bsl 320. linguistics exam - deaf solutions...

BSL 320. Linguistics Exam

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Learning outcomes On completion of this unit, the leaner will:

Assessment criteria On completion of this unit, the learner can:

1. Understand key features of BSL

1.1 Describe the difference between a spoken and signed language The vast majority of human languages make use of the ‘vocal-auditory’ channel – they are produced by the mouth and perceived by the ear. All writing systems also derive from or are representations of spoken language. Sign languages are different, they make use of the ‘corporal-visual’ channel – produced by the body and perceived by the eyes.

What is Linguistics? Linguistics is the study of languages.

- Sociolinguistics is about family, educational aspects, social, ethnicity, and regional areas in language

- Historical Linguistics is about the history of languages and how they have changed over time.

What is BSL? A natural language of signs that has developed over time in Britain. BSL is a living language that is subject to change.

What is not BSL?

Cued speech – Hand cues are made near the mouth, to identify the different speech sounds which look the same on the lips. The system does not use signs at all. It focuses on speech. Eight hand shapes show groups of English consonants, and when these handshapes combine with different lip patterns, it is possible to identify each sound. Cued speech does not use BSL signs, and it always follows spoken English mouth patterns. The cues have no meaning on their own.

Signed English – This uses basic BSL signs in English word order, and also has sign markers to show English grammar. It also uses fingerspelling. It is almost always used with speech. It is very slow, and a message takes longer in signed English than in either BSL or English. This means that spoken English accompanying Signed English becomes unnaturally slow. There is also no one-to-one match between English and BSL lexicons.

Fingerspelling – This represents the written form of English, not speech. It is possible to recreate any English word by fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is not BSL because it does not use BSL vocabulary. The manual alphabet was invented by hearing people and fingerspelling is always derived from English, so it can be seen as


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a threat to BSL because of the power of English. The manual alphabet is used for fingerspelling whole words that do not have equivalents in BSL, and for the names of people and places.

Sign Supported English – in SSE the key words of a sentence are signed, while the person speaks. This means the main vocabulary is produced from BSL, but much of the grammar is English on the mouth. Remember that SSE does not refer to a single way of communicating. Someone who is fluent in both English and BSL will use SSE differently from someone who is fluent in BSL but knows only a little English.

Paget Gorman Sign Speech (PGSS) – Paget Gorman is a sign ‘system’ not a sign language. It provides a one-to-one, sign to word match. The signs do not come from any sign language, but have been created to represent English words and English grammar. There are signs for pronouns, prepositions e.g. at, on, and also separate signs for grammatical endings to English words like ‘-s’, ‘-ing’, and ‘-ed’. It has 37 basic signs for categories such as colour, time, animals and buildings. One hand makes the sign for the basic category; the other hand makes the sign for the particular meaning referred to. Paget Gorman is not BSL because it uses a different lexicon ad grammar from BSL, and it is not used by the British Deaf community.

Give examples of changes that happen in BSL. Consider technology! Culturally correct language? As technology has changed, younger signers have changed signs to reflect the new

appearance or means of operating or handling new appliances, while older signers often

maintain the sign in its earlier form. The BSL sign TELEPHONE has changed over time as

telephones have gone from a two-part apparatus with the mouthpiece held in one hand and

the earpiece in the other, to a dumbbell shaped apparatus, and now to one with an aerial

that is held in the palm of the hand. Similar changes may be seen in signs such as TRAIN,

CAMERA and WATCH where technology, and consequently the form, has changed greatly

over the last 70 – 80 years.

1.2 Describe what is meant by established and productive lexicons Signs in the established lexicon are those found in a dictionary. These established signs are easy to learn. Many of the signs in the established lexicon are nouns and many of them can be easily translated in to English words. They exist in citation form. That is, they can be understood when they stand alone, without any context to clarify the meaning. The productive lexicon is created by signers from component parts that are combined to create a new meaning. These component are:

the range of permitted handshapes

the range of permitted movements

the range of permitted locations

the range of permitted orientations


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the range of permitted non-manual features To create a new sign, the signer must know the rules for the assembly of a sign using these basic components. The new sign always draws on visual motivation in some way. The visual nature is central to the role that productive lexicon plays in BSL

1.3 Describe the different types of BSL verbs

Plain Verbs Examples of plain verbs are RIDE-A-BICYCLE, LOVE, RESEARCH, RUN, SMOKE, THINK, and UNDERSTAND. These verbs show little modification and do not move through space to show grammatical information. Most can show information about aspect, although some do not e.g. static verbs like HAVE. Manner and aspect are marked in these verbs by speed of the repetition of the verb and presence of non manual features e.g. THINK-HARD is made by a small circling repetition of the sign, with an ‘effortful’ facial expression. Any information about ‘person’ and ‘number’ in plain verbs needs to be given separately by pronouns. Plain verbs include information about manner and aspect, and sometimes direct object e.g. changing handshape depending on the object, but other information about person and number is given in different signs.

Agreement Verbs Examples of agreement verbs are ASK, GIVE, TELL, TELEPHONE, CRITICISE, and FILM. This group of verbs contains those that are sometimes called ‘Directional Verbs’. Agreement verbs allow the inclusion of information about person and number of the subject and object. This is accomplished by moving the verb in syntactic space. That is, information about who is carrying out the action, and who or what is affected by the action is shown by changes in movement and orientation of the verb. Information about manner and aspect can also be given by changing the movement of the verb and adding non-manual features, similar to plain verbs. Agreement verbs may agree with first, second and third person. For the first person, the verb is directed to, or located at, where the signer is. For the second person, the verb is directed to, or located at, the conversational partner. The third person may be marked with an index (or a proform) or the noun may be located at that position with the agreement marker moving between the locations. In an agreement verb, there is a start point (subject agreement marker) then a linear


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movement (verb stem) and then an end point (object agreement marker) There are a few verbs with ‘backwards’ agreement where the start point marks the object and the end point marks the subject, examples include INVITE, CHOOSE and BORROW. Verbs in number agreement differ in how they show different information about number for the subject and the object. In some instances, all the information about number in the subject and the object is shown by the movement of the verb, in other instances a pronoun is used to give some of this information. Number agreement may be for singular, collective plural, dual, triple and exhaustive.

Singular is marked by a single movement from the subject marker towards the object marker e.g. I-ASK-YOU

Collective plural is shown by a sweeping movement of the verb across an arc that refers to the plural object. The verb is not repeated, but rather, displaced. This sweeping movement to show collective plural is for object agreement only e.g. I-ASK-YOU-ALL, it is not used for subject agreement e.g. the verb form WE-ALL-ASK-HIM is unacceptable. For plural subjects, the signer uses a sweeping proform.

Dual Agreement is marked in various ways. If the object is dual e.g. I ask the two of you, this can be shown in one of three ways a) We can make the verb movement twice with the endpoint of the second

movement at the location of the second object. The verb moves from the first person to the first location (R) and then repeats the movement from the first person but to the second location (L)

b) If the verb is one-handed e.g. ASK, TELL we can also double the verb stem to a two handed form and move both hands simultaneously or one after the other. Again, objects are placed at locations (L) and (R) but this time both hands make the handshape for ASK, and the right hand moves from the first person location to location (R), at the same time as the left hand moves to location (L). Alternatively the right hand can move to location (R) and be held there, while the left hand moves to (L). This is not an option that is possible if the verb is two handed.

c) A third option is the use the single movement towards one of the objects, and then use pronouns like TWO-OF-THEM. The verb ASK is moved from first person to a third person location near (R) and (L). The signer then signs the pronoun TWO-OF-THEM referring to (R) and (L). This option is preferred for the verb when the subject is dual.

Triple Agreement works in a similar way to dual agreement marking, but uses a triple end point to verb stem or uses both hands to duplicate the verb sign. As it is impossible to use three hands, both hands are used, and one hand repeats the end point. Again, another option is to use the pronoun THREE-OF-THEM.


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Exhaustive Agreement is shown by repeating the verb stem at least three times, with the end point moved. Three is the conventional number of repetitions.

All modifications occurring in agreement verbs are in the horizontal plane. The exception to this is that it is possible to move agreement verbs through an inclined plane for example, if there is a perceived height difference between subject and object. Some agreement verbs do not change direction of movement to show agreement; instead they change orientation of the fingers e.g. I-LOOK-AT-YOU, YOU-LOOK-AT-ME. A third group of agreement verbs change direction of movement to show agreement, but do not change orientation of the fingers e.g. ANSWER. Agreement verbs do not only show information by using syntactic space. Information about the direct object can be shown in the handshape e.g. I-THROW-YOU-BALL, the direct object – the ball, can be incorporated into the handshape, but the handshape would change depending on the direct object.

Spatial Verbs These verbs use topographic space, not syntactic. They may inflect to show manner and aspect, but they do not inflect for person or number. They can give information about the path, trajectory and speed of movement of the action described by the verb and about the location of the action. The movement and location of these spatial verbs are ‘isomorphic’ with the real world meaning that whatever the movement or location of the referent, the verb moves in the same way. They can also give some limited information about the class of noun of either the subject or the object. Spatial verbs include RUN-DOWNSTAIRS, PUNCH (-someone), PUT (-somewhere) There is not always a clear distinction between agreement verbs and special verbs. Verbs that appear to behave as agreement verbs also behave as spatial verbs e.g. LOOK-AT appears to act as agreement, however I-LOOK-AT-THE-FLOOR acts as a spatial verb because it tells us the location of the looking. Spatial verbs can move in a vertical plane, or indeed in any plan, the movement is not limited to the horizontal plane in the way that agreement verbs are. In the verb PUT the movement can vary to show that we can put things high up r low down. Movement in special verbs can be anywhere within the signing space. There are different types of spatial verbs.


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Spatial - run, downstairs, drive to - Verb uses topographic space

What are verbs in BSL? Seven groups

Verbs which have one movement away from their neutral space. Example: help

Verbs in neutral space which change direction and orientation. Example: criticise

Verbs which use one hand to change direction while the other hand remains still. Example: visit

Verbs where one hand changes direction and movement and the other hand changes orientation. Example: tease

Verbs which take place away from the body. Example: stab

Verbs which normally contact the body. Example: ignore

Verbs which take place with another sign that can show direction Example: Minicom

1.4 Give examples of the different sign types

Frozen (or established) - Sign has one meaning only, often with English mouth pattern and equivalent word in English e.g. brother, car

Productive (e.g. classifier) - Has more than one meaning. Hand-shape tells us about an object or person. Movement tells us about how the object or person is moving e.g. jar-open, car-go-uphill

Indexical - Used to point to things and tell us what or who we are talking about. If the object/person is there we can point to it/them. If not there, we can use a pronoun e.g. I, you, we, they

Numbers - Signs to represent numbers

Name signs - Signs to represent numbers

Fingerspelling - Use of the fingerspelling alphabet Signs can be one- handed or two -handed

One handed signs. Example: salt One handed signs that connect with body. Example: live Two handed signs, where both hands are the same shape, are active and perform

identical or symmetrical actions without touching the body. Example: bicycle Two handed signs with identical hand shapes and perform identical actions and

contact with each other. Example: talk Two handed signs where both hands are active, have the same hand shape,

perform identical actions and contact the body. Example: cow Two handed signs where the dominant hand is active and the non-dominant hand

serves as the location for the movement, they may have the same or different


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hand shapes. Example: butter

2. Know a range of sign language sentence structures, applying signs and set phrases in varied work or social situations

2.1 Describe the features used in negation Negation is a grammatical way of using negative BSL signs and has three main elements:

- Facial Expression

- Head Movement

- Negation Signs

Facial expression – This alone does not negate a sentence. For something to have grammatical negation, there also needs to be a shaking of the head, or a negation sign. There is more than one negation facial expression. There are different degrees of general negation facial expression.

- mild: lips pushed out a little bit and the eyes slightly narrowed - extreme: the eyes can be almost closed, the nose very wrinkled and the mouth very turned down, or the lip very curled.

Facial expression also involves mouth patterns, without the mouth pattern they are not complete. Examples include 'boo' 'vee'.

Head movement - there are two kinds of negation head movement in BSL. - The negation head turn - the head turns and is held there. It may then be

returned to a forward facing position. This half head turn often occurs as part of a negation sign rather than as a way of negating a sentence. It occurs with some specific negation signs, such as those that are accompanied by ‘boo’ and ‘vee’

- A repeated side to side movement of the head. The repeated side to side head

shake can occur all through a sentence or just at the end. This may occur with other non-manual markers such as nose-wrinkling or drawn down lips. This head-shake on its own can negate either a sentence or a sign.

Negation signs - English has many negation words. i.e. no, never, none, un..., etc. BSL has negation signs which can be found in the BSL dictionary. - flat hand, palm down and twisting up, with 'vee' mouth pattern, used for

denial of possession, presence or experience. It can be used on its own or attached to a verb as a sort of suffix e.g SEE + neg or HAVE + neg.


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- flat hand across the mouth with mouth pattern 'boo' or 'poo', uses the half head turn and is often used for denial

- flat hands, palm down, crossed, moving out in a cutting action, uses the half head turn again, often user with commands or instructions, so may be translated into English as ‘don’t’

- ‘O’ or ‘F’ hands circling, sometimes glossed as ‘NOTHING’ and ‘NOBODY’ - fists, with palms away from the body, moving left and right, with a mouth

pattern of ‘shhhh’, usually glossed as ‘NOT-YET’

- fist with thumb extended moved out from the under the chin, often used to

mean ‘not’.

- B handshape moved from side to side. This is particularly used to deny

something or as a negative answer to a rhetorical question.

- Spread ‘5’ hand that may be used as a suffix by some signers e.g. WON’T, WHY-

NOT, NOT-BAD, SHAN’T

- Regional Welsh sign (open 8 hand) This manual sign is accompanied by the

mouth pattern ‘thaw’ and can be glossed as ‘NOTHING’. Not well known outside

of Wales.

- BSL verb SAY-NO. Some people claim that this borrowed from ASL. It is sometimes glossed as meaning ‘NO’ but actually it is a verb.

Separate Signs There are also signs that have their own negation form. These are often verbs of experience or sensation, such as ‘DON’T-KNOW’, ‘DISAGREE’, DON’T REMEMBER, DON’T LIKE etc. Many forms of non-standard English use multiple negation, just as BSL does. In BSL, a sentence such as ‘DON’T-KNOW NOTHING is just a strong form of negation.

2.2 Describe the types of BSL question forms Questions in BSL conform to a set structure which include:

- A word or sign that signals a question - An intonation pattern or facial expression - A characteristic word or sign order

Yes-No Questions (Closed) – These occur when the person asking the question asks for an answer that is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (also confirmation and negation). Instead of using special question signs, yes-no questions in BSL are signalled by facial expression. A yes-no question is usually accompanied by raised eyebrows, opened eyes and a slight backward thrust of the head and shoulders. Sign order does not change in BSL yes-no questions.


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Open - where a longer answer is required.

WH Questions – These request new information from a wide range of possibilities. Unlike yes-no questions, these do have a special question sign. Many of these signs have a repeated movement (WHAT, WHAT-FOR, WHO, WHICH, and WHERE have a side to side movement, and WHEN, HOW-MANY, HOW-MUCH, HOW OLD have an internal movement. WHY and HOW fit less well into this pattern however they are also question signs. Facial expression is also important in WH questions. The general rule for Wh questions is that the brows are furrowed, the eyes slightly closed and the head is thrust slightly forward or slightly tilted to one side. Puzzlement or anger can lead to lowered eyebrows. The brows are furrowed to show a puzzled face for Wh, but only when the questioner genuinely does not know the answer.

Tag Questions – are a form of Yes-No question. They are attached to the end of declarative sentences. In BSL tag questions are formed by signing a sentence that is not a question, then adding a sign that can be glossed as RIGHT or TRUE.

Alternative Questions (Which) – These questions only allow for an answer already provided in the question e.g would you like coffee or tea? The only possibility is answering coffee or tea. In BSL these questions are mainly distinguished from Yes-No questions by the optional use of the question sign WHICH e.g. LIKE TEA COFFEE WHICH?

Rhetorical Questions – Rhetorical questions are one type of question that does not expect an answer. They are not real questions as they are not a request for information. The task of a rhetorical question is to emphasise what the person is saying. Rhetorical questions occur when signers ask a question with no expectation that it will be answered by the conversational partner, or when talking or signing to themselves e.g. ‘Where did I put that? Oh yes, in the kitchen!’

2.3 Define classifiers and describe how they function Classifiers are a productive part of BSL vocabulary and use handshapes and space to add meaning. A Classifier is a handshape that is combined with location, orientation, movement and non-manual features to form a predicate. It is a symbol for a class of objects. Classifiers can be used to represent various aspects of objects, people and their movements. There are 3 different parts:

Size and shape (Entity) specifiers - describe the physical features of objects - their size and shape. Example: flat objects are represented by flat B handshapes.

Tracing classifiers - closely linked to size and shape specifiers, the hands give a clue to the shape. Example: geometric shapes have G handshape - window, square.

Handling and instrument classifiers – mimic actions and categorise objects in terms of how people handle them. Example: the closed fist is used to show gripping of narrow cylindrical objects such as ski pole


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Classifiers are found in many languages, not only in sign languages. In the broadest sense, they label referents as belonging to a particular group, such as referents that share the same shape, are living or dead, or are male, etc. French uses le and la to classify nouns' referents as masculine or feminine. English does not have many classifiers, but there are some examples like sheet of paper, piece of fruit, head of cattle, stick of wood, or blade of grass. All these words put the noun referents into certain classes. Similarly, a suffix can be added at the end of a word to add more information. For example, the suffix 'ess' can be added to the ends of words such as, stewardess, hostess, actress, etc., and means female. This is an example of classifier use.

2.4 Give examples of connectors that link and complete sentences. Connectors help to link and complete sentences. Examples: Pauses, “as well” “also” “because”, head nods.

3. Understand a range of BSL structures, facial expressions, mouth patterns and use of space to express meaning

3.1 Explain the difference between formal and informal registers.

a. different audiences and different topics of conversation

Situational Varieties – The language used by any member of a language community will vary according to the social situation. ‘Social situation’ includes: - The topic of conversation - The reason for the conversation - The person or people who make up the conversational partners BSL changes according to whether a signer is addressing one person, a small group or a large gathering. It also changes when a signer meets someone who does not have a good command of BSL. It also changes depending on whether a situation is informal or formal.

Informal Signing - In more casual BSL (Informal signing) the signing space tends to be larger and more expansive than in formal signing. Informal BSL uses less fingerspelling and a greater variety of non-manual features, including more marked facial expressions. There is less influence from English and the sign lexicon may include signs only appropriate to informal conversation, including idiomatic signs and creative metaphors. Signs may be less clearly articulated, so that, for example, a two-handed sign may be made with only one hand, or may be articulated in the space in front of the body, rather than a specific location on the body. There may be greater use of signs more like ‘gestures’, for example, a simple shrug instead of the sign DON’T-KNOW


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Social Variation – In spoken languages, linguists expect to find differences according to different social groups within the language community. We can expect differences in language according to the social class of the speaker, their age, sex, ethnic identity, religious identity and whether they have experiences bilingual situations.

- Social Class – The most noticeable ‘social class’ distinction in BSL derives from family background. Only 10 per cent of Deaf children in Britain are born to Deaf parents, while 90 per cent have hearing. Those born to Deaf parents are more likely to have had early exposure to a fluent model of adult BSL. Those born to hearing parents usually only begin to learn BSL when they are sent to school, or even after they have left school. Deaf signers from Deaf families use features of BSL such as syntactic space, mouth patterns, and proforms very differently from those signers from hearing families.

- Age – There are many features that differentiate older and younger signers.

In sign languages the differences are often far greater than in established languages such as English. This arises because of the breaks in passing the language from generation to generation. Older Deaf people often use much more fingerspelling and many fewer clearer English mouth patterns than younger Deaf people. Many younger Deaf people use a form of BSL that is more heavily influence by English grammar and uses relatively little fingerspelling. Signers from different age groups also use different signs for the same referents. There are 3 main factors affecting differences: a) Few Deaf people have Deaf parents so rarely learn to sign from their

parents b) Educational changes for Deaf people - acceptability of signing in

educational settings c) As technology changes, old signs die out or change

- Gender – In most languages women and men use language differently. The

differences between men and women in English are relatively small. In some sign languages the difference between men and women are great to the extent of mutual unintelligibility (such as Ireland). This is not the case in BSL, differences between men and women are as slight as in English. Since most teachers working with Deaf children in primary schools are women, they may be the major source of signing for both boys and girls, so from an early age boys do not have an adult male role model for signing.

- Ethnic Variation – In America, there are some dialects of ASL that are easily identifiable as ‘Black’ ASL and others that are clearly ‘White’ ASL. A history of black and white segregation has led to language variations based on racial group. The variation in BSL between Black and White signers appears to be less marked. There were few Black people in Britain until the 1950s, and


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Black Deaf children went to mixed Deaf schools where they were often in the minority and so learned the ‘White’ dialect of BSL.

- Religious Groups – There are some differences in BSL arising from membership of religious groups. There are clear reasons for this, especially in relation to education or membership of social groups. Different religious groups have special signs relating to practices or beliefs of their religions. British Muslims have their own signs for religious terms as do other religions. One clear difference in BSL is in Roman Catholic and Protestant signing. The signing of Deaf British Catholics is strongly influence by Irish Sign Language because monks and nuns have provided education for Catholic Deaf children. Catholic signing uses many initialised signs that are based on the Irish manual alphabet. At one time there was a school for Jewish Deaf children in London. This was an oral school but some signing was permitted. After the school closed the Jewish school for the Deaf dialect began to decline. However Israeli sign language is now influencing the signing of Jewish British Deaf people.

b. the difference between signing to adults and signing to children

BSL changes when a signer is signing to a small child, rather than an adult, for example a different child-directed sign may be used (WHAT). 3.2 Explain the types and meaning of signing space and how they contribute to the meaning of words or statements There are two types of signing space in BSL Linguistics, Topographic and Syntactic. The signing space is exactly the same but used in 2 different ways :

Topographic space – Recreates a map of the real world. It is a spatial layout in signing space of representations of things as they really are. Example: when a shopping area is described in BSL things are placed in signing space according to where they are in relation to other things. If a church is opposite a post office and the post office is next to a hairdresser, then each is placed in their location within the signing space. If the signs for these things are placed incorrectly or not placed at all topographically, then it is grammatically incorrect. English does not need this spatial information from its speakers.

Syntactic space – created from within the language and may not map onto the real

world. Uses grammatical structures which move in space between grammatically

defined points. This puts two ideas together to create a visual image of what is

happening even though they are not actually there.


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Example: “I gave my sister an apple”. In this scenario, the signer would place the

sister in the signing space and give the apple (with an agreement/directional verb).

The sister does not actually need to be where the signer placed her in the sentence.

Placement and referents in signing space Placement: Enables the setting up of information in a visual way and is used in both forms of signing space. Referents: Once an object/person has been placed in space, it can be used as a reference by pointing to it and interacting with it with directional verbs.

3.3 Describe how the following can contribute to the meaning of words or statements:

a. mouth patterns b. facial expression c. eye contact

Non manual features (NMF) in BSL are a hugely important part of conveying language and a formal aspect of BSL Linguistics. Key elements of non manual features include:

- Mouth patterns - Facial expression - Role shift, including eye contact - Head nods & head shakes

Mouth Patterns - There are many mouth patterns that convey grammatical and phonological information in BSL. One of the things BSL has borrowed from English is the mouth patterns from English words. There are times when these mouth patterns are borrowed and times when they are not. Spoken Components – These have various uses: a) To represent spoken language mouth pattern in combination with signs b) To represent spoken language mouth patterns with first letter signs c) To distinguish other manual homonyms There are some mouth patterns used in BSL, that come from English but a non-signing English speaker would not recognise as English. Using spoken components may help non-fluent signers to recognise the accompanying sign. In BSL less influenced by English, there is still considerable use of spoken components. They frequently serve to identify or establish a sign. They are used especially for proper names e.g. people, towns, countries. Most of the components are found with nouns. Spoken components accompany far fewer verbs , an


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exception being the group KNOW, WANT, THINK which do regularly occur with spoken components. Spoken components often do not represent the full English word, even with nouns e.g. ‘hsp’ with HUSBAND and ‘fsh’ with FINISH. Sometimes the hands and mouth give the same information, but in a different order, for example the hands may sign WORK NONE while the spoken component is ‘no work’. It is also possible for the signer to sign different elements on the hands and mouth e.g. WORK FINISH? May be signed with WORK on the hands and mouth articulating ‘fsh’. Spoken components with first-letter signs – There are many single manual letter signs in BSL that are derived from the first letter of fingerspelled English words. These usually have accompanying spoken components to make the meaning clear e.g. GEOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, GARAGE. Spoken components also often accompany full fingerspellings. Spoken components to distinguish other homonyms – Sometimes pairs or small groups of signs have identical manual components such as ‘coincidental’ manual homonyms – signs that have the same form but different meanings, such as BATTERY and UNCLE where the spoken component is used to ambiguate them. In some cases, such as APPROPRIATE and AGREE, the signs are similar in meaning, and spoken components may be used to distinguish them. Parallel mouth / hand movements – These used to be called ‘multi-channel signs. The movement of the mouth parallels the movement of the hands e.g. really, gobsmacked, nodding Manner and degree adverbs – Oral components which serve as adverbs can be added to give extra information about the manner or effort of an action. The same oral components can be used to show the extent or size of an object or the degree (e.g. bigger, biggest) of the adjective.

Facial Expression – Important parts of facial expression to note are the actions of the cheeks, brows, eyelids and eye gaze. These are used to achieve a number of things: a) Mark a question – the eyebrows are furrowed for puzzlement and Wh

questions, and raised for Yes-No questions and those where the questioner has an idea of the answer.

b) Mark a topic – the brow raise as a topic marker is an example of the user of facial expression as a grammatical feature.

c) Mark a conditional (if) – a conditional clause can be marked by brow movement as well as head tilt and (optionally) the sign IF.

d) Show emotional state – emotional facial expressions are also used linguistically. They must accompany the relevant sign for an emotion. However, they can also be super-imposed on to other signs.


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Head nods – Head nods are used by both BSL signers and English speakers to mean ‘yes’. In BSL nodding is an important part of feedback in conversation to show attention. This is a disclosure feature, it is not part of the language but it is used during sign conversation. Nodding also has grammatical functions in BSL, apart from topic marking. The number of nods and their speed and intensity is important: a) A head dip can be used to indicate first person (I). Instead of signing I

REMEMBER, the signer can nod while signing REMEMBER b) Fast head nods can used when insisting on the truth of something. c) A single small head nod or two small head nods can indicate that a comment

upon a topic, or given phrase is complete.

Head shakes – Headshakes can serve for ‘no’, and can also negate a rhetorical question, a topic or a whole clause. They can also indicate emotion during a sentence that is grammatically positive. These movements carry information in BSL in the following ways: a) To respond to a Yes-No question b) Negation (side to side shakes, and half head turns) c) To express emotions such as regret, frustration, disbelief or sorrow.

Eye Gaze – Eye gaze has at least 5 important uses in BSL: a) Lexical distinction – In some signs eye gaze is obligatory e.g GOD, HEAVEN. The

signs GOD and BOSS differ in eye gaze only (GOD eyes looking up, BOSS eyes looking forward)

b) In conjunction with the location of movement of referents in signing space – we can point to locations in the signing space that have been assigned to referents, but it is also grammatical to just look at the locations. Eye gaze is also important for indicating the difference between the second person (you) and the third person (he or she).

c) To indicate role shift – Changes in gaze allow a signer to take different roles of different characters in a story. When a signer is shifting between narrator and character roles, the eye gaze shifts. When a signer is narrating, eye gaze is directed at the conversation partner, when role shifts to that of a character, gaze is towards whatever the character is looking at. The Body is used to show the identity of a chosen character or entity can be used left to right, forward to back. Can be large or subtle. Character style shows the character through signing style e.g. age, physicality. Example: an old frail person who needs support to walk would have a different body posture to an athlete. Use movement and facial expression to show this.

d) For distinguishing pseudo-questions and genuine questions – If a question is not functionally a question (e.g. rhetorical) the signer does not look at the conversational partner, since this signals turn taking.


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e) To invite someone else to sign – this is a disclosure function. When a person is signing, direction of gaze changes frequently, but there are brief gazes at the conversational partner for feedback. The main signal for relinquishing a turn of signing is by gazing directly at the conversational partner and holding the gaze there.

f) For marking time – Looking to the side can indicate past, while looking directly ahead or down can indicate the present time and looking up can indicate a future time.

3.4 Give examples of gestures used in English and BSL Signs, like any use of the body for communication can be called gestures, but they form only a small set of the possible gestures and they differ in specific ways from most gestures. We might think that some gestures are completely natural and that their meaning is obvious to anyone, but in fact gestures are often specific to certain cultures. Many gestures are used outside of language, but with language. This use of gesture outside of a language is sometimes termed ‘extra-linguistic’ gesture. Emblematic gestures that are part of British culture are used both by English speakers and BSL signers. In English, it is fairly easy to distinguish between gestures and words because they exist in two different modalities. It is not so easy in BSL, where signs can look just like extra-linguistic gestures on the surface. In the broadest sense, just as words are ‘audible gestures’ signs are visible gestures with conventional form and meaning and which obey specific formational rules. Signs can be joined together into sentences according to grammatical rules of BSL. Gestures cannot be combined into grammatical forms or sentences. Some gestures are used by hearing people and also in BSL e.g. “shrug”.


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This unit will cover the following:

Classifiers/Proforms

Proforms

A “proform” is any form that stands in the place of, or does the job of, some other form, which is often a noun. The terms “proform” and “pronoun” may seem to mean the same, but we keep the term “pronoun” to mean I, you, he, she, it, we, them etc., and we use “proform” for a more specific type of BSL structure.

Understanding and using proforms in BSL is essential for the understanding of the syntax of BSL.

A proform is anything that refers to, and stands in the place of, something previously identified. Usually a noun, for example:

CAR has a related proform (a ‘B’ hand) that is used to provide more information about the location of the car and the action it is involved in.

MAN has a related proform (a ‘G’ hand) that can be used to show the man walking away from or coming towards the signer etc.

CAT (‘G’, ‘V’ or ‘V^’, depending on the context) shows the cat running away.

There are many proforms in BSL but we are going to focus on three basic groups of proforms used frequently in BSL (and a fourth hand shape which is slightly different):

1. A single finger (‘G’): The ‘G’ hand is used when an object is represented as having one dimension (length or height) and this stands for referents which are considered to be long and thin: PERSON, PENCIL, TOOTHBRUSH, TUBE-TRAIN, etc.

2. A flat hand (‘B’): this stands for referents represented as having two dimensions (i.e. flat), such as BED/S, PLATE and TABLE. CAR can also be represented by the ‘B’ hand in two different ways, either vertically or horizontally, in describing for example rows of parked cars. PICTURE can be shown by using one or two ‘B’ hands as illustrated. Further examples include: WALL, VEHICLE (this could be any vehicle, such as a lorry or tractor etc.), FAX, PAPER, BICYCLES etc.

3. A curved “clawed” hand (‘5’): this stands for referents represented as having three dimensions, whether square or round, for example a house or any building, a rock, a cake, etc. A slightly different hand shape is used, with the palm facing sideways, for MUG or CUP etc.

4. Two fingers extended and spread (‘V’ or ‘V^’): These are slightly different from the previous examples, because they illustrate movement rather than dimensions. For example, the ‘V’ hand can be used to show the movement of eyes as they look around, or legs when jumping up and down. An example of a sentence that would use these


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handshakes is ‘The child ran down the stairs, then ran outside’.

In BSL the full sign is normally produced first, followed by the proform. The full sign is needed to identify the referent otherwise, while it will be possible to identify some features of the referent as, e.g. flat or long, it will not be clear what it is.

Proforms allow signers to move signs freely in signing space. This freedom is important because BSL uses space to provide much grammatical information. The placement and movement of signs in space indicates their relationship to each other.

Pronouns

Pronouns are a familiar type of proform to those who know English. A pronoun stands in place of a previously mentioned noun. "Pronoun" literally means "in place of a noun".

Pronouns contain information relating to who is being talked about, and how many of them there are. This information is called “person” and “number”.

Person - refers to who is being talked about. In the ‘first person’, the speakers or signers refer to themselves, or themselves and some others.

Number - tells us how many individuals are involved: one, two of us, three of us, all of us etc. The English number system only has singular and plural, so we only know if there is either one person involved or more than one. The BSL number system is more complex.

Pronouns can only have meaning when the referent can be identified. In the sentence "that’s his book" we need to know who "he" is.

Pronouns in BSL are articulated by pointing to a location associated with the noun. The form of the point is the same in all pronouns, but the location of the point varies depending on the location assigned to the noun. Pointing has many other functions in BSL so we use the term "index" to refer to pronoun pointing.

Pronouns in BSL are similar to those in English, but there are five main differences:

1. BSL does not distinguish between "he" and "she", but English does. Many languages do not mark this difference, for example Finnish and Hungarian. This does not mean that these languages are somehow less perfect than English. It just means that they are different.

2. BSL has many more pronouns than English. English has pronouns for one, and pronouns for more than one. For "singular" (pronouns referring to one), English uses I, he, she, it, and you. For "plural" pronouns (referring to more than one) English uses we, and they. They can also be used instead of he, she and it, and you remains the same whether it is singular or plural. English pronouns do not show exactly how many people are involved; 3, 4, 5 etc.

BSL uses pronouns meaning WE-TWO, WE-THREE, WE-FOUR and WE-FIVE and is different from English in this way.


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3. BSL does not always use possessive pronouns the way English does. BSL uses a closed fist for MY, OUR, YOUR etc. when referring to temporary objects / possessions. However, BSL also uses pointing as a possessive pronoun when the object is 'inalienable' or 'permanent'. For example, in MY NAME a pointing finger is used to signify MY instead of a closed fist. OUR (TWO OF US) MOTHER uses two pointing fingers moving between the signer and one other person to signify OUR, instead of a closed fist. MY KIDNEYS similarly does not use a closed fist to signify MY because the kidneys are not temporary possessions.

4. BSL pronouns include additional information about the noun. In the signed form TEACHER (where we sign TEACHER, and then point - meaning "the teacher, he ...”) the pronoun refers both to the teacher, and also to where he is. English pronouns do not tell us where a person is.

5. The English pronoun it refers to almost anything that is not a person. English uses it to refer to a house, a dream, an aeroplane, an enormous strawberry gateau, the whole of the USA, the whole world, or a tiny virus. In English it is used for anything of any size or shape, just so long as it is not human. BSL can simply point with the index finger to refer to any "it", but BSL can also indicate different shaped and sized referents by the use of various hand shapes, which English does not do.

Predicates

A predicate is anything that makes a statement about a noun or a noun phrase. Predicates can be nouns, verbs, verb phrases or adjectives. In the BSL sentence SOMEONE PASS "A person passed by", the subject is SOMEONE and the predicate PASS; in MAN ILL "The man is ill", the subject is MAN and the predicate is ILL.

In other examples, the hand shape in the predicate does not appear in the subject noun phrase. For example, in "The car drives up the hill" or "The car drives downhill" the classifier hand shape for the car (the 'B' hand shape) only occurs in the predicate.

Time and Aspect

Aspect

Aspect allows the signer to show the timing of events, how long it went on for or is still in progress. This is done by:

Repetition (slow or fast). Example: knock A change from straight to arcing movement A sudden hold at the end of a sign. Example: think An initial hold of the sign. Example: cross-road Moving the sign bit by bit. Example: wind up by degrees Moving the sign slowly: Example: gradually-approach


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Other ways of showing aspect:

The use of: finish, been Often, always, frequently, normally

Role Shift

The Body - can be used to show the identity of the chosen character or entity. Role shift (body shift) can be a left to right shift or a forward to back shift. The movements can range from large side to side movements to subtle finer movements.

Character styles - this is where the age, physical and psychological state of a character can be shown by the style of signing. Example: the character of an athlete is physical fit and energetic. An old frail person who needs support to walk would have a different body posture to an athlete. Movement and facial expressions would be used to illustrate this.

Eye gaze - orientations are an essential part of role shifts, however, they are less obvious of the shift makers. Eye gaze is used, on most occasions, in conjunction with other character markers. Once the signer has taken the role of a character, the signer’s eye gaze can also represent the eye gaze of the character. Example: a character looks down, then the signer looks down.

Eye gaze has at least 5 important uses in BSL

The eye gaze is part of the sign In conjunction with the location and movement of referents in signing space To indicate role shift For distinguishing false questions and genuine questions To invite someone else to sign For marking time

Also, eye gaze is important in establishing height or position of characters. Example: look down when talking to a child.

The eye gaze is part of the sign - in some signs, eye gaze is obligatory. Example: God. The sign changes if the required eye gaze is not given.

In conjunction with the location in signing space - can be used to show difference between the second and third person. Can also be used to follow movements traced by the hands. Example: ball flies through the air. .

Mouth patterns


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In BSL there are two types of mouthing patterns; mouthing and mouth gestures.

Mouthings are related to spoken English whereas mouth gestures are not. Mouthings show many things: topic, nouns, they are morphologically simple, have a fixed vocabulary, signs related to English mouthings.

Mouth gestures are for; clarification purposes, comments, verbs, morphology complex, productive, sign is not linked to an English mouth pattern.

Mouthings

BSL uses mouthings a great deal. Research into BSL, including the various forms of signs produced and how they are produced, shows that an average of 69% of signing is linked to mouthings. This is strong evidence that mouthings are an important part of BSL and is not English dominated. In BSL the production of sign controls the mouth. Signers who think strongly in English influence their sign production.

Different Uses in BSL

BSL uses mouthings and mouth gestures in different ways. For example in BSL if an explanation is given or a fact is being described then there will be more mouthings involved, whereas if a story or an action is being described there will be less mouthings used and more mouth gestures. This is backed up by evidence found through research. This research involved life history interviews where the spoken and oral components were assessed.

Mouthing with Signs

So far we have looked at 5 different components of BSL; facts, who, what and where. The last 2 of these components are related to the description of people, actions. These use more mouth gestures compared to mouthings. Mouth gestures are linked with signs used, for example the number of signs is matched with the number of lip patterns. Sometimes it can appear that the mouth is following full English but this is not the case, lip patterns may look like full English but this is definitely not so. This is due to our knowledge of English.

Homonyms

Mouthings have manual homonyms. This is when one sign may have many different meanings in English, for example (see sign shown) this can mean ‘KING’ or ‘QUEEN’. You have to follow the mouthing to know which meaning is the right one. Sometimes the mouthing does not relate to the sign at all for example ‘DEAF YOU?’ Only one mouthing but two signs, this happens a lot. This happens in indexical signs such as ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘they’, or AREA. For example, ‘CORNWALL AREA’, one mouthing spreads over two signs.

Mouthing Gestures

Mouth gestures have a variety of uses and are possibly the most important part of sign language. The Citation Form has many elements; one is enacting or sometimes called mouth forms or M4M for short. This is visually motivated, the mouthing having a connection with an action such as ‘HOLDING-BREATH’, ‘YAWNING’, ‘PUT-ON-LIPSTICK’, ‘BLOW’. Other signs can have a connection to


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the mouth e.g. ‘KISS, ‘CHEW’, ‘BARK’ or ‘BITE’! Parallel hand mouth movements relate to multi-channel signs. Most but not all of these multi-channel signs are used when interrupting, to show a feeling for example; when told a story, the listener can show their feeling or thought, ‘WOW-REALLY’. The movement of the mouth changes to match the hands/sign for example ‘REALLY’. One Scottish example is, ‘REALLY’. Other examples include, ‘BRILLIANT’, ‘CAN’T-BE-BOTHERED’, ‘GOBSMACKED’.

Multi-channel signs

Signs that are not multi-channel, where the hands control the mouth. Many signs have mouth patterns, which match the hand movements. There are many examples, see video clip. Some signs have mouth patterns that go with the sign but are not enacting or related to the sign, for example, ‘HAVEN’T-SEEN-FOR-A-LONG-TIME’.

Morphological Information

Nouns, adjectives and verbs have visually motivated mouth gestures to add morphological information. This has a strong visual motivation. The mouthing gesture is relevant to what is being signed, for example 'a tall narrow house'. This mouthing gesture (shown) means 'NARROW'. The same can be seen when talking about a wall, "IT’S A HIGH WALL" and 'HIGH' matches the mouth gesture (shown). Mouth gestures modify verbs, nouns and adjectives. Sometimes the lip pattern may look the same but gives a different meaning. For example; 'NARROW' or I may sign 'RIDING A MOTORBIKE', here the mouth gesture means "CAREFUL", so you can see the lip pattern is the same but the meaning is different. There are a variety of mouthing gestures such as 'OO', 'EE', 'MM', 'SHH'. There are many.

Mouth Gestures Movements

We have mouthing gestures, which have no sign. There are very few of those in BSL and most of them are rude, like (TONGUE-IN-CHEEK) means you fancy that person, or (PUFFED-CHEEK) can mean ‘I have my period’. In other sign languages like Norwegian or American mouth gestures can show feelings and emotions or can link to the personality of the person or can link to another person at a different time. Really mouthing gestures can show emotions linked with the facial expression. They are not separate. Emotions have links with the Citation Form but rarely in conversation, for example; SURPRISED, IMPRESSED, AFRAID, SADNESS, HAPPY, ANGRY. Sometimes mouthing gestures can add information but these are not linked to linguistics. It’s possible to show the emotions of a person at a different time, in a different place, showing a different character. If something were signed without the mouthing gesture it would take away the full meaning for example a person is very angry and storming off, the sign would show that the person is storming off but the facial expression and the manner would show that the person is angry. The sign ‘ANGRY’ would not need to be signed.

bsl 320. linguistics exam - deaf solutions...

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