Documenting a Reduction in Signing Space in Nicaraguan Sign Language Using Depth and Motion Capture.
Language emergence
Language evolution
Motion tracking
Nicaraguan Sign Language
Sign language
Journal
Cognitive science
ISSN: 1551-6709
Titre abrégé: Cogn Sci
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 7708195
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
04 2023
04 2023
Historique:
revised:
27
01
2023
received:
30
10
2020
accepted:
06
03
2023
medline:
26
4
2023
pubmed:
25
4
2023
entrez:
25
04
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In this paper, we use motion tracking technology to document the birth of a brand new language: Nicaraguan Sign Language. Languages are dynamic entities that undergo change and growth through use, transmission, and learning, but the earliest stages of this process are generally difficult to observe as most languages have been used and passed down for many generations. Here, we observe a rare case of language emergence: the earliest stages of the new sign language in Nicaragua. By comparing the signing of the oldest and youngest signers of Nicaraguan Sign Language, we can track how the language itself is changing. Using motion tracking technology, we document a decrease in the size of articulatory space of Nicaraguan Sign Language signers over time. The reduction in articulatory space in Nicaraguan Sign appears to be the joint product of several decades of use and repeated transmission of this new language.
Types de publication
Case Reports
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e13277Informations de copyright
© 2023 The Authors. Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Cognitive Science Society (CSS).
Références
Bailey, G., Wikle, T., Tillery, J., & Sand, L. (1991). The apparent time construct. Language Variation and Change, 3(3), 241-264.
Börstell, C., Crassborn, O., & Schembi, A. (2019). Signs of reduction: Frequency, duration, and signing rate in three sign language corpora. In Theoretical issues in sign language research 13, Hamburg University, Germany. Retrieved from https://borstell.github.io/pdfs/borstell_et_al2019_poster.pdf
Börstell, C., Hörberg, T., & Östling, R. (2016). Distribution and duration of signs and parts of speech in Swedish Sign Language. Sign Language & Linguistics, 19(2), 143-196.
Börstell, C., & Lepic, R. (2020). Spatial metaphors in antonym pairs across sign languages. Sign Language & Linguistics, 23(1-2), 112-141.
Braithwaite, B. (2020). Ideologies of linguistic research on small sign languages in the global South: A Caribbean perspective. Language & Communication, 74, 182-194.
Caldwell, C. A., & Smith, K. (2012). Cultural evolution and perpetuation of arbitrary communicative conventions in experimentalmicrosocieties. PLoS One, 7(8), e43807-e43807.
Caselli, N., Occhino, C., Artacho, B., Savakis, A., & Dye, M. (2022). Perceptual optimization of language: Evidence from American Sign Language. Cognition, 224, 105040.
Crasborn, O. (2001). Phonetic implementation of phonological categories in Sign Language of the Netherlands [PhD thesis]. Universiteit Leiden.
de Vos, C. (2012). Sign-spatiality in Kata Kolok: How a village sign language of Bali inscribes its signing space [PhD thesis]. Universiteit Leiden.
Frishberg, N. (1975). Arbitrariness and iconicity: Historical change in American Sign Language. Language, 51(3), 696-719.
Garrod, S., Fay, N., Rogers, S., Walker, B., & Swoboda, N. (2010). Can iterated learning explain the emergence of graphical symbols? Interaction Studies, 11(1), 33-50.
George, J. (2011). Politeness in Japanese Sign Language (JSL): Polite JSL expression as evidence for intermodal language contact influence [PhD thesis]. University of California, Berkeley.
Hill, J., & McCaskill, C. (2010). Black and White signing space: A case of convergence? New Ways of Analyzing Variation, 39.
Hill, J., McCaskill, C., Lucas, C., & Bayley, R. (2009). Signing outside the box: The size of signing space in Black ASL. New Ways of Analyzing Variation, 38. http://colfa.utsa.edu/conferences/2010/nwav39/talks/HillMcCaskillBayleyLucas.pdf
Kinsella, A. R., & Marcus, G. F. (2009). Evolution, perfection, and theories of language. Biolinguistics, 3(2-3), 186-212.
Kusters, A., & Hou, L. (2020). Linguistic ethnography and sign language studies. Sign Language Studies, 20(4), 561-571.
Labov, W. (1963). The social motivation of a sound change. Word, 19(3), 273-309.
Lepic, R. (2019). A usage-based alternative to “lexicalization” in sign language linguistics. Glossa: a Journal of General Linguistics, 4(1), 1-30.
Lepic, R., & Occhino, C. (2018). A construction morphology approach to sign language analysis. In Geert Booij (Ed.), The construction of words, advances in construction morphology (studies in morphology) (pp. 141-172). Cham: Springer InternationalPublishing.
Liddell, S. K. (2003). Grammar, gesture, and meaning in American Sign Language. Cambridge University Press.
McCaskill, C., Lucas, C., Bayley, R., & Hill, J. (2011). The hidden treasure of Black ASL: Its history and structure. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Meier, R. P., Mauk, C., Mirus, G. R., & Conlin, K. E. (1998). Motoric constraints on early sign acquisition. In Proceedings of the Child Language Research Forum, volume 29 (pp. 63-72). Stanford, CA: CSLI Press.
Meier, R. P., Mauk, C. E., Cheek, A., & Moreland, C. J. (2008). The form of children's early signs: Iconic or motoric determinants? Language Learning and Development, 4(1), 63-98.
Mineiro, A., Carmo, P., Caroça, C., Moita, M., Carvalho, S., Paço, J., & Zaky, A. (2017). Emerging linguistic features of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language. Sign Language & Linguistics, 20(1), 109-128.
Mirus, G., Rathmann, C., & Meier, R. P. (2001). Proximalization and distalization of sign movement in adult learners. In S. T. A. M. B. Valerie Dively (Ed.), Signed languages: Discoveries from international research (pp. 103). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press
Motamedi, Y., Schouwstra, M., Smith, K., Culbertson, J., & Kirby, S. (2019). Evolving artificial sign languages in the lab: From improvised gesture to systematic sign. Cognition, 192, 103964.
Namboodiripad, S., Lenzen, D., Lepic, R., & Verhoef, T. (2016). Measuring conventionalization in the manual modality. Journal of Language Evolution, 1(2), 109-118.
Napoli, D. J., Sanders, N., & Wright, R. (2014). On the linguistic effects of articulatory ease, with a focus on sign languages. Language, 90(2), 424-456.
Nyst, V. (2007). A descriptive analysis of Adamorobe Sign Language (Ghana). Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics.
Perniss, P., Pfau, R., & Steinbach, M. (2007). Can't you see the difference? Sources of variation in sign language structure. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, 188, 1.
Polich, L. (2005). The emergence of the deaf community in Nicaragua: “With sign language you can learn so much”. Gallaudet University Press.
Pyers, J., & Senghas, A. (2020). Lexical iconicity is differentially favored under transmission in a new sign language: The effect of type of iconicity. Sign Language & Linguistics, 23(1-2), 73-95.
Ripperda, J., Drijvers, L., & Holler, J. (2020). Speeding up the detection of non-iconic and iconic gestures (SPUDNIG): A toolkit for the automatic detection of hand movements and gestures in video data. Behavior Research Methods, 52(4), 1783-1794.
Sandler, W., Belsitzman, G., & Meir, I. (2020). Visual foreign accent in an emerging sign language. Sign Language & Linguistics, 23(1-2), 233-257.
Stamp, R. (2022). Toward a notion of embodiment: Gestures, sign language, and sexuality. In K. Hall& R. Barrett (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of innovation. Oxford: Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212926.013.69
Trujillo, J. P., Simanova, I., Bekkering, H., & Özyürek, A. (2018). Communicative intent modulates production and comprehension of actions and gestures: A Kinect study. Cognition, 180, 38-51.
Trujillo, J. P., Vaitonyte, J., Simanova, I., & Özyürek, A. (2019). Toward the markerless and automatic analysis of kinematic features: A toolkit for gesture and movement research. Behavior Research Methods, 51(2), 769-777.
Wang, Q., Kurillo, G., Ofli, F., & Bajcsy, R. (2015). Evaluation of pose tracking accuracy in the first and second generations of Microsoft Kinect. In 2015 International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (pp. 380-389). IEEE.