Introduction

Diane Brentari

doi:10.1017/9781316286401.001

1 - Introduction

Sign Language versus Gesture; Sign Language versus Speech

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 November 2019

Diane Brentari

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Diane Brentari: Affiliation:
University of Chicago

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Summary

By working through phonological questions using sign language data we arrive at a new understanding of the very nature of phonology, of the very nature of language. This chapter gives a brief historical look into the field from its inception, lays out the reasons why thinking about sign language phonology opens up new ways to understand the nature of language, broadly construed, and provides enough background on the units of word-level phonology in sign languages to see practical and theoretical connections to parallel issues in spoken language phonology.

Keywords

phonological theory autosegmental phonology dependency phonology lexicon native vocabulary non-native vocabulary classifier constructions contrast distinctive features

Type: Chapter
Information: Sign Language Phonology , pp. 1 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316286401.001 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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References

1.7 Further Reading

Battison, R. (1978). Lexical Borrowing in American Sign Language. Silver Spring, MD: Linstok Press. Reprinted 2003, Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media, Inc.Google Scholar

Brentari, D. (1998). A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology. MIT Press.Google Scholar

Fenlon, J., Cormier, K., & Brentari, D.. The phonology of sign languages. (2017). In Hannahs, S.J. and Bosch, A. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory (pp. 453–475). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Sandler, W. & Lillo-Martin, D. (2006). Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Stokoe, W. (1960). Sign Language Structure: An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf. Buffalo, NY: University of Buffalo. (Occasional Papers 8).Google Scholar

van der Hulst, H. & van der Kooij, E. (in press). Phonological structure of signs: Theoretical perspectives. In Quer, J., Pfau, R. & Herrmann, A (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Theoretical and Experimental Sign Language Research. London: Routledge.Google Scholar