Language, Gesture, and Space

by Emmorey; Karen

• ISBN13: 9780805813784
• ISBN10: 0805813780
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-02-01
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

This book brings together papers which address a range of issues regarding the nature and structure of sign languages and other gestural systems, and how they exploit the space in which they are conveyed. The chapters focus on five pertinent areas reflecting different, but related research topics: * space in language and gesture, * point of view and referential shift, * morphosyntax of verbs in ASL, * gestural systems and sign language, and * language acquisition and gesture. Sign languages and gestural systems are produced in physical space; they manipulate spatial contrasts for linguistic and communicative purposes. In addition to exploring the different functions of space, researchers discuss similarities and differences between visual-gestural systems -- established sign languages, pidgin sign language (International Sign), "homesign" systems developed by deaf children with no sign language input, novel gesture systems invented by hearing nonsigners, and the gesticulation that accompanies speech. The development of gesture and sign language in children is also examined in both hearing and deaf children, charting the emergence of gesture ("manual babbling"), its use as a prelinguistic communicative device, and its transformation into language-like systems in homesigners. Finally, theoretical linguistic accounts of the structure of sign languages are provided in chapters dealing with the analysis of referential shift, the structure of narrative, the analysis of tense and the structure of the verb phrase in American Sign Language. Taken together, the chapters in this volume present a comprehensive picture of sign language and gesture research from a group of international scholars who investigate a range of communicative systems from formal sign languages to the gesticulation that accompanies speech.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. ix
Theoretical Issues Relating Language, Gesture, and Space: an Overview	p. 1
References	p. 16
Acknowledgments	p. 16
Space in Language and Gesture	p. 17
Real, Surrogate, and Token Space: Grammatical Consequences in Asl	p. 19
Acknowledgments	p. 39
References	p. 40
Differential Processing of Topographic and Referential Functions of Space	p. 43
Acknowledgments	p. 61
References	p. 61
Appendix	p. 62
Right Brain and Gesture	p. 63
Acknowledgments	p. 84
References	p. 84
Spatial Mapping in Comparative Discourse Frames	p. 87
References	p. 110
Acknowledgments	p. 110
	p. 112
	p. 112
Point of View and Referential Shift	p. 115
On Narrative Discourse and Point of View in Quebec Sign Language	p. 117
Acknowledgments	p. 130
References	p. 130
Point of View Expressed Through Shifters	p. 133
References	p. 151
Appendix	p. 153
The Point of View Predicate in American Sign Language	p. 155
Acknowledgments	p. 169
References	p. 169
Line Segmentation and Narrative Structure: a Study of Eyegaze Behavior in American Sign Language	p. 171
Acknowledgments	p. 185
References	p. 185
Appendix	p. 186
Morpho-Syntax of Verbs in Asl	p. 193
A Crosslinguistic Perspective on Asl Verb Agreement	p. 195
References	p. 221
Appendix	p. 222
Lexical Tense Markers American Sign Language	p. 225
Acknowledgments	p. 250
References	p. 251
Appendix: Notational Conventions	p. 253
Morpho-Syntactic Structure of Aspect and Number Inflections in Asl	p. 255
Acknowledgments	p. 283
References	p. 284
Gestural Systems and Sign Language	p. 285
The Cataclysmic Break Between Gesticulation and Sign: Evidence Against a Unified Continuum of Gestural Communication	p. 287
Acknowledgments	p. 309
References	p. 309
The Genesis of Language: How Much Time is Needed to Generate Arbitrary Symbols in a Sign System?	p. 313
Acknowledgments	p. 330
References	p. 331
The Grammar of International Sign: a New Look at Pidgin Languages	p. 333
Acknowledgments	p. 349
References	p. 349
Appendix: Transcription on Conventions	p. 352
Language Acquisition and Gesture	p. 353
Mental Phonology and Comprehension, or What Does That Sign Mistake Mean?	p. 355
References	p. 368
Acknowledgments	p. 368
When Do Modality Factors Affect the Course of Language Acquisition?	p. 371
Acknowledgments	p. 388
References	p. 388
Prelinguistic Gesture in Deaf and Hearing Infants	p. 391
Acknowledgments	p. 407
References	p. 408
The Resilience of Language: Mother-Child Interaction and Its Effect on the Gesture Systems of Chinese and American Deaf Children	p. 411
References	p. 430
Acknowledgments	p. 430
Author Index	p. 435
Subject Index	p. 443
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