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Visual intonation in two sign languages*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2013

Svetlana Dachkovsky ,
Christina Healy  and
Wendy Sandler
Svetlana Dachkovsky
Affiliation:
University of Haifa
Christina Healy
Affiliation:
Gallaudet University
Wendy Sandler
Affiliation:
University of Haifa
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Abstract

In a detailed comparison of the intonational systems of two unrelated languages, Israeli Sign Language and American Sign Language, we show certain similarities as well as differences in the distribution of several articulations of different parts of the face and motions of the head. Differences between the two languages are explained on the basis of pragmatic notions related to information structure, such as accessibility and contingency, providing novel evidence that the system is inherently intonational, and only indirectly related to syntax. The study also identifies specific ways in which the physical modality in which language is expressed influences intonational structure.

Type
Articles
Information
Phonology , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , August 2013 , pp. 211 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

We are grateful to Bob Ladd, three anonymous reviewers and the editors for their thoughtful and helpful comments and suggestions. This research was funded in part by the Israel Science Foundation and by a Fulbright Student Fellowship to Christina Healy.

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