Filename:
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ds_0049_languagecontact_cap_01.mp4
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Identifier:
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ds_0049_languagecontact_cap_01.mp4
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Title:
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Language contact
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Creator:
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Quinto-Pozos, David
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Subject:
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American Sign Language
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Subject:
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Mexican Sign Language
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Subject:
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Languages in contact
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Summary:
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Susan Fischer introduces David Quinto-Pozos, a former interpreter at RIT/NTID. He received his Ph.D at the University of Texas, and works at the University of Pittsburgh in the department of lesser-known languages. Quinto-Pozos begins his presentation about language contact. He defines it as two languages in proximity to each other with changes in syntax and grammar. Valli, who recently passed away that week was one of the first pioneers of research on language contact in sign language. He worked with Ceil Lucas and the two investigated the contact between ASL and English and how they overlap each other in different ways. Quinto-Pozos is interested in language contact between Mexican Sign Language (LSM) and American Sign Language (ASL) and shares his dissertation research on this topic. His research uncovers the influences of contact between LSM and ASL similar to spoken language contact between Spanish and English. The research on contact between sign languages mirrors the results of spoken languages with some unique differences.
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Publisher:
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National Technical Institute for the Deaf
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Digital Publisher:
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Rochester Institute of Technology - RIT Libraries - RIT Archive Collections
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Date of Original:
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2004
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Date of Digitization:
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2018
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Broad Type:
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moving image
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Digital File Format:
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mp4
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Physical Format:
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VHS
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Dimensions of Original:
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54 minutes
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Language:
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American Sign Language
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Language:
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English
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Original Item Location:
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RITDSA.0049
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Library Collection:
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Sculptures in the Air: An Accessible Online Video Repository of the American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry and Literature Collections
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Library Collection:
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ASL Lecture Series DVDs
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Digital Project:
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2018-2019 CLIR Grant-ASL Poetry and Literature
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Catalog Record:
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https://albert.rit.edu/record=b3955845
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Catalog Record:
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https://archivesspace.rit.edu/repositories/2/resources/837
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Place:
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New York - Rochester
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RIT Spaces and Places:
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Henrietta Campus
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Rights:
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RIT Libraries makes materials from its collections available for educational and research purposes pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. It is your responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder to publish or reproduce images in print or electronic form.
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Transcript:
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WOMAN: HE GRADUATED FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO
AND THEN CAME TO ROCHESTER
TO WORK AT RIT AS AN INTERPRETER
FOR SEVERAL YEARS.
HE WANTED TO CONTINUE
HIS EDUCATION AND DECIDED
TO GO TO THE UNIVERSITY
[AUDIO DROPOUT] AT AUSTIN
AND RECEIVED HIS Ph.D.
LAST YEAR.
I FEEL A LITTLE BIT LIKE HE'S
MY ACADEMIC NEPHEW
AND I AM HIS AUNT.
WHY WOULD THAT BE?
WELL, I WROTE A LETTER
OF RECOMMENDATION
TO GRADUATE SCHOOL FOR HIM,
AND I SAT ON HIS COMMITTEE
FOR HIS DISSERTATION.
IF I HAD BEEN CHAIRPERSON
OF THE COMMITTEE,
I MIGHT BE HIS ACADEMIC MOTHER,
BUT SINCE I WAS JUST ON
THE COMMITTEE, I FEEL
LIKE I'M HIS AUNT.
HE WORKS NEARBY
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
IN THE DEPARTMENT
OF LESSER-TAUGHT LANGUAGES.
AND HE'S GOING TO BE SPEAKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE CONTACT,
SO I'D LIKE TO INTRODUCE
DAVID QUINTO-POZOS.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
THANK YOU, AUNT SUSAN.
[SCATTERED LAUGHTER]
HELLO, EVERYONE.
I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE.
IT'S BEEN 6 YEARS
SINCE I'VE BEEN AWAY.
I LEFT IN 1996
AND I THINK, "WOW!
"I SAID GOOD-BYE TO ROCHESTER,
AND THEN I CAME TO TEXAS,
WHERE IT'S WARM AND FABULOUS."
AND IT WAS TERRIFIC.
IT WAS SUCH A NICE CHANGE.
THEN I THINK, "WOW!
THE SUMMERTIME THERE IS SO HOT."
I THINK, "WHEW! MAYBE IT'S
A LITTLE TOO WARM FOR ME."
BUT I'M STILL SAYING
GOOD-BYE TO ROCHESTER.
I HAVE FRIENDS THAT I LIKE
TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH,
BUT NOW THAT I'M HERE BACK EAST
AND LIVING IN PITTSBURGH,
IT'S MUCH CLOSER TO ROCHESTER.
I'M ABLE TO SEE MY FRIENDS
MUCH MORE OFTEN,
SO THAT'S BEEN WONDERFUL.
TO BE HERE AT NTID IS JUST
A GREAT EXPERIENCE FOR ME.
THE TOPIC I'D LIKE TO SPEAK
ABOUT TODAY IS LANGUAGE CONTACT.
LANGUAGE CONTACT MEANS, WHEN
TWO LANGUAGES ARE IN PROXIMITY
OF EACH OTHER, HOW THEY
PLAY WITH EACH OTHER
AND THEIR CHANGES
IN GRAMMATICAL AND SYNTAX.
I'M SURE SOME OF YOU KNOW
THAT CLAYTON VALLI,
UNFORTUNATELY, PASSED AWAY.
I BELIEVE IT WAS SUNDAY
OR MONDAY OF THIS WEEK,
WHICH IS A VERY SAD
OCCASION FOR US.
CLAYTON VALLI WAS ONE
OF THE FIRST PIONEERS
OF RESEARCH BETWEEN
LANGUAGE CONTACT.
CLAYTON WORKED WITH CEIL LUCAS,
AND THE TWO OF THEM
INVESTIGATED THE CONTACT
BETWEEN ASL AND ENGLISH
AND HOW THEY OVERLAP EACH OTHER
IN DIFFERENT WAYS,
BUT THAT WAS THE VERY FIRST WORK
DONE IN THAT AREA.
BECAUSE I'M INTERESTED
IN THAT TOPIC,
I THOUGHT THAT I WANTED
TO MODIFY IT.
MY INTEREST WAS
IN MEXICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE, AND
HOW THE TWO OF THEM INTERPLAY
WITH EACH OTHER
WHEN THEY'RE IN CONTACT.
I WILL BE TALKING TODAY
ABOUT VARIOUS TYPES OF CONTACT
BETWEEN THE LANGUAGES AND HOW
IT IS SHOWN LINGUISTICALLY.
I WILL POINT OUT THE
VARIOUS SIMILARITIES
AND DIFFERENT WAYS
THAT THAT CONTACT
BETWEEN TWO LANGUAGES
CAN APPEAR.
MEXICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
I'M GOING TO BE SIGNING "LSM."
AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE SLIDE,
I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLAIN
HOW AND WHY PEOPLE ARE USING
THAT HERE IN THE UNITED STATES.
SO YOU WOULD THINK, "IN
THE UNITED STATES, WE USE ASL.
WHY ARE WE CONCERNED ABOUT LSM?"
THE REASON IS BECAUSE
SOME DEAF PEOPLE HAVE MOVED HERE
FROM MEXICO, AND THAT'S
THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE
THAT THEY COME WITH.
IN THE SOUTHWEST AREA--
TEXAS, NEW MEXICO,
ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA--
WE SEE QUITE A FEW
DEAF MEXICANS LIVING
IN LARGE CITIES.
PEOPLE IMMIGRATE TO
THE UNITED STATES,
AND PERHAPS THEY'RE WORKING IN
THE UNITED STATES AND THEY CROSS
BACK TO THE PART
OF MEXICO WHERE THEY LIVE,
...SOMETIMES THEY COME
FOR THEIR CHILDREN
SO THEY'LL BE ABLE TO
HAVE AN EDUCATION.
SOMETIMES THEY COME
INTO THE UNITED STATES
TO BE ABLE TO SHOP
FOR GROCERIES.
BUT THE POINT IS, MANY MEXICANS
ARE IN THE UNITED STATES
IN THOSE REGIONS,
AND WHEN THEY ARE HERE,
WHAT LANGUAGE DO THEY USE--
LSM OR AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE?
WE DO HAVE MANY INTERPRETERS
IN TEXAS,
NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA,
AND THE SOUTHWEST REGION.
IF, FOR EXAMPLE,
SOMEONE WERE TO GO TO SCHOOL
AND THEY NEEDED AN INTERPRETER
FOR A MEETING,
LIKE AN IEP MEETING,
THEN THEY WOULD COME
TO THE MEETING,
AND THERE WOULD BE
AN INTERPRETER PROVIDED.
WE WOULD HAVE THE DEAF CHILD,
THE MOTHER, THE PRINCIPAL,
AND THE MOTHER WOULDN'T BE ABLE
TO SPEAK ENGLISH.
SHE WOULD BE SPEAKING SPANISH.
THE PRINCIPAL WOULD POSSIBLY BE
SPEAKING ENGLISH, BUT
SWITCHING BACK AND FORTH
BETWEEN SPANISH AND ENGLISH.
THEN WE HAVE THE DEAF CHILD,
WHO SIGNS ASL,
AND BETWEEN THAT, YOU HAVE
A 3-LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION...
FIASCO.
THE DEAF STUDENT
GENERALLY HAS SPENT TIME
IN MEXICO WITH MEXICAN CHILDREN
WHO ALSO KNOW LSM, AND SO
THEY HAVE A MIXTURE OF LSM
AND ASL IN THEIR LANGUAGE BASE.
SO, MY POINT IN EXPLAINING
ALL THIS IS THAT LSM IS USED
QUITE OFTEN IN THE UNITED STATES
IN THE SOUTHWEST REGIONS
AND ALSO IN OTHER AREAS
OF THE COUNTRY.
THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT
ADVOCACY PROGRAMS
FOR DEAF PEOPLE IN THOSE AREAS
TEACHING LIFE SKILLS,
INDEPENDENT LIVING SKILLS.
WE KNOW THAT DEAF PEOPLE
FROM MEXICO ARE HERE
IN THE UNITED STATES,
AND THEY'RE TRYING TO GET
SERVICES FOR THEM.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO,
YOU MIGHT HAVE HEARD THIS STORY
ABOUT PEOPLE WHO WERE
EXPLOITED FROM MEXICO
WHO HAPPENED TO BE DEAF.
THEY TOLD PEOPLE
THAT THEY NEEDED HELP,
AND THEY GATHERED UP A GROUP
OF PEOPLE FROM MEXICO.
THEY PUT THEM ALL
IN ONE SITUATION
AND HAD A PARTICULAR MAN...
A MAN HAD ASKED THEM
TO COME HELP THEM,
AND WHEN HE GOT THEM THERE,
HE BASICALLY ENSLAVED THEM
AND ASKED THEM TO WORK FOR HIM
IN A NON-VOLUNTARY WAY.
THIS HAS HAPPENED IN CHICAGO
AND SOUTH CAROLINA,
SO IT DOES HAPPEN IN THE
SOUTHWEST, BUT IT ALSO HAPPENS
IN THE NORTH AND THE EAST AND IN
THE WEST OF OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY.
SO DEAF MEXICANS HAVE COME
TO MANY DIFFERENT PLACES
TO FIND THEMSELVES
IN THESE SITUATIONS,
SO LSM USERS ARE NOW
MORE LIKELY SPREAD
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES
IN VARIOUS REGIONS.
MY SPECIFIC RESEARCH.
I WROTE MY DISSERTATION
IN DESCRIBING THE LINGUISTIC
PHENOMENA, THE RESULTS
FROM CONTACT BETWEEN
LSM AND ASL,
AS YOU CAN SEE HERE
ON THE SCREEN.
NOW, WHEN I TALK ABOUT
THE INFLUENCES FROM CONTACT,
WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
SPOKEN LANGUAGE CONTACT,
FOR EXAMPLE,
BETWEEN SPANISH AND ENGLISH
HAS DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS
THAT YOU CAN OUTLINE.
AND WITH SIGN LANGUAGE,
ASL AND LSM,
THERE IS CONTACT,
AND THE QUESTION IS,
ARE THOSE CROSSOVERS--HAVE
THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS, OR
ARE THEY DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE
VERBAL AND THE MANUAL LANGUAGE?
JUST AS A POINT OF INTEREST,
IN THE 1800s...
FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE REALLY
CAME ACROSS THE WORLD TO HELP
MOLD OTHER SIGN LANGUAGES.
FOR EXAMPLE, WE KNOW
THAT LAURENT CLERC CAME HERE
WITH GALLAUDET TO HELP BUILD
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
AND WE ALSO KNOW NOW
THAT FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE
HAD AN IMPACT ON MEXICAN
SIGN LANGUAGE AS WELL.
THE HISTORY
OF MEXICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
IS QUITE SIMILAR,
NOT BY THIS SAME PARTICULAR MAN,
LAURENT CLERC,
BUT ANOTHER MAN NAMED
EDUARDO HUET.
HE WAS FROM BRAZIL,
AND HE WORKED AT THE SCHOOLS
FOR THE DEAF IN BRAZIL
AND ESTABLISHED A SYSTEM
OF EDUCATIONAL LANGUAGE,
THEN HE CAME TO MEXICO CITY
IN ABOUT 1866
TO SHARE WHAT HE HAD LEARNED.
FRENCH LANGUAGE THEN WENT FROM--
FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE ON ONE SIDE
BECAME AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
AS IT DID WITH CLERC
AND GALLAUDET,
AND WITH HIM IN MEXICO,
IT TURNED INTO LSM.
SO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRENCH
AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
WERE PARALLEL.
SO THE TOPIC OF CONTACT
BETWEEN LANGUAGES
IS SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN
DISCUSS FOR HOURS.
IT INCLUDES SOCIAL INTERACTION,
CULTURAL NORMS,
THE BACKGROUNDS
THAT PEOPLE BRING,
AND A VARIETY OF OTHER ELEMENTS.
FROM THIS LESSON,
I DECIDED TO TALK
ABOUT TWO PARTICULAR FEATURES,
ONE BEING STRUCTURAL,
THE OTHER BEING LEXICAL.
LEXICAL MEANS THE WORDS, THE
SPECIFIC WORDS THAT ARE USED.
SO WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HOW THE
SIGNS THEMSELVES ARE DIFFERENT
AND HOW THE STRUCTURE OF
THE TWO LANGUAGES ARE DIFFERENT.
FIRST OF ALL,
I'D LIKE TO ADDRESS
THE STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES.
PHONOLOGICALLY...
A PHONOLOGICAL PARAMETER THAT
YOU SEE UP HERE ON THE SCREEN
MEANS HAND SHAPE OF SIGN.
IT MEANS THE MOVEMENT
OF THE SIGN,
THE PLACEMENT OF THE SIGN,
THE PLACE
OF ARTICULATION.
ALSO, IT CAN FOCUS ON SYNTAX.
IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THAT WOULD BE
INVOLVED, BUT GENERALLY, IT IS--
THE EMPHASIS IS ON THE
PHONOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
THE NEXT CATEGORY IS LEXICAL,
WHICH MEANS THE SIGN ITSELF.
SO, NOT ONLY ASL IS A LANGUAGE,
WE KNOW THAT LSM IS A LANGUAGE.
"ARE THEY COMPLETELY DIFFERENT,
THOUGH?" IS THE QUESTION,
OR ARE THERE SOME OVERLAPS
BETWEEN THE TWO?
IS THERE A SIGN IN ONE LANGUAGE
THAT IS SO SIMILAR
THAT IT COULD BE THE SAME SIGN
IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE?
WE HAVE DISCOVERED THAT BETWEEN
20% TO 30% OF THE VOCABULARY
HAS SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS
THAT THEY SHARE.
FOR EXAMPLE, HERE IS
THE SIGN FOR "ENJOY"
IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.
IN MEXICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
IT'S THE SAME SIGN,
ONLY THE LETTER CUED WITH--
WELL, WE WOULD SEE IT AS AN "L,"
BUT IN MEXICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
IT'S THE SIGN FOR "G."
I'M SURE YOU'RE WELL AWARE OF
THESE 3 CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE PARAMETERS OF
SIGN FORMATION.
THE MAJORS ARE PHONOLOGICAL.
THE MAJOR PHONOLOGICAL
PARAMETERS ARE HAND SHAPE
PLACED FOR ARTICULATION
AND MOVEMENT.
WE ALSO HAVE MINOR
CHARACTERISTICS.
THIS IS FROM 1979,
FROM KLIMA AND BELLUGI,
TWO RESEARCHERS FROM CALIFORNIA
WHO WENT TO THE SALK INSTITUTE
AND DID LOTS
OF RESEARCH AND STUDIES.
THEY REALLY FOCUSED
ON THE 3 MAJOR
AND THE 3 MINOR CATEGORIES
OF PARAMETER.
ONE EXAMPLE OF A MINOR PARAMETER
WOULD BE THE PALM ORIENTATION--
WHICH WAY THE PALM IS FACING
WHEN THE SIGN IS PRODUCED.
FOR THIS, TOO,
FOR THE EXAMPLE OF "ENJOY,"
BOTH IN LSM AND ASL MEANS...
LEADS TO THE HAND SHAPE,
AND ALSO WHETHER OR NOT YOU USE
TWO HANDS OR ONE HAND,
BUT THE MOVEMENT IS THE SAME,
THE LOCATION IS THE SAME.
SO THE QUESTION IS,
DOES IT ADHERE TO THE SYSTEM?
AND IT WOULD BE CALLED
SIMILARLY ARTICULATED SIGN
BECAUSE ALMOST ALL
THE PARAMETERS ARE THE SAME.
SO THAT WOULD BE EXAMPLE
OF THE 20% TO 30%
OF THE SHARED SIGNS
THAT I JUST SPOKE OF,
SO WHETHER I USE IT--AND IF
THE MOVEMENT IS DIFFERENT,
THEN IT WOULD NOT
HAVE BEEN CALLED
A SIMILARLY ARTICULATED SIGN.
BUT BECAUSE IT ADHERES
TO THE MAJOR PARAMETERS,
IT IS INCLUDED IN THAT GROUP.
THERE NEEDS TO BE
AT LEAST TWO PARAMETERS
FOR IT TO FIT
IN THE MAJOR CATEGORY.
THE LOCATIONS
FOR DATA COLLECTION
WERE NEAR THE TEXAS BORDER.
ONE WAS EL PASO, TEXAS...
AND THE OTHER AREA
IS CALLED THE TEXAS VALLEY.
IT REALLY IS
THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY,
BUT MOST PEOPLE JUST CALL IT
"THE VALLEY" NOW.
THERE WERE SEVERAL TOWNS
INVOLVED
IN THIS PORTION OF THE STUDY.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU ARE AWARE OF
THIS, IF YOU'VE BEEN THERE OR
NOT, BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T, THIS IS
WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.
THAT'S WHERE EL PASO IS LOCATED.
JUAREZ IS LOCATED
DIRECTLY BELOW EL PASO.
JUAREZ HAS A VERY, VERY BIG
DEAF POPULATION,
SO JUAREZ AND EL PASO ARE
VERY, VERY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER,
SO THERE'S QUITE A CONDENSED
POPULATION THERE.
THIS IS THE VALLEY
THAT I WAS JUST MENTIONING.
IT IS QUITE A DISTANCE
FROM EL PASO.
IT'S ABOUT A 10-HOUR DRIVE
BY CAR FROM THE VALLEY
UP TO EL PASO, SO IT'S
QUITE A JAUNT.
TEXAS, RECALL, IS A HUGE STATE,
JUST LIKE CALIFORNIA.
IT'S QUITE A DISTANCE
FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER.
SO THOSE WERE OUR TWO TEST SITES
TO COLLECT OUR RESEARCH
INFORMATION.
THE PEOPLE INVOLVED
IN THE RESEARCH STUDY
WERE ALL DEAF PARTICIPANTS.
THERE WERE 4 IN EACH AREA,
FOR A TOTAL OF 8.
OF THE 4 IN EACH AREA,
WE DECIDED TO HAVE
THE SAME REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH.
WE HAD PEOPLE WHO WERE
BILINGUAL.
TWO OF THEM WERE BILINGUAL
AND COULD CODE-SWITCH
BACK AND FORTH.
ONE WAS BORN IN MEXICO,
GREW UP IN MEXICO,
MOVED TO THE UNITED STATES.
ANOTHER WAS BORN HERE
IN THE UNITED STATES, GREW UP
IN THE UNITED STATES, BUT WENT
TO MEXICO QUITE FREQUENTLY
AND WAS ABLE TO LEARN
AND MAKE FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATE
WITH MEXICAN PEOPLE AND IS
A VERY, VERY STRONG LSM USER.
SO THOSE TWO PEOPLE
WERE BILINGUAL.
THE NEXT PERSON INVOLVED WAS
A COMPLETELY DOMINANT LSM USER
AND THE FOURTH WAS A COMPLETELY
DOMINANT ASL USER,
AND THE REASON I DID THIS IS
BECAUSE I WANTED TO KNOW
HOW EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION
WOULD LOOK.
IF EVERYONE WAS
COMPLETELY BILINGUAL,
WE WOULDN'T HAVE AN ACCURATE
EXAMPLE OR REPRESENTATION
BECAUSE IF EVERYONE
CAN CODE-SWITCH,
THEN YOU AREN'T GOING TO SEE
WHERE THE SIMILARITIES
AND DIFFERENCES LIE
IN THE LANGUAGE BASES.
LET ME EXPLAIN
THE RESEARCH PROCESS.
WE HAD ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEWS.
KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE WERE
THE TWO DEAF BILINGUAL PEOPLE.
AS I SAID,
THE 4 PEOPLE IN EL PASO
AND THEIR STRENGTHS AND THEIR
REQUIREMENTS WERE THE SAME
AS THE PEOPLE IN THE VALLEY.
THE BILINGUAL PEOPLE WOULD
CONDUCT THE INTERVIEW.
WE'D HAVE 4 PEOPLE IN THE ROOM,
AND THEY WOULD BE TALKING
ABOUT A VARIETY
OF DIFFERENT TOPICS.
THE ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW--
WELL, FOR EXAMPLE, LET ME START
BY SAYING THIS WAY.
AN INTERVIEWER WOULD SAY,
"WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
"WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
ARE YOU FROM HERE
OR ARE YOU FROM MEXICO?"
GIVE A VARIETY OF QUESTIONS
THAT WERE BACKGROUND-RELATED
TO THE DEAF PERSON, AND
THE DEAF PERSON WOULD ANSWER.
AT THAT POINT, WE WOULD HAVE
THE 4 IN THE ROOM AND DISCUSS...
SOME TRIVIAL TOPIC,
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE,
IN MEXICO,
THEY TALK ABOUT EATING
TORTILLAS...
BUT THE TORTILLAS
CAN EITHER BE CORN OR FLOUR.
NOW, AT LEAST THAT WAS
MY EXPERIENCE GROWING UP.
I GENERALLY EAT FLOUR;
OTHER PEOPLE HAD
DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES.
"DID YOU EAT CORN?
DID YOU EAT FLOUR?"
SO THAT WAS THE KIND OF THINGS
THAT THEY WOULD DISCUSS.
ANOTHER QUESTION
THEY MIGHT CHAT ABOUT WAS,
AGAIN, "WHAT DO YOU PREFER,
CORN OR TORTILLA?"
"OH, I REALLY LIKE CORN
BECAUSE..."
SO WHAT WE TRIED TO DO WAS
ELICIT FEEDBACK FROM THE PEOPLE
ABOUT QUESTIONS THAT THEY KNEW
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ABOUT.
YOU DIDN'T WANT TO ASK
A QUESTION WHERE THEY WOULD SAY,
"MMM, I DON'T KNOW"; YOU WANTED
TO ELICIT INFORMATION,
SO TO DO THAT, YOU NEED
TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING
THAT THEY'RE VERY FAMILIAR WITH.
SO PEOPLE WOULD GET TALKING
ABOUT HOW THEIR MOTHERS COOKED
DIFFERENT THINGS AND WHICH ONE
WAS BETTER THAN THE OTHER,
SO IT WAS A GREAT, NATURAL
COMMUNICATION THAT WAS OCCURRING
WITH THE 4 PEOPLE.
THIS IS HOW THE ROOM WAS SET UP.
I THINK IN THE CORNER, YOU CAN
SEE IT'S THE VIDEO CAMERA.
YOU CAN SEE IT LOOKS LIKE
A TRIANGUL--
OR A 4-SIDED-SHAPED OBJECT.
THEN I, THE RESEARCHER,
WOULD BE SITTING BACK IN
THE CORNER AND MAYBE FEED SOME
INFORMATION OR SOME QUESTIONS
TO SOMEBODY, AND SOMETIMES
I WOULD SAY, FOR EXAMPLE,
OH, ASK ABOUT WHERE
THEY GREW UP.
THE INTERVIEWER WOULD SAY,
"YOU GREW UP WHERE?"
AND THEN THEY'D START
THE CONVERSATION.
BUT THE DEAF PERSON CHANGED
MY QUESTION LEXICALLY,
SO IT WAS CONSISTENT WITH
THE LANGUAGES USED IN THE GROUP.
AND SOMETIMES THEY WOULD
TURN TO ME AND SAY,
"ARE YOU READY FOR
YOUR NEXT QUESTION?"
AND WE'D CHECK BACK
WITH EACH OTHER AND...
THEN THE INTERVIEWER WOULD START
AGAIN WITH THE QUESTIONING
OF THE GROUP, SO BASICALLY
WHAT I DID WAS JUST PACE
THE QUESTION.
AFTER WE VIDEOTAPED
THESE SESSIONS,
WE COLLECTED ALL THE DATA,
AND THEN WE WENT BACK
TO AUSTIN, TEXAS,
AND TRIED TO CODE ALL
OF THE SIGN USAGE
WE SAW ON THE VIDEOTAPE.
AT FIRST, WHEN I BEGAN LOOKING
AT THE VIDEOTAPES,
I DECIDED I NEEDED
TO ESTABLISH CATEGORIES
FOR VARIOUS THINGS; OBVIOUSLY,
THE FIRST THING WOULD BE SIGNS.
FOR EXAMPLE, BACK TO
THE SIGN "ENJOY."
THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT I
RECOGNIZED QUITE QUICKLY
AS AN ASL SIGN.
OR THIS SIGN, WHICH LOOKS
LIKE "TREE," AND THE SIGN
THAT LOOKS LIKE "MOTHER" OR THE
SIGN THAT LOOKS LIKE "FATHER."
THOSE ARE ALL SIGNS
THAT ARE DISTINCT,
THAT I PUT INTO A CATEGORY.
THE NEXT CATEGORY WAS
FINGERSPELLING,
WHICH FALLS LOGICALLY AFTER THAT
IN THE NEXT BIG CLASSIFIERS.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF A PERSON
WAS TALKING ABOUT A MAN,
AND THEY USED
THE ONE-INDEX HAND SHAPE,
THAT WOULD BE A CLASSIFIER,
AND THE THING THAT YOU'D TRY
AND FIND OUT: IS IT A CLASSIFIER
BASED ON ASL OR LSM?
BUT I DECIDED TO GROUP ALL
OF THOSE TYPES OF MOVEMENTS
INTO CLASSIFIERS.
THE NEXT IS POINTING MOVEMENTS.
FOR ANYTHING,
ANY LANGUAGE,
PEOPLE POINT TO--POINT TO
A PERSON AS A PRONOUN,
OR THEY POINT TO A PLACE
AS AN ABSOLUTE REFERENCE.
FOR EXAMPLE, "THE STORE
IS OVER THERE"
OR "IN A CORNER OVER THERE,"
AND THEN IT'S HELD IN SPACE.
THE NEXT IS GESTURES.
GESTURES WAS A REALLY
INTERESTING CATEGORY
THAT I'D LIKE TO GET INTO
A LITTLE BIT LATER.
BUT I HAD A DIFFICULT TIME
TRYING TO FIGURE OUT
IF SOMETHING WAS ACTUALLY
A GESTURE OR A SIGN,
AND THAT'S SOMETHING I'LL
DISCUSS MORE IN A MINUTE.
"UNSURE" MEANT I
DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS,
I HAD NO IDEA WHAT
THEY WERE DOING.
I HAD A DEAF PERSON SERVE
AS A CODER,
AND WE WORKED TOGETHER IN GOING
THROUGH EACH OF THE ITEMS, SO WE
REFERRED TO EACH OTHER WHEN WE
WEREN'T SURE WHAT IT WAS.
I HAD 6,477 ELEMENTS TO STUDY...
AND THIS IS THE GRAPH
OF THE RESULT.
A LARGE PORTION ARE THE SIGNS,
WHETHER IT BE ASL OR LSM,
OR SOMETIMES...
YOU WOULD HAVE SIMILARLY
ARTICULATED SIGNS
THAT WE WOULD PUT IN IT;
LIKE I SAID, THE SIGN
FOR "ENJOY" AND THE SIGN
THAT'S SIMILAR TO THAT IN LSM.
ALSO, POINTING IS QUITE
A LARGE CATEGORY.
IT WAS A SMALLER UNIT.
GESTURES WAS A LITTLE BIT
OF A BIGGER UNIT...
BUT OBVIOUSLY, POINTING AND
SIGNS WERE THE MAJOR BREAKDOWNS.
I'D LIKE TO TAKE A MINUTE AND...
I'D LIKE TO TAKE A MINUTE
AND DISCUSS MY FINDINGS.
ONE OF THE THINGS I'D LIKE
TO TALK ABOUT IS INTERFERENCE.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES
OF INTERFERENCE,
ONE BEING PHONOLOGICAL
AND THE OTHER USING
NON-MANUAL SIGNALS, NMS,
WHICH MEANS A RAISED EYEBROW
OR LOWERED EYEBROWS,
BODY SHIFTS, OR THE HEAD BEING
TILTED BACK OR FORWARD.
I'LL GET INTO THAT
IN JUST A MOMENT.
THE NEXT PART WILL BE
LEXICAL DIFFERENCES,
THE SIGNS THEMSELVES BEING
COMPLETELY DISTINCT;
FOR EXAMPLE, THE ASL SIGN
FOR "FAMILY"...
AND THE MEXICAN SIGN
IS "FAMILY,"
WHICH ARE--VERY DISTINCT
DIFFERENCES IN SIGNS,
SO THAT WOULD BE AN EXAMPLE
OF LEXICAL DIFFERENCES.
WE CAN ALSO SEE THAT
DEAF PEOPLE, OF COURSE,
CODE-SWITCH BACK AND FORTH
BETWEEN LSM AND ASL.
WHEN IT COMES TO NUMBERS,
LSM AND ASL ARE VERY DIFFERENT,
AND I'LL GIVE YOU EXAMPLES
OF THESE AS WE GO THROUGH IT,
AND I CAN GO THROUGH AND
SHOW YOU THE DIFFERENCES.
DEAF PEOPLE SOMETIMES
USE A SPECIAL WAY
OF INDICATING NUMBERS.
...
IS A LINGUIST
WHO HAS WRITTEN
ABOUT INTERFERENCE,
AND THIS IS A CLIP OF--
AN EXCERPT FROM HIS WORK.
IF A PERSON, FOR EXAMPLE,
GREW UP SPEAKING ONLY ENGLISH,
AND ANOTHER PERSON GREW UP
SPEAKING ANOTHER LANGUAGE...
AND THE PERSON SPEAKING ENGLISH
DECIDED THEY WANTED TO LEARN
THE SECONDARY LANGUAGE,
AND THEY TOOK A COURSE IN IT--
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, FRENCH--
SO THEY WOULD STRUGGLE
TRYING TO LEARN THE FRENCH
PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS,
AND EVENTUALLY, THEY WOULD
PROBABLY DO RELATIVELY WELL.
BUT THE ENGLISH,
BECAUSE IT WAS SOMETHING
YOU ARE A NATIVE SPEAKER OF,
OF COURSE INTERFERED
WITH THEIR PRODUCTION OF
THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.
SO THE SYNTAX AND THE STRUCTURE
MIGHT BE INTERFERED WITH,
ALONG WITH THE PHONOLOGICAL
INTERFERENCE.
SO, I'M BACK TO
THE LEXICAL PORTION,
MEANING THE INTERFERENCE CAN BE
THE WORD OR THE SIGN
THAT WOULD INTERFERE.
LET ME GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE
OF INTERFERENCE RELATED
TO SOUND-BASED LANGUAGES.
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE,
WE HAVE "T,"
THE SOUND "T," LIKE "TABLE"...
"TRAVEL"...
"TREE."
...THE SOUND "T"--A LETTER.
IN SLAVIC, LIKE, JUST...
FOR EXAMPLE, RUSSIA,
POLAND, UKRAINE.
THOSE SLAVIC LANGUAGES ALSO HAVE
THE "T" SOUND IN THEIR LANGUAGE,
BUT THE SOUND OF THE "T"
IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT.
IF I WAS TALKING ABOUT--
IF I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS,
I WOULD SHOW YOU
WHERE THEIR TONGUE AND THEIR
TEETH GO TO PRODUCE THE LETTER.
IN SLAVIC LANGUAGES,
THE BACK OF THE TONGUE RESTS
ON THE TEETH, AND IN ENGLISH,
IT'S ON THE ALVEOLAR RIDGE.
THE TONGUE IS ON THE ALVEOLAR
RIDGE TO MAKE THE "T" SOUND,
SO THEY'RE BOTH SAYING "T,"
BUT THE SOUNDS ARE
SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF
THE PLACEMENT OF THE TONGUE.
SO IF I'M SPEAKING ENGLISH,
AND I GO TO A SLAVIC COUNTRY--
FOR EXAMPLE, RUSSIA,
AND I TRY TO LEARN RUSSIAN--
I'M GOING TO HAVE A DIFFICULT
TIME PRONOUNCING THE "T" SOUND
BECAUSE, ALTHOUGH IT'S
GENERALLY THE SAME,
THE PRODUCTION IS GOING TO BE
DIFFERENT, AND SO, THEREFORE,
THAT SOUND WILL INTERFERE
WITH MY PRODUCTION OF THE WORD.
SO PHONOLOGICAL INTERFERENCES--
FOR EXAMPLE, HAND SHAPE.
EVERYONE KNOWS THE SIGN
FOR "F" IN ASL, WHICH IS THIS.
THIS IS THE SIGN
FOR "F" IN LSM.
OBVIOUSLY, YOU CAN SEE
THE FRENCH ROOTS
IN BOTH LANGUAGES.
ASL MODIFIED...
STUCK.
LSM STUCK WITH THE ORIGINAL
FRENCH HAND SHAPE,
WHICH YOU CAN SEE
PRODUCED HERE,
BUT ENGLISH--OR AMERICAN
SIGN LANGUAGE IS MODIFIED
TO MAKE THE THUMB GO TO
THE END OF THE FINGER.
AGAIN, THE ASL SIGN
FOR "FAMILY."
SOME DEAF PEOPLE SAY "FAMILY,"
BUT THEY HAVE THE "F"
HAND SHAPE.
IN LSM, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE
USING THE AMERICAN SIGN,
SOME DEAF PEOPLE SAY "FAMILY"
USING THE LSM SIGN,
BUT THE HAND SHAPE IS
AN ASL HAND SHAPE,
SO YOU SEE INTERFERENCES THERE.
AND THAT'S AN EXAMPLE
WHERE THE HAND SHAPE IS
THE PRIMARY FOCUS
OF THE INTERFERENCE.
FINGERSPELLING.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF A DEAF PERSON
FINGERSPELLS "FAIR"--
F-A-I-R--
SOMETIMES THEY USE THE LSM "F"
AND THEN CONTINUE TO SPELL
IN AMERICAN "A-I-R."
A PERSON MIGHT HAVE
GROWN UP IN MEXICO,
AND THEY HAVE THAT NATIVE--
THAT NATURAL INSTINCT
TO USE THE "F" HAND SHAPE
AS THEY WERE USED TO IN MEXICO,
AS OPPOSED TO MODIFYING IT
IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.
OTHER PHONOLOGICAL
INTERFERENCES ARE
IN THE PLACE OF ARTICULATION,
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, IN ASL,
THE SIGN FOR "LIGHT"
IS PRODUCED LIKE THIS.
LSM, THIS IS THE SIGN,
WITH THIS HAND SHAPE.
IT'S THE "L" HAND SHAPE.
A DEAF PERSON SIGNED
ONE TIME THIS.
"SO, DOES ASL EVER USE
THE LIPS PLACEMENT?"
NO. WE USE THE CHIN,
WE USE MAYBE THE NOSE,
BUT PLACE OF
ARTICULATION IN ASL IS
NEVER ON THE LIPS, BUT IN LSM,
IT IS GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT,
SO I'VE SEEN THOSE TYPE
OF ERRORS OR INTERFERENCE.
THE NEXT EXAMPLE IS
WITH PALM ORIENTATION.
I HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LSM AND ASL
FOR THIS EXAMPLE.
YOU'VE HEARD THIS SENTENCE:
"MIND YOUR Ps AND Qs,"
MEANING, "WATCH OUT,
YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION,
YOU HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING
THE RIGHT WAY."
I KIND OF MODIFIED IT:
"MIND YOUR Ps AND Ks."
[CHUCKLES]
IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH
THE LETTER "P"
AND THE LETTER "K."
IN LSM,
THE LETTER "P" IS
PRODUCED LIKE THIS...
WHICH IS THE SAME
AS OUR LETTER "K,"
AND THE SIGN FOR "K" STARTS
WITH THE HAND SHAPE--
WITH THE PALM ORIENTATION DOWN
AND THEN MOVES IT FACING FRONT.
SO "K" AND "P"
ARE ACTUALLY THE SAME SIGN,
BUT THEY HOLD
DIFFERENT MEANINGS.
AN EXAMPLE OF THIS
WOULD BE THE WORD "PEN."
THIS IS HOW YOU WOULD SPELL IT.
LIKE A PEN, BUT THEY SIGN "P"
IN THE LSM FORM
AND THEN E-N FROM
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.
AND OF COURSE, YOU UNDERSTAND IT
FROM CONTEXT,
BUT IF YOU DON'T HAVE THAT,
IT LOOKS LIKE "KEN."
"LIKE A KEN DOLL,
OR WHAT IS IT?" YOU KNOW.
WHICH SOUNDS SILLY,
BUT IT'S TRUE BECAUSE THE "K"
AND THE "P" COME
FROM DIFFERENT LANGUAGE BASES,
AND THAT'S AN EXAMPLE
OF THE INTERFERENCE
WITH THE CONTACT
BETWEEN THE TWO IMAGES.
IF YOU WERE TALKING
ABOUT "WH" QUESTIONS,
YES/NO QUESTIONS,
TOPIC, COMMENT,
OR, FOR A VARIETY OF REASON,
WE USE NON-MANUAL SIGNALS.
IF YOU WERE TO PAY CLOSE
ATTENTION TO A PERSON'S MOUTH,
YOU WILL FIND THE ADVERBIAL FORM
AND THE ADJECTIVE FORM.
LSM,
IF YOU WERE TO ASK
A "WH" QUESTION,
WOULD BE DIFFERENT THAN YOU
WOULD EXPECT IN ASL.
IN ASL, YOU HAVE FURROWED BROWS
THAT GO DOWN.
IN LSM, YOUR NECK GOES BACK
AND YOUR HEAD MOVES BACK.
LIKE, "COMO," FOR EXAMPLE,
MEANS "HOW."
IN LSM, YOU SIGN IT THIS WAY.
"COMO."
"CUANDO" MEANS "WHEN."
"CUANDO."
THAT'S HOW YOU SIGN IT.
IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
WE HAVE THE OPPOSITE.
YOUR HEAD COMES FORWARD
AND YOUR BROWS ARE FURROWED.
AND IT'S INTERESTING TO SEE
HOW SOME DEAF PEOPLE
USE SIGNS THAT ARE MIXED,
LIKE, THEY USE THE NON-MANUAL
SIGNALS FROM ASL
WITH A MEXICAN SIGN.
I CAN'T DO IT THE OTHER WAY.
I HAVE NO IDEA.
I'M TRYING TO DO IT,
AND IT'S NOT WORKING.
THAT'S TOUGH. WAIT.
HA HA! LET ME SEE
IF I CAN DO THIS.
HEAD BACK. HOW--THERE.
THAT'S LSM.
NOW MANUAL WITH
THE AMERICAN SIGN,
WHICH IS REALLY TOUGH
FOR ME TO DO.
I CAN'T DO IT THIS WAY.
IT'S VERY INTERESTING
TO SEE THIS MIXTURE
OF THE TWO LANGUAGES BEING USED.
YOU CAN OBVIOUSLY SEE
THE NON-MANUAL SIGNALS,
BUT YOU CAN ALSO SEE--
THEY GET PRETTY ADEPT AT USING--
MIXING THE TWO LANGUAGES.
THERE'S ANOTHER EXAMPLE
OF MOUTHING
WITHIN THE SIGN LANGUAGE.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES
OF MOUTH MOVEMENTS.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF I SIGN
AN ENGLISH SENTENCE,
I WOULD SAY, "HELLO. MY NAME IS
DAVID QUINTO-POZOS,
AND I AM GOING TO SCHOOL"
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
SO YOU CAN READ THAT
UP ENOUGH.
SOME SIGNS HAVE THEIR OWN
NON-MANUAL MOUTH MOVEMENTS
THAT ARE ATTACHED TO THE SIGN;
FOR EXAMPLE...
IF YOU SAY--FINISH,
YOU DON'T SAY THE WORD
"HAVE" COMPLETELY.
YOU SAY "'VE" WITH YOUR MOUTH,
OR YOU SAY "FFFINISH."
THERE'S DIFFERENT "HAVEs."
THE WORD--THE NON-MANUAL
MOVEMENT FOR "HAVE"
IS ATTACHED TO THE SIGN.
SO ASL USERS ARE USED TO THIS,
AND LSM USERS HAVE
THAT ONE WAY OF DOING THAT.
HOLD ON ONE SECOND.
IN ASL--NO, NO, NO.
IN LSM,
THE SIGN FOR "HAVE" IS--
THEIR SIGN IS PRODUCED...
OH. OH.
THE SIGN FOR LSM IS
PRODUCED LIKE THIS,
BUT THEY STILL USE SOMETIMES THE
NON-MANUAL SIGNAL FROM ENGLISH.
THE MOUTHING IS FOLLOWED
FROM AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.
SO THEY COMBINE THE LSM SIGNS,
THE NON-MANUAL MOUTH MOVEMENT
OF ENGLISH--
OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.
AND YOU'LL SEE THE SAME IDEA
WITH AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE...
YOU'LL SEE THE WORD THAT MEANS
"EQUAL" ARE THE SAME.
AND SO YOU'LL SEE "SAME"
ON THE MOUTH
WITH THIS SIGN THAT MEANS
"EQUAL" OR "SAME."
WAIT A MINUTE.
AGAIN, I'M KIND OF...OK.
SO YOU'LL SEE
THE SIGN FOR "SAME,"
BUT THE MOUTH MOVEMENT
FROM THE SPANISH WORD "EQUAL,"
SO THE SIGN WILL BE THE AMERICAN
SIGN LANGUAGE "SAME."
THE MOUTH MOVEMENT IS
THE SPANISH "EQUAL."
SO, THIS IS AN EXAMPLE
OF INTERFERENCE
BETWEEN THE TWO LANGUAGES.
NOW, I CAN GIVE YOU
A LOT OF EXAMPLES
OF PHONOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
AND INFLUENCES,
BUT NOW I'D LIKE TO TALK
ABOUT SOME LEXICAL DIFFERENCES
AND INFLUENCES.
SOME DEAF IN THE GROUP
CODE-SWITCHED BETWEEN ASL
AND LSM...FLUENTLY.
THE PEOPLE WHO KNEW ASL
TENDED TO STAY WITH ASL,
BUT SOME WOULD CODE-SWITCH.
IN THE ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEWS...
IF THE INTERVIEWERS SIGNED LSM
AND SEEMED TO DEPEND
ON THAT TOTALLY,
WHEN THAT PERSON GOT
INTO THE GROUP,
WE WOULD NOTICE THEM DOING
A LOT OF CODE-SWITCHING.
SO CODE-SWITCHING HAPPENED
FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS.
A PERSON WHO HAD STRONG LSM,
IN COMMUNICATING
WITH A STRONG BILINGUAL,
WOULD FIND THEMSELVES
CODE-SWITCHING
TO MATCH WHAT THE BILINGUAL
PERSON WAS DOING.
AND THEY WOULD USE
POSSIBLY AN ASL SIGN
TO BACK UP THE LSM SIGN
THEY WERE USING.
ALSO, RELATED TO LEXICAL ITEMS,
REMEMBER WE WERE TALKING
ABOUT NUMBERS
AND HOW DIFFERENT THEY ARE?
IN LSM,
THESE ARE THE NUMBERS: 1, 2, 3,
4, 5....
OH, I'M SORRY.
THAT WAS ASL.
IN LSM, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
PRETTY SIMILAR, UP UNTIL 5.
IN ASL, 6;
LSM, 6, 7,
8, 9...
10...
11, 12,
13, 14...
[WOMAN LAUGHS]
I FEEL LIKE I'M TRYING
TO PAT MY HEAD
AND--HEH!--RUB MY BELLY
AT THE SAME TIME.
15, 15.
"15" IS TWO-HANDED
IN LSM.
"16" IN ASL AND LSM.
"17,"
"18,"
"19," AND "20."
NOTICE THEY'RE KIND OF SIMILAR,
BUT A LITTLE DIFFERENT
BETWEEN THE TWO LANGUAGES,
THE NUMBER 20.
BUT IN TOTAL,
THEY'RE QUITE DIFFERENT.
SO DEAF PEOPLE STRUGGLED
WITH THESE TWO VERY DIFFERENT
NUMBER SYSTEMS.
IT SEEMS THAT THEY DEVELOPED
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES
TO MAKE THEMSELVES
CLEAR, LIKE...
FOR THE NUMBER 16, FOR EXAMPLE,
THEY WOULD DO 1, 6,
SO THEY WOULD DO TWO
SEPARATE NUMBERS FOR 16--
1, 6 INSTEAD OF 16.
SO...
THAT WAS ONE STRATEGY
THAT WAS DEVELOPED.
IT WAS REALLY HARD FOR THEM
TO COMMUNICATE NUMBERS
TO ONE ANOTHER,
OR SOMETIMES...
WHEN THEY WERE GIVEN
THE NUMBER IN LSM,
THEN THEY WOULD BACK IT UP
WITH THE SAME NUMBER IN ASL
TO MAKE IT CLEAR.
IT WAS REALLY HARD, THOUGH,
WHEN THEY WERE TRYING
TO COMMUNICATE NUMBERS
WITH ONE ANOTHER,
AND THEY WOULD USE A VARIETY OF
WAYS TO MAKE SURE IT WAS CLEAR.
NOW...
REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE
CATEGORIZING THINGS--
THE SIGNING, THE POINTING,
THE CLASSIFIERS?
WELL, ONE CATEGORY WAS SIGNS,
AND I'D LIKE TO FOCUS
ON THE SIGN CATEGORY RIGHT NOW.
THERE WERE CLOSE TO 4,000 SIGNS
THAT WERE USED
IN THE SAMPLES WE COLLECTED,
AND THAT REPRESENTED 62%
OF THE DATA.
WHAT WERE THE DIFFERENT TYPES
OF SIGNS THAT WERE USED?
IN ASL, THE SIGN FOR "FAMILY"
AND IN LSM, THE SIGN
FOR "FAMILY," OK,
THEY WOULD USE THOSE SIGNS,
AND THEY WERE TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
ANOTHER CATEGORY WERE
SIMILARLY ARTICULATED SIGNS,
LIKE THE SIGNS FOR "ENJOY."
AND THE ONLY DIFFERENCE WAS ONE
PHONOLOGICAL PARAMETER.
IF THERE WERE TWO PHONOLOGICAL
PARAMETERS DIFFERENT,
THEN THEY WERE CONSIDERED
TOTALLY DIFFERENT SIGNS.
OTHER SIGNS LOOKED THE SAME,
BUT HAD DIFFERENT MEANINGS.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN ASL,
THIS SIGN MEANS...
"ENGLISH" OR "ENGLAND."
THAT SIGN IN LSM MEANS
"AMIGO" OR "FRIEND."
IT'S THE EXACT SAME FORM,
BUT VERY DIFFERENT MEANING.
SASU MEANS SAME FORM,
BUT DIFFERENT MEANING.
SOME SIGNS HAVE THE SAME FORM,
BUT THE MEANING WAS CLOSE.
FOR EXAMPLE, THIS SIGN
IN ASL MEANS "NOT."
IN LSM,
THAT SAME SIGN MEANS "NADA,"
WHICH IS "NOTHING."
SO THE MEANINGS WERE SIMILAR,
BUT NOT EXACTLY THE SAME.
I MEAN, THE EXAMPLE
I GAVE BEFORE
OF "ENGLISH" AND "FRIEND,"
THEY WERE EXACTLY
THE SAME SIGN,
BUT HAD VERY DIFFERENT MEANINGS.
HERE, WE'RE TALKING
ABOUT THE SAME SIGN
THAT HAS A SIMILAR
BUT DIFFERENT MEANING.
IF A DEAF PERSON USED AN SASU...
IT SEEMED AS THOUGH THE GROUP,
ALL OF THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGE
USERS, WOULD UNDERSTAND IT.
BUT ONE TIME,
THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
THE DISCUSSION WAS...
OH, I THINK IT WAS DURING
A ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW.
AND THE QUESTION WAS ASKED...
"WHERE DID YOU LEARN ENGLISH?"
AND THE RESPONSE WAS,
"I LEARNED ENGLISH OVER THERE."
AND SO IT WAS ACTUALLY
THAT HE HAD LEARNED ENGLISH
FROM HIS FRIEND, YOU KNOW,
AND SO IT WAS REALLY HARD
TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THEY MEANT.
BUT MOST OF THE TIME,
THEY WERE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE
WITH EACH OTHER
WITHOUT MUCH TROUBLE.
SOMETIMES WE HAD TO CLARIFY AND
ASK A PERSON WHAT THEY MEANT.
"DO YOU MEAN THIS?" AND THEN GET
A RESPONSE FROM THEM.
OK, NOW I'M FINISHED TALKING
ABOUT THE VARIOUS
CATEGORIES OF SIGNS
AND WANT TO TALK ABOUT
ANOTHER INTERESTING FACTOR.
AS WE LOOKED
AT ALL OF THE DATA--
THE POINTING, THE SIGNS,
THE GESTURES...
NOW WE HAD TO DETERMINE WHAT WE
MEANT BY "GESTURES."
HERE IN THE U.S.,
AS PEOPLE SPEAK, THEY TEND
TO USE GESTURES.
THIS THUMBS-UP SIGN
IS A GESTURE.
IT HAS MEANING.
I MEAN, HEARING PEOPLE USE IT.
EVERYONE USES IT.
IT HAS A SET MEANING...
AND PEOPLE GENERALLY KNOW
WHAT THAT MEANS.
AND WE USE IT
IN SIGN LANGUAGE, TOO.
OR LIKE THIS "F" HAND SHAPE.
WE USE IT.
SO, NOW, DO WE CLASSIFY THAT
AS A SIGN OR A GESTURE?
IS IT A GESTURE THAT'S BECOME
FORMALIZED AND NOW IS A SIGN?
WELL, WE'LL HOLD ON
TO THAT FOR A MINUTE.
BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF GESTURES
THAT PEOPLE USE
AND THEY USE REPEATEDLY,
LIKE THIS THUMBS-UP GESTURE
OR, LIKE,
THE "COME HERE" GESTURE.
SO, AS WE LOOKED AT
THIS CATEGORY OF GESTURES
AND WE LOOKED AT ALL
OF THE DATA...
I JUST DISCUSSED THE SIMILARLY
ARTICULATED SIGNS,
AND NOW, WHEN WE LOOKED
IN MEXICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE,
WE SAW THAT THEY BOTH EXISTED.
BUT POINTING, MMM,
THAT WAS PRETTY CLEAR.
I MEAN, YOU'RE EITHER TALKING
ABOUT A PERSON OR A PLACE.
IT WAS FAIRLY CLEAR.
GESTURES IN THE UNITED STATES
AND MEXICO,
THEY WERE FAIRLY CLEAR
TO UNDERSTAND.
WHEN DEAF PEOPLE
PANTOMIMED SOMETHING...
IT WOULDN'T MATTER
IF THEY GREW UP IN MEXICO
OR IN THE UNITED STATES;
THEY STILL SEEMED TO PANTOMIME
OR GESTURE THINGS
IN SIMILAR WAYS,
AND THAT REPRESENTED
ABOUT 50% OF THE DATA...
MEANING LESS THAN 50% WERE SIGNS
THAT WERE DIFFERENT.
LESS THAN 50% OF THE SIGNS
WERE TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
IT DIDN'T MATTER IF THEY
WERE STRONG LSM USERS OR...
IT WAS BECAUSE THERE ARE
SO MANY SIGNS
THAT ARE SIMILARLY ARTICULATED,
POINTED TO, OR GESTURED THAT
THE COMMUNICATION IS RELATIVELY
CLEAR 50% OF THE TIME.
THE OTHER 50% WERE DISTINCTLY
UNIQUE, DIFFERENT LEXICON SIGNS
THAT WERE USED IN EACH LANGUAGE.
SO NOW I'D LIKE TO TALK
ABOUT THE 20% OF THE TOTAL DATA,
WHICH WAS THE SIMILARLY
ARTICULATED SIGNS, ASSESSING,
AND THAT'S THE THING THAT'S
BETWEEN 20% TO 30%,
35% THAT I MENTIONED EARLIER,
AND THAT'S WHERE LSM AND ASL
HAVE SOME OVERLAP.
IN THE GESTURE CATEGORY,
IT WAS 13% OF THE TOTAL DATA.
THE POINTING CATEGORY WAS 20%,
SO IF YOU ADD ALL THOSE UP,
IT EQUALS ABOUT 50%.
SO KEEP IN MIND THAT ASL AND LSM
ARE PHONOLOGICALLY DIFFERENT.
THERE ARE SOME PHONOLOGICAL
DIFFERENCES, SYNTAX ASIDE.
WE AREN'T TALKING
ABOUT SYNTAX RIGHT NOW,
BUT THERE ARE SOME VARIETIES
WITHIN SIGNS,
BUT IF YOU WERE TO COLLECT ALL
THAT DATA AND LOOK AT IT,
IT SEEMS AS THOUGH...
THE TWO LANGUAGES HAVE QUITE
A LOT OF COMMONALITIES
WHERE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND EACH
OTHER BETWEEN THE TWO LANGUAGES.
SO, UNTIL RECENTLY,
THE PHONOLOGICAL
AND LEXICAL DISCUSSIONS
HAVE BEEN BETWEEN
SPOKEN LANGUAGES.
AND, FOR EXAMPLE, IF WE WERE
TO TALK ABOUT SPOKEN ENGLISH
AND SPOKEN SPANISH,
THE CONTACT AREA
THAT THEY WERE SETTING
WOULD BE THE SAME.
YOU WOULD TALK ABOUT THE SOUNDS,
THE INFLUENCES
OF THE WORD CHOICES,
THE BORROWED USES,
OR THE BORROWED WORDS
THAT WOULD BE IN EACH
SPOKEN LANGUAGE
AND THE CODE-SWITCHING
THAT WOULD OCCUR, SO EVERYTHING
THAT WE'VE TALKED ABOUT TODAY
MIRRORS THE STUDIES
THAT HAVE BEEN DONE IN THE PAST
WITH...SPOKEN LANGUAGES.
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, IN MONTREAL,
THEY STUDIED FRENCH AND ENGLISH
AND THE CREOLE, AND THE CONTACT
BETWEEN THEM.
BUT ONE INTERESTING POINT
THAT WE NOTICED IS
THAT THERE ARE THINGS
THAT LOOK THE SAME
OR THINGS THAT DEAF PEOPLE--
WE DON'T UNDERSTAND, REGARDLESS
OF WHETHER OR NOT THEY GROW UP
IN THE U.S. OR IN MEXICO,
AND THOSE PARTS OF THE LANGUAGE
EQUAL ABOUT 50%.
NOW, TO FIGURE OUT
MORE SPECIFICS
WOULD REQUIRE A LOT
OF RESEARCH; FOR EXAMPLE,
THE GESTURE SYSTEM AND ALL
THAT THAT ENTAILS WOULD REQUIRE
QUITE A BIT TO FIND OUT
WHAT IT IS ABOUT THE GESTURES
THAT BOTH LANGUAGE USERS
UNDERSTAND SO EASILY.
NOW, THE CONTACT
BETWEEN SIGNED LANGUAGES
MIRRORS THE RESULTS
WITH SPOKEN LANGUAGES,
WITH SOME UNIQUE DIFFERENCES.
I WOULD LIKE TO...THANK
THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORTED ME
WITH YOUR GRANT, AND THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION TODAY.
[APPLAUSE]
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Notes:
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"This project is supported by a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation."
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