Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

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PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mark Landrenau (1995) documented varied communication styles between hearing, Deaf, and Deaf-Blind people, in terms of: greetings, introductions, eye contact, space, language, communication, conversation turn-taking, conversation maintenance, lighting, equipment, other devices/aids, how information is presented and valued, the value of time, and recreational activities. His research proved that Deaf-Blind individuals live independent and productive lives. Theresa Smith (2002) described how a positive self-identification and active participation as a vital member of the Deaf-Blind community contributes to an overall sense of well being and mental health of Deaf-Blind individuals. 2.4.2. Usher’s Syndrome Usher’s Syndrome is a condition in which Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) occurs along with a significant congenital hearing loss. This condition manifests as several types and this paper focuses exclusively on individuals with Usher’s Syndrome Type I. This recessive genetic condition results in individuals who are born deaf and then, later on in life, begin to lose their vision due to RP which causes progressive night blindness and a progressive narrowing of the field of vision (tunnel vision), and then results in the loss of all usable vision. In view of the fact that significant effects of RP do not occur until early adulthood, many persons with Usher’s Syndrome Type I grow up unaware that they will have vision problems. Most of them grow up as members of the Deaf community, attend residential schools for the Deaf, and use ASL as their primary language. Later, when their vision has become significantly affected to the degree that they can no longer see ASL effectively, they switch to receiving ASL tactually by placing either one or both hands on top of the signer’s hand or hands. This population was chosen because their primary means of communication was visual ASL prior to their loss of sight. 2.4.3. Non-manual Signals (NMS) in ASL As members of the Deaf Community, many Deaf-Blind individuals claim American Sign Language as their native language. In recent years, ASL and its accompanying culture have been the topics of much research, debate and scholastic analysis. Thanks in large part to William Stokoe (1960) ASL has withstood the debate and linguistic scrutiny of its status as a language. 33
PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Early on, the first linguistic researcher of American Sign Language, William Stokoe (1960), claimed non-manual signals were used as grammatical markers. Stokoe recognized that the negative side-to-side head shaking without a manual sign, clearly conveyed independent information. Liddell (1989) in the late 70s and early 80s demonstrated in his research that facial expressions and other non-manual signals provide emotive, lexical and grammatical information. As well, other non-manual grammatical signals take the form of changes in eyebrow movements. Additionally, Bridges and Metzger’s work (1996), while not exhaustive, provides a fairly comprehensive look at the large gamut of non-manual signals, their functions and their meanings. The authors categorized NMS’s into six roles: “reflections of emotional states, constructed action, conversation regulators, lexical, grammatical markers and modifiers such as adverbs”. Based on this discussion, the question can be asked: How do non-manual signals, which are provided visually, become incorporated into the language of those producing and processing tactile ASL? 2.4.4. Tactile ASL According to Collins and Petronio (1998), Tactile ASL is the process wherein a Deaf- Blind person places his/her hand on top of another signer’s hand and receives the ASL message through the sense of touch. There is a limited amount of research that describes the differences or similarities between the structure of forms of signs used in visual and tactile ASL. Space does not permit a detailed discussion of the findings pertaining to phonology, syntax and discourse, but a full account can be found in Collins & Petronio (1998). In that work, signs were examined in terms of their handshape, location, movement, and orientation. One major finding of this 1998 work was the phonological assimilation that occurred due to the necessity of the signers’ proximity. Certain sign production parameters were changed due to the need for body contact or to the physical limitations of space. A second finding, related to ASL syntax, was also discussed. As previously mentioned, attention has been given to the sentence types produced in visual ASL and how they are translated into tactile ASL. Collins and Petronio describe the tactile substitutions necessary for the non-manual markers to be communicated clearly to the Deaf-Blind individual. 34
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