatively unique (has few 'neighbors'). A second aim is to use ASL-LEX to conduct the first quantitative analysis of the ASL lexicon in order to uncover regularities in the way that phonological features appear (or do not appear) in ASL signs and how these patterns are influenced by sign properties such as frequency and iconicity. A third aim is to conduct experiments to determine the psychological reality of these phonological patterns (e.g., do signers unconsciously know which patterns are common and which are rare?) and to discover how phonological and lexical properties impact how quickly a sign is recognized (using a novel sign recognition technique) and produced (using a picture-naming task). Data from these experiments and related materials (e.g. picture stimuli) will be made available to the public through ASL-LEX. These materials constitute essential tools that will allow scientists and educators to create well-controlled ASL stimuli for use in research and the classroom. ASL-LEX can also be used by educators and early intervention specialists to develop benchmarks for assessing vocabulary development in signing children, (e.g., do children know the most frequent signs?) and to support literacy development (e.g., to find sign-based "rhymes"). A parallel aim of the project is to increase the representation of deaf people in science by including deaf researchers on the project and by providing an accessible environment for deaf students to gain training and research experience.

这个合作项目将记录和研究美国手语词汇形式的特性。我们对人类语言的了解几乎都来自对口语的研究。然而，只有通过研究手语，才有可能发现哪些语言规则和限制对所有人类语言都是普遍的，哪些依赖于个别语言的特定属性。通过研究手语，研究人员可以发现语言模式，这些模式与发音器的性质（即，手与声道）或与语言感知的特定方式（即，视觉与听觉）有关。研究人员还可以发现口语和手语之间系统变化的特性所导致的语言模式，例如手语中符号形式（与其意思相似的单词）的高度流行。口头语言的心理学和语言学研究依赖于词汇数据库——一种语言词汇的信息库——来识别影响词汇理解和产生方式的因素，了解词汇在思想和大脑中（在我们的“心理词典”中）是如何组织和结构的，并发现语言中存在的语言模式。然而，不幸的是，目前还没有相当大的美国手语（ASL）词汇数据库，这是美国聋人和听力健全的人使用的手语。该项目的主要目标是创建一个大型的、可搜索的、可公开使用的数据库，其中包含大约2500个美国手语标志。数据库（称为ASL-LEX）将包含每个标志的以下信息：主观使用频率评分、聋人手语者和听力正常的非手语者的象似性评分、手语持续时间测量、词汇类别信息（如名词、动词等），以及基于符号的语音特征（如位置、手形、运动）的编码，这些都可以用来计算一个符号的形式是相对常见（有很多形式“邻居”）还是相对独特（有很少的“邻居”）。第二个目标是使用ASL- lex对美国手语词汇进行第一次定量分析，以揭示美国手语符号中语音特征出现（或不出现）的规律，以及这些模式如何受到频率和象似性等符号属性的影响。第三个目标是进行实验，以确定这些语音模式的心理现实（例如，手语者是否无意识地知道哪些模式是常见的，哪些是罕见的？），并发现语音和词汇特性如何影响一个符号的识别速度（使用一种新的符号识别技术）和产生速度（使用图片命名任务）。这些实验的数据和相关材料（如图片刺激）将通过美国手语- lex向公众提供。这些材料构成了重要的工具，使科学家和教育工作者能够在研究和课堂上创造出控制良好的美国手语刺激。教育者和早期干预专家也可以使用ASL-LEX来制定评估手语儿童词汇发展的基准（例如，儿童是否知道最常见的手势？），并支持识字发展（例如，找到基于手势的“押韵”）。该项目的另一个平行目标是增加聋人在科学领域的代表性，方法是让聋人研究人员参与该项目的研究，并为聋人学生提供一个获得培训和研究经验的无障碍环境。