The phonology of movement in sign language

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

To watch a person communicating in a sign language is to observe a well-coordinated, multi-channel display of bodily motion. Most salient in this display is movement of the hands, which transmit lexical, morphological, and timing information. In coordination with the hands, motion of the mouth and lower face performs phonological, morphological, and gestural functions. Simultaneously, movement of the head and body provides a kind of prosodic shell to house the signing hands. Prominently embedded in this outer shell are the brows and eyes, whose movements provide intonation, the visual “tunes” of the message. The same physical articulators are all exploited by speakers as well, to augment the linguistically organized vocal–auditory signal.1 But in sign language, it is these visually perceived actions that convey the linguistic signal itself, in a synchronized panoply of motion.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Blackwell Companion to Phonology
PublisherWiley-Blackwell Oxford
Pages577–603
ISBN (Electronic)9781444335262
ISBN (Print)9781405184236
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Apr 2011

Publication series

NameThe Blackwell Companion to Phonology

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