Event Description in Sign Language and Gesture

人类交流的核心作用是谈论世界及其周围环境。这对口语交流是正确的，但对于手语交流和人类通过手势进行的交流也是如此，手势是指人类在交流时手、脸和身体的自然运动。这个项目调查签名者和手势者是如何就日常活动和事件进行交流的。该项目的潜在影响包括加强手语教学和口译员教育的有效性，改善其他服务提供者，如语言病理学家的培训，以及为聋儿及其家庭创造更好的语言和交流干预措施。研究表明，演讲者系统地、始终如一地吸收有关事件的信息细节。这个项目调查人类如何使用其他交流系统--具体地说，手语和手势--谈论事件。研究参与者被记录下来，提供对日常活动和事件的描述，这些记录经过注释和分析，以确定这些活动和事件的某些方面是如何纳入交际描述的。该项目的范围包括聋人手语交流，听障人士手势交流，以及将手语作为第二语言学习的听障人士使用手语交流。其他学科的语言学家、手语和手势学者以及一系列领域的语言教师和公共服务提供者都对项目成果感兴趣。这项研究有助于从整体上理解人类如何在他们可用的多种系统中进行交流。该项目还为来自代表性不足背景的初级学者提供研究机会，并以与聋人社区的研究参与活动为特色。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A central role of human communication is to talk about the world and its surroundings. This is true of spoken language communication, but it is also true of sign language communication and of the human communication that takes place in gesture, the natural movements of our hands, face, and body when humans communicate. This project investigates how signers and gesturers communicate about everyday activities and events. Potential impacts of the project include strengthening the effectiveness of sign language instruction and interpreter education, improving the training available to other service providers such as speech language pathologists, and creating better language and communication interventions for deaf children and their families. Research has shown that speakers systematically and consistently incorporate informational details about events. This project investigates how humans talk about events using other communication systems -- specifically, sign language and gesture. Research participants are video recorded providing descriptions of everyday activities and events, and these recordings undergo annotation and analysis for how certain aspects of those activities and events are incorporated into the communicative description. The scope of the project includes communication in a sign language by deaf signers, communication in gesture by hearing speakers, and communication in a sign language by hearing individuals who are learning it as a second language. Project findings are of interest to linguists, sign language and gesture scholars in other disciplines, as well as language teachers and human service providers in a range of fields. This research contributes to a holistic understanding of how humans communicate in the multiplicity of systems available to them. The project also offers research opportunities for junior scholars from under-represented backgrounds and features research engagement activities with the Deaf community.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.