Location – Royce Hall 362

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When the phonological mind meets another modality: Two-handed articulation in Shanghai Sign Language

Abstract:
To what extent are the phonological systems of languages, spoken or signed, structured similarly if we assume that they both draw on the same linguistic capacities, and to what extent is sign language phonology different due to the visual-manual modality it is transmitted through? One striking difference in sign languages is that two identical articulators (i.e., hands) are available for linguistic expressions. This talk will address the above two overarching questions through the lens of two-handed articulation in Shanghai Sign Language. I will present evidence from complex word formation and phonological processes such as non-dominant hand spread (‘stability’ of the non-dominant hand across different signs) and weak drop (i.e., deletion of the non-dominant hand) to show that the phonological principles in the organization of a word and a prosodic domain in relation to the non-dominant hand transcend modality differences. I will also discuss the relevance of considering the aspects of simultaneity and iconicity in sign language grammar. I argue that each of these two modality-related properties, i.e., an increase in simultaneous complexity and a prevalence of lexical iconicity, shape sign language phonology. Finally, by comparing deaf signers and hearing non-signers in their processing of weak drop, I reveal that knowledge of a sign language mediates not only the way iconicity is leveraged, but also almost all levels of the phonology of the non-dominant hand, including lexical representation, phonological repairs, and phonetic implementation. Synthesizing these findings, I support the view that a sign phonological system includes a mixture of properties that are modality-independent and others that are modality-specific. Crucially, I highlight that the integration of these properties is specialized and mediated by the knowledge of a sign language.