Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effect of Iconicity on Phonetic and Phonological Processes in American Sign Language

本论文的研究项目探讨了口语和手语的结构差异。虽然它们是手势/视觉而不是听觉，但手语，如美国手语（ASL），是具有相同表达复杂性的完整语言。然而，这一点最近才被认识到，因此ASL的研究还处于起步阶段。比较手语和口语可以揭示人类语言的基本认知原则。本文的研究重点是象似性，即一个词或符号与其意义相似。例如，英语单词“pop”中的声音模仿了爆裂的噪音，而ASL符号“tree”中手臂和手指的排列类似于树干和树枝。大多数口语单词都不是标志性的，但在美国手语中，标志性的符号是常态而不是例外。本研究探讨象似性是否影响美国手语的语法模式。图标和非图标的功能不同吗？回答这个问题将有助于我们更好地理解语言的物理形式（语音或符号）如何影响其心理组织。为了回答这个问题，我们比较了自然的日常符号中出现的语法模式如何适用于图标和非图标符号。聋人成年参与者被录像记录，以回应有关聋人文化活动的开放式提示。然后，他们观看美国手语符号和句子的视频剪辑，其中特定的语法模式适用于标志性和非标志性符号。他们对每个片段做出反应，表明他们看到的ASL是否语法正确。如果参与者将不同的语法模式应用于图标和非图标符号，这表明象似性是美国手语语法结构的一部分，而不仅仅是单个符号，这表明与口语结构有根本区别。但是，如果语法模式以同样的方式适用于图标和非图标符号，这表明，即使个别符号比口语单词更具图标性，这一属性不会影响语言的语法结构。这些发现将加深我们对人类语言的理解，而不仅仅是通过口语研究。这些知识可以为广泛的应用提供信息，例如聋儿的语言习得和ASL口译员的培训。该研究中收集的视频叙事将被公开，也可以服务于语言教学，口译和聋人文化研究的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

This dissertation research project examines a difference in the structure of spoken and signed languages. Although they are gestural/visual rather than auditory, signed languages, such as American Sign Language (ASL), are full languages with equal expressive complexity. This has only been recently recognized, however, so ASL research is in its infancy. Comparing signed and spoken languages can reveal the basic cognitive principles that underlie human language. The present study focuses on iconicity, which means that a word or sign resembles its meaning. For example, the sounds in the English word 'pop' mimic a popping noise, and the arrangement of the arm and fingers in the ASL sign 'tree' resemble a tree trunk and branches. Most spoken words are not iconic, but iconic signs are the norm rather than the exception in ASL. This study asks whether iconicity impacts the grammatical patterns of ASL. Do iconic and non-iconic signs function differently? Answering this question will help us better understand how the physical form of a language (speech or sign) impacts its mental organization.To answer this question, grammatical patterns that occur in natural, everyday signing are compared in how they apply to iconic and non-iconic signs. Deaf adult participants are video recorded responding to open-ended prompts about Deaf cultural events. They then watch video clips of ASL signs and sentences in which specific grammatical patterns apply to iconic and non-iconic signs. They respond to each clip, indicating whether the ASL they saw is grammatically correct. If participants apply grammatical patterns differently to iconic versus non-iconic signs, this is evidence that iconicity is part of the grammatical structure of ASL, not just of individual signs, suggesting a fundamental difference from the structure of spoken languages. But if grammatical patterns apply in the same way to iconic and non-iconic signs, this suggests that even though individual signs are more iconic than spoken language words, this property does not impact the language’s grammatical structure. These findings will deepen our understanding of human language beyond what we can learn through spoken language research alone. This knowledge can inform a wide range of applications, such as language acquisition for Deaf babies and training for ASL interpreters. The video narratives collected in the study will be made publicly available and can also serve research in language teaching, interpretation, and Deaf cultural studies.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.