TY - JOUR
T1 - Variation in handshape and orientation in British Sign Language: The case of the ‘1’ hand configuration
AU - Fenlon, Jordan
AU - Schembri, Adam
AU - Rentelis, Ramas
AU - Cormier, Kearsy
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - This paper investigates phonological variation in British Sign Language (BSL) signs produced with a ‘1’ hand configuration in citation form. Multivariate analyses of 2084 tokens reveals that handshape variation in these signs is constrained by linguistic factors (e.g., the preceding and following phonological environment, grammatical category, indexicality, lexical frequency). The only significant social factor was region. For the subset of signs where orientation was also investigated, only grammatical function was important (the surrounding phonological environment and social factors were not significant). The implications for an understanding of pointing signs in signed languages are discussed.
AB - This paper investigates phonological variation in British Sign Language (BSL) signs produced with a ‘1’ hand configuration in citation form. Multivariate analyses of 2084 tokens reveals that handshape variation in these signs is constrained by linguistic factors (e.g., the preceding and following phonological environment, grammatical category, indexicality, lexical frequency). The only significant social factor was region. For the subset of signs where orientation was also investigated, only grammatical function was important (the surrounding phonological environment and social factors were not significant). The implications for an understanding of pointing signs in signed languages are discussed.
U2 - 10.1016/j.langcom.2012.09.001
DO - 10.1016/j.langcom.2012.09.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 23805018
SN - 1873-3395
VL - 33
SP - 69
EP - 91
JO - Language and Communication
JF - Language and Communication
IS - 1
ER -