Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

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PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resting level (neutral) Turn level Hesitation level Turn change level The speaker (turn-holder) may signal that he is ready to end his turn by lowering the hands from the turn level to the turn change level. Alternatively, he may signal that he is not ready to give up his turn, but needs a moment to think before continuing by holding the hands at the hesitation level. In the horizontal plane three different turn zones were identified: Closest to the speakers are their own turn zones. In the middle is the joint zone. When finishing his turn, the speaker moves the hands to the joint zone. Furthest from the speaker is the other speaker’s turn zone. Mesch’s (2001) study also analyzes 137 questions in the material, both yes/no questions and wh-questions, to determine which elements in tactile sign language take over the role of visual interrogative facial expression. She hypothesized that yes/no questions are marked with a manual signal that has an extended duration of the final sign of the utterance. In her study only 46% of the extended durations resulted from actual yes/no questions and the remainder of the durations were for other reasons such as a signal for turn-taking. Mesch concluded that, in general, if there were no interrogative signals, the context of the utterance would account for its interpretation as a question. In summary, the topics that have received special focus in the research on tactile sign language are as follows: Hand arrangements Turn taking Marking of questions Feedback 31
PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Transformation of non-manual grammatical elements Effectiveness (how fast and accurate) – and where it fails All of the researchers discussed in this PDE express the need for further research in tactile sign language, and on deaf-blind communications in general. The rest of this paper will focus on adverbial morphemes in the U. S. Deaf-Blind community. At this point, this researcher knows of no other research on this same topic. However, European researchers might be researching this same topic. The present study examines the linguistic properties and variation found in Tactile American Sign Language, a variety of American Sign Language used in the Deaf-Blind community. This project is a continuation of the pilot study done by Collins and Petronio (1998). The 1998 study examined target features in a limited corpus of Tactile ASL data and found examples of variation on phonological, lexical, syntactic and discourse levels. The current study does an in-depth look at how non-manual adverbials are conveyed tactually, using a case study methodology. 2.4. Introduction of the Terminology 2.4.1. Deaf-Blind Prior to defining relevant terminology in this paper, two words must first be discussed: the terms “d/Deaf” and “b/Blind”. Naturally, these terms refer to a person who is both deaf and blind to certain degrees. Yet, the definition of these two terms necessarily includes factors such as a Deaf-Blind individual’s background, medical history and upbringing. Medical professionals such as ophthalmologists may view the “Deaf-Blind” from the medical perspective – an individual with both vision and hearing losses. In some cases, some vision and hearing difficulties can be corrected with aids, glasses or even surgery. In other cases, the damage is inevitable and so far, there is no way to reverse the effects of genetic traits or alter much of the physiology of vision and hearing loss. Members of the Deaf-Blind community view the label “Deaf-Blind” from a cultural perspective. The Deaf-Blind community is composed of a rich range of sight/blindness giving the Deaf-Blind community its character and personality (Brennan 1997). 32
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Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

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