Why different, why the same? Explaining effects and non-effects of modality on linguistic structure in sign and speech
Temas
Detalles
This is a book primarily about signed languages, but it is not a book targeted just at the community of linguists and psycholinguists who specialize in research on signed languages. It is instead a book in which data from signed languages are recruited in pursuit of the goal of answering a fundamental question about the nature of human language: what are the effects and non-effects of modality upon linguistic structure? By modality, I and the other authors represented in this book mean the mode – the means – by which language is produced and perceived. As anyone familiar with recent linguistic research – or even with popular culture – must know, there are at least two language modalities, the auditory–vocal modality of spoken languages and the visual–gestural modality of signed languages. Here I seek to provide a historical perspective on the issue of language and modality, as well to provide background for those who are not especially familiar with the sign literature. I also suggest some sources of modality effects and their potential consequences for the structure of language.
En: Richard P. Meier et al. (eds.), Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages (2002) pp. 1-25.