Detail View: Deaf Studies, Culture, and History Archives: Language contact

Filename: 
ds_0049_languagecontact_cap_01.mp4
Identifier: 
ds_0049_languagecontact_cap_01.mp4
Title: 
Language contact
Creator: 
Quinto-Pozos, David
Subject: 
American Sign Language
Subject: 
Mexican Sign Language
Subject: 
Languages in contact
Summary: 
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.
Publisher: 
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Digital Publisher: 
Rochester Institute of Technology - RIT Libraries - RIT Archive Collections
Date of Original: 
2004
Date of Digitization: 
2018
Broad Type: 
moving image
Digital File Format: 
mp4
Physical Format: 
VHS
Dimensions of Original: 
54 minutes
Language: 
American Sign Language
Language: 
English
Original Item Location: 
RITDSA.0049
Library Collection: 
Sculptures in the Air: An Accessible Online Video Repository of the American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry and Literature Collections
Library Collection: 
ASL Lecture Series DVDs
Digital Project: 
2018-2019 CLIR Grant-ASL Poetry and Literature
Catalog Record: 
https://albert.rit.edu/record=b3955845
Catalog Record: 
https://archivesspace.rit.edu/repositories/2/resources/837
Place: 
New York - Rochester
RIT Spaces and Places: 
Henrietta Campus
Rights: 
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.
Transcript: 
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]
Notes: 
"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."