Simultaneity vs sequentiality: Developing a transcription system of Hong Kong Sign Language acquisition data
Temas
Detalles
Sign languages are characterized with a wide range of constructions which encode information of various linguistic levels simultaneously in different autonomous channels. Specifically, the signs produced by the two manual articulators may exhibit a varying degree of relatedness or integration with respect to their semantic, morphological, or syntactic characteristics. In a two-handed lexical sign, the two hands form a single morphemic unit which cannot be further decomposed morphologically. In a typical two-handed classifier construction that is made up of two independent classifiers, the handshape, movement, and location of each of the two hands bear a morphemic status and these morphemes are put together to form a larger morphosyntactic complex. In a signing discourse, it is not uncommon to see the whole or part of a completed sign to be held in space in one hand, while another sign is produced by the other hand. In some cases, the held sign may bear no morphosyntactic relation with the co-occurring sign and its presence only serves a discourse or prosodic function. In some other cases, however, the held sign may combine with the co-occurring sign to constitute a larger morphosyntactic unit. This paper discusses how we devise a consistent transcription system to capture and differentiate these different types of simultaneity for our Hong Kong Sign Language Child Language Corpus in a way that would facilitate not only the viewing of the glosses, but also the analysis of morphosyntactic complexities of deaf children’s signing production.
Paper presented at the sixth edition of the Language Resources and Evaluation Conference: Third workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Construction and Exploitation of Sign Language Corpora.