FY 2008 Annual Report of Achievements - Gallaudet University

Possessives and Existentials in ASL
Status: Ongoing Begin date: September 2005 End date: No set date
Principal Investigator(s):
Chen Pichler, Deborah – Linguistics
Wilbur, Ronnie – Purdue University, Speech,
Language and Hearing Sciences
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Other Investigator(s):
Vulje, Martina – University of Zagreb, Croatia
Pribanic, Ljubica – University of Zagreb
Schalber, Katharina – Vienna, Austria
Hochgesang, Julie (student) – Linguistics
Description:
Led by Dr. Ulrike Zeshan of the University of Centre Lancashire and the International
Centre for Sign Language and Deaf Studies in Preston, UK, researchers in this project are
participating in a large cross-linguistic study on possessives and existentials in 25 different sign
languages of the world. Sign language data collected at Gallaudet is being compared with that of
other sign languages (specifically, Croatian Sign Language and Austrian Sign Language) and will
contribute to a future online video database hosted at the Max Plank Institute for Psycholinguistics.
Funding source: NSF and Purdue University
FY 2007-2008 product(s):
Chen Pichler, D., & Hochgesang, J. (in press). An overview of possessives and existentials in American Sign Language.
In U. Zeshan & P. Perniss (Eds.), Sign Language Typology Series: No. 2. Possessive and existential constructions in sign
languages. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Ishara Press.
Production of Movement in Users of American Sign Language and Its Influence
on Being Identified as “Non-Native”
Status: Ongoing Begin date: April 2008 End date: No set date
Principal Investigator(s):
Goeke, Amber (student) – Linguistics
Chen Pichler, Deborah – Linguistics
Description:
This project investigates the differences in the signing of ASL native users and second
language users, and how these differences affect outsiders’ perception of “accent.”
The project will be focusing on the parameter of movement in native and second language
production. Once production participants are filmed, their films will be viewed by native ASL users
who will be asked to identify which participants are native and which are non-native. The researcher
will use these perceptions as well as her own analysis of specific movement subfeatures to determine
whether the subfeatures in question (speed, size, and joint movement) have any bearing on whether
or not a signer is seen as native or non-native.
Funding source: GRI Small Grant