Full Description
In addition to the hands, sign languages make extensive use of nonmanual articulators such as the body, head, and face to convey linguistic information. This collected volume focuses on the forms and functions of nonmanuals in sign languages. The articles discuss various aspects of specific nonmanual markers in different sign languages and enhance the fact that nonmanuals are an essential part of sign language grammar. Approaching the topic from empirical, theoretical, and computational perspectives, the book is of special interest to sign language researchers, typologists, and theoretical as well as computational linguists that are curious about language and modality. The articles investigate phenomena such as mouth gestures, agreement, negation, topicalization, and semantic operators, and discuss general topics such as language and modality, simultaneity, computer animation, and the interfaces between syntax, semantics, and prosody.
Originally published in Sign Language & Linguistics 14:1 (2011).
Contents
1. Articles; 2. Nonmanuals in sign languages (by Herrmann, Annika); 3. Syntax and prosodic consequences in ASL: Evidence from multiple WH-questions (by Churng, Sarah); 4. Negation in Turkish Sign Language: The syntax of nonmanual markers (by Gokgoz, Kadir); 5. Eye gaze and verb agreement in German Sign Language: A first glance (by Hosemann, Jana); 6. Mouth gestures in British Sign Language: A case study of tongue protrusion in BSL narratives (by Lewin, Donna); 7. Nonmanual markings for topic constructions in Hong Kong Sign Language (by Sze, Felix); 8. Nonmanuals, semantic operators, domain marking, and the solution to two outstanding puzzles in ASL (by Wilbur, Ronnie B.); 9. Linguistics as structure in computer animation: Toward a more effective synthesis of brow motion in American Sign Language (by Wolfe, Rosalee); 10. Index
