Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

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PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ receivers cannot see the non-manual wh-questions marker, instead they rely on the wh-sign to indicate that the sentence is a wh-question. Without a wh-sign, it would be easy to misunderstand the sentence, because the sentence is ungrammatical. As grammatical markers are not observed by Deaf-Blind people, this “dialect community” has a restricted set of whconstruction. In standard ASL, a signer looks directly to the receiver while asking a wh-question, and thus, the receiver knows the question is specifically for them. In the Tactile ASL data, several wh-questions were preceded by the sign YOU directed toward the receiver. However, YOU was not the subject or the object of the sentence, e.g., YOU WHAT PLANE WHAT “What kind of plane was it?” In these cases, it appears that the sign YOU was a substitute for the signer’s eyegaze. The sign YOU gets the receiver’s attention, and informs them something will be directed toward them. Yes/No questions in standard ASL occur with a non-manual syntactic marker that includes a brow raise and head tilt. In standard ASL, yes/no questions can optionally occur with a manual sign glossed as QUESTION. All of the examples of yes/no questions in the tactile ASL data occurred with the sign QUESTION. Thus, it appears that while the sign QUESTION is optional in standard ASL, in Tactile ASL, it is acting as a substitute for the q-marker and its use has become obligatory. Back-channel feedback was the last area investigated by the Collins and Petronio 1998 study. The use of back-channel feedback in all languages allows receivers to provide feedback to the speaker/signer, e.g., they can indicate if they understand, agree, disagree, doubt, or are puzzled. In standard ASL, back-channel feedback is often given non-manually with a head nod or a shake; with eyebrows rising or lowering; and with nose wrinkles. The data was examined to determine how Deaf-Blind receivers were providing back-channel feedback to the Deaf-Blind signer. An unexpected unique tactile system was found. This system included a one-finger tap, a four finger tap, squeezes and tactile nods in which the receiver tapped, squeezed or nodded on the back of the signer’s hand. For instance, the one finger tap was used to show “I understand”. Subtle differences of meaning were expressed by varying the speed or number of repetitions of the tap. A squeeze was used to ask for repetition. Further study is needed to better describe this unique means of providing feedback. This back-channeling system is a clear example of a 29
PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ change that has occurred in Tactile ASL. This is a system that has replaced the standard ASL non-manual back-channel system. After collecting and analyzing the data from this study, the findings were presented to the Deaf-Blind persons who were videotaped. Of note is the participant’s reaction to the back-channeling information: they were equally surprised and unaware that they were using this tactile feedback system. Yet, once they learned of this, the participants remarked on how extensively they use it. This system, which has unconsciously evolved in the Deaf-Blind community, is widespread: all of the signers used it, regardless of geographic location. Despite the limited amount of data that was analyzed in the Collins and Petronio 1998 pilot study, the findings have provided ample evidence that language variation and language change occurs in Tactile ASL. Further studies of Tactile ASL have tremendous potential to contribute to the field of language change and language variation. The aim of the current research project is to create a more extensive Tactile ASL corpus that can then be used for a more in-depth analysis of a wider variety of variables. Having longer data samples from a variety of Tactile ASL signers will allow the analysis to include a description of linguistic and social constraints on the variables. The Deaf Swedish linguist, Dr. J. Mesch (2001) focused her study on turn-taking and questions in conversations between deaf-blind persons using tactile sign language. Her material consists of video tape recordings of six conversations, four with two deaf-blind persons and two where one was deaf and the other was deaf-blind. The Mesch study demonstrates that deaf-blind signers use their hands in two different conversation positions. In the monologue position both of the signer's hands are held under the hands of the listener, whereas in the dialogue position both participants hold their hands in identical ways: the right hand under the other person's left hand, and the left hand on top of the other person's right hand. The research also describes how these two positions affect two-handed signs, and how feedback is given in the two positions. Also, Mesch discusses how differences in the vertical and horizontal planes between the two persons are used in turn-taking regulation. In the study, four different conversational levels were identified in the vertical plane, i.e. places where the hands are positioned during conversation: 30
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Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

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