Phonological theories meet sign language: two theories of the two hands
Temas
Detalles
We explore two models of the nonpreference hand in sign language phonology. These models are fully developed by the authors elsewhere. Here, we compare and contrast the models, paying special attention to the relationship between the models and the theories behind them. In the process, we address questions of broad theoretical interest: (I) Does the existence of two anatomically similar articulators in sign languages require a phonological model that is fundamentally different from models of spoken language? (2) In what ways does the particular phonological theory adopted shape the investigation and its results? The model of Sandler (1989, 1994a) is motivated by theories of Feature Geometry (e.g., Clements 1985), while that of van der Hulst (1993, to appear) is motivated by principles of Dependency Phonology.