Collaborative Research: Quantifying systematicity, iconicity, and arbitrariness in the American Sign Language Lexicon

合作研究：量化美国手语词典的系统性、象似性和任意性

基本信息

批准号：
1918252
负责人：
Naomi Caselli
金额：
$ 31.78万
依托单位：
Trustees of Boston University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-09-01 至 2023-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1918252&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Quantifying systematicity iconicity

项目摘要

This collaborative project will study how signs convey meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) by analyzing the semantic organization of the ASL lexicon. Understanding the structure and organization of the human lexicon is critical to both linguistic and psycholinguistic theories of language. However, current theories are predominantly built upon evidence from spoken languages, and may underrepresent characteristics that are particularly common to sign languages. For example, a core assumption regarding the organization of the lexicon is that there is a sharp separation between semantic structure and phonological (form) structure--the way words are pronounced is generally thought to be unrelated to what they mean. However, mounting evidence suggests that iconicity, words or signs that resemble their meaning, is pervasive in both signed and spoken languages. Examples of iconicity in English are words like "ping" and "sizzle" that sound like what they mean; examples of iconicity in ASL are signs like DRINK and HAMMER which look like what they mean. While semantic and phonological structure might not be fully independent from each other in ASL, we know relatively little about how they relate to one another and whether or how iconicity may shape the lexicon. This project represents the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the semantic organization of the ASL lexicon. The project will collect valuable information about the semantic similarity of ASL signs and the size of semantic neighborhoods, which will be key to uncovering how knowledge about sign meaning is stored and organized, as well as how this structure is acquired. Specifically, this project aims to 1) conduct a lexicon-wide evaluation of the semantic associations between signs, 2) characterize iconic and non-iconic systematic relationships between form and meaning using visualization techniques inspired by network science, and 3) implement a novel approach to quantify iconicity in a subset of the lexicon in an effort to understand which semantic features participate in iconic mappings and how iconicity might shape semantic processing. The data collected under this project will be integrated into a large interactive lexical database of the semantic, phonological, and iconic structure that is publicly available (ASL-LEX: http://asl-lex.org/). These materials constitute essential tools that will allow scientists and educators to create well-controlled stimuli for use in research and the classroom. Finally, it is important to recognize that deaf people often have difficulty pursuing research careers because of communication roadblocks that hamper interaction with hearing scientists. The researchers on this project have "deaf-friendly labs" (e.g., project staff are fluent in ASL) and provide training that facilitates the entrance of deaf students into scientific and academic fields. Thus, 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.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该协作项目将通过分析ASL词典的语义组织来研究标志如何通过美国手语（ASL）传达含义。了解人类词典的结构和组织对于语言和心理语言理论至关重要。但是，目前的理论主要基于口语语言的证据，并且可能不足以签名语言的特征。例如，关于词典组织组织的核心假设是，语义结构和语音（形式）结构之间存在急剧的分离 - 通常认为单词的方式与它们的含义无关。但是，越来越多的证据表明，在签名和口语语言中，标志性，类似于其含义的单词或符号都普遍存在。英语中的标志性的例子是诸如“ ping”和“ sizzle”之类的词，听起来像是什么意思。 ASL中的标志性例子是饮料和锤子之类的标志，看起来像是什么意思。尽管语义和语音结构可能在ASL中彼此之间并非完全独立，但我们对它们如何相互关系以及标志性是否可以塑造词典的了解相对较少。该项目代表了ASL词典的语义组织的首次全面定量分析。该项目将收集有关ASL符号和语义社区大小的语义相似性的宝贵信息，这将是揭示如何存储和组织有关符号含义的知识以及如何获得该结构的关键。具体而言，该项目的目的是1）对符号之间的语义关联进行词典范围的评估，2）表征形式和意义之间的标志性和非偶曲式系统关系，使用受网络科学启发的可视化技术以及3）实施一种新颖的方法来量化标志性在词典中的标志性的方法，以了解哪些语义性能和标志性的标志性Mapping and Icdiconic Mapping and Icdiconic Mapping and Icdiconic Mapping and Icdiconic Mapping and Idiconic Mapping and Idiconic Mapping and Idiconic Mapping shopt。该项目下收集的数据将集成到公开可用的语义，语音和标志性结构的大型交互式词汇数据库中（asl-lex：http：//asl-lex-lex.org/）。这些材料构成了必不可少的工具，该工具将使科学家和教育工作者能够创建良好的控制刺激，以用于研究和课堂。最后，重要的是要认识到聋人通常很难从事研究职业，因为沟通障碍阻碍了与听力科学家的互动。该项目的研究人员拥有“聋哑实验室”（例如，项目人员流利的ASL），并提供培训，以促进聋哑学生进入科学和学术领域。因此，该项目的一个平行目的是通过在项目上包括聋哑研究人员，并为聋人学生提供可访问的环境，以获得培训和研究经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响审查审查的标准，这是值得通过评估，这是值得通过评估，这是值得通过评估，这是值得的。