scholarly journals Pragmatic and Syntactic Features of Topics in American Sign Language

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Janzen
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Syntactic Features

Abstract American Sign Language (ASL) sentences are understood as constructed around a topic-comment, rather than a subject-predicate, relation, but topic constituents are not well understood. This study examines topic-marked constituents in the context of discourse negotiation, suggesting that there are two sources for semantic material that is coded as topics in ASL. These are first, pragmatic contexts that are external to the discourse event, and second, the syntactic structure of the discourse itself. This study is based on two ASL narrative texts which were coded for topic and non-topic constituents and seeks to familiarized the interpreter with the grammatical structure of ASL. This way, the interpreter has a better grasp of the signer's perspective on the information coded both by topics and non-topics in the discourse.

The Cortical Organization of Syntactic Processing Is Supramodal: Evidence from American Sign Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
William Matchin ◽  
Deniz İlkbaşaran ◽  
Marla Hatrak ◽  
Austin Roth ◽  
Agnes Villwock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Probe Recognition ◽  
Native Signers

Abstract Areas within the left-lateralized neural network for language have been found to be sensitive to syntactic complexity in spoken and written language. Previous research has revealed that these areas are active for sign language as well, but whether these areas are specifically responsive to syntactic complexity in sign language independent of lexical processing has yet to be found. To investigate the question, we used fMRI to neuroimage deaf native signers' comprehension of 180 sign strings in American Sign Language (ASL) with a picture-probe recognition task. The ASL strings were all six signs in length but varied at three levels of syntactic complexity: sign lists, two-word sentences, and complex sentences. Syntactic complexity significantly affected comprehension and memory, both behaviorally and neurally, by facilitating accuracy and response time on the picture-probe recognition task and eliciting a left lateralized activation response pattern in anterior and posterior superior temporal sulcus (aSTS and pSTS). Minimal or absent syntactic structure reduced picture-probe recognition and elicited activation in bilateral pSTS and occipital-temporal cortex. These results provide evidence from a sign language, ASL, that the combinatorial processing of anterior STS and pSTS is supramodal in nature. The results further suggest that the neurolinguistic processing of ASL is characterized by overlapping and separable neural systems for syntactic and lexical processing.

scholarly journals Passive Constructions in American Sign Language

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Janzen ◽  
Barbara O’Dea ◽  
Barbara Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
General Session

Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Pragmatics and Grammatical Structure (1997)

Formal Symmetry in American Sign Language

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 351
Author(s):  
Linda Uyechi ◽  
Janine Toole
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
General Session

Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Pragmatics and Grammatical Structure (1997)

The Licensing of Null Arguments in American Sign Language

2000 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bahan ◽  
Judy Kegl ◽  
Robert G. Lee ◽  
Dawn MacLaughlin ◽  
Carol Neidle
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Syntactic Features

The distribution of null arguments across languages has been accounted for in terms of two distinct strategies: licensing by agreement and licensing by topic. Lillo-Martin (1986, 1991) claims that American Sign Language (ASL) exploits both strategies for licensing null arguments, depending on the morphological characteristics of the verb. Here we show that this is incorrect. Once the nonmanual correlates of agreement features (comparable to the nonmanual expressions of other syntactic features) in ASL are recognized, it becomes apparent that null arguments in this language are systematically licensed by an expression of syntactic agreement.

Spatial and temporal dynamics of lexico-semantic processing in American Sign Language

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Leonard ◽  
N. Ferjan Ramirez ◽  
C. Torres ◽  
M. Hatrak ◽  
R. Mayberry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics

Patient Health Questionnaire-9--American Sign Language Version

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Pertz ◽  
Missy Plegue ◽  
Kathleen Diehl ◽  
Philip Zazove ◽  
Michael McKee
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Patient Health Questionnaire ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Patient Health
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