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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.

这个合作项目将通过分析美国手语（ASL）词汇的语义组织来研究手语如何传达意义。理解人类词汇的结构和组织对语言学和心理语言学理论都至关重要。然而，目前的理论主要是建立在口头语言的证据，并可能低估的特点，是特别常见的手语。例如，关于词汇组织的一个核心假设是，语义结构和语音（形式）结构之间存在明显的分离-单词发音的方式通常被认为与它们的意思无关。然而，越来越多的证据表明，象似性，即与其含义相似的单词或符号，在手语和口语中普遍存在。英语中象似性的例子是像“ping”和“sizzle”这样的词，听起来像它们的意思;美国手语中象似性的例子是像“DRINK”和“HAMMER”这样的符号，看起来像它们的意思。虽然语义和语音结构在美国手语中可能不是完全独立的，但我们对它们如何相互联系以及象似性是否或如何塑造词汇知之甚少。该项目代表了第一次全面的定量分析的语义组织的美国手语词汇。该项目将收集有关ASL符号的语义相似性和语义邻域大小的有价值的信息，这将是揭示符号含义知识如何存储和组织以及如何获得这种结构的关键。具体而言，该项目旨在1）对符号之间的语义关联进行词汇范围的评估，2）使用受网络科学启发的可视化技术来表征形式和意义之间的图标和非图标系统关系，和3）的方法实现了一种新的方法来量化在一个子集的词汇象似性，努力了解哪些语义特征参与了象似映射，以及象似性如何可能形状语义加工在这个项目下收集的数据将被纳入一个大型的交互式词汇数据库，该数据库包括语义、语音和图像结构，并向公众开放（ASL-LEX：http：//asl-lex.org/）。这些材料构成了重要的工具，使科学家和教育工作者能够创造出控制良好的刺激物，供研究和课堂使用。最后，重要的是要认识到，由于沟通障碍阻碍了与听力科学家的互动，聋人往往难以追求研究事业。该项目的研究人员拥有“对计算机友好的实验室”（例如，项目工作人员能够流利地使用美国手语，并提供培训，帮助聋人学生进入科学和学术领域。因此，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，办法是让聋人研究人员参加该项目，并为聋人学生提供一个无障碍的环境，以获得培训和研究经验，该奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。