Scott K. LiddellGallaudet University · Department of Linguistics
Scott K. Liddell
PhD
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35
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Publications
Publications (35)
This is the fifth in a series of papers that describe the authors' complete approach to the phonetic representation of signed languages. This paper introduces and justifies the concept of locating the hand on bearings rather than locating the hand with respect to spatial loci. Doing so provides a unified means of representing the phonetic structure...
: In this article we describe a componential, articulatory approach to the phonetic description of the configuration of the four fingers. Abandoning the traditional holistic, perceptual approach, we propose a system of notational devices and distinctive features for the description of the four fingers proper (index, middle, ring, and pinky). Specif...
The arguments for dividing the signing stream in signed languages into sequences of phonetic segments are compelling. The visual records of instances of actually occurring signs provide evidence of two basic types of segments: postural segments and trans-forming segments. Postural segments specify an alignment of articulatory features, both manual...
In this article, we present a system for the representation of the configurations of the thumb in the hand configurations of signed languages and for the interactions of the thumb with the four fingers proper. The configuration of the thumb is described as a componential combination of the descriptions of thumb opposition, abduction of the CM joint...
In this paper we examine the theory of the structure of signs that grew from Stokoe’s (1965) proposals. We begin by examining argument for the structural simultaneity of signs by examining claims about how signs contrast and how cheremes function. Historically, such discussions have involved three claims: (1) that signs are composed of a single h...
Signed language users can draw on a range of articulators when expressing linguistic messages, including the hands, torso, eye gaze, and mouth. Sometimes these articulators work in tandem to produce one lexical item while in other instances they operate to convey different types of information simultaneously. Over the past fifteen years, there has...
In the sign languages of the deaf some signs can meaningfully point toward things or can be meaningfully placed in the space ahead of the signer. Such spatial uses of signs are an obligatory part of fluent grammatical signing. There is no parallel for this in vocally produced languages. This book focuses on American Sign Language to examine the gra...
This landmark study examines the role of gestures in relation to speech and thought. Leading scholars, including psychologists, linguists and anthropologists, offer state-of-the-art analyses to demonstrate that gestures are not merely an embellishment of speech but are integral parts of language itself. Language and Gesture offers a wide range of t...
An analysis of spoken language discourse cannot be limited to merely the words used in the discourse and their grammatical arrangement. It is well known, for example, that speakers commonly gesture as they speak. These gestures often provide either independent information or important clues needed for a clear understanding of the message of the spe...
This artide describes “grounded blends“, an extension ofthe concept of a blended mental space (Fauconnier and Turner 1996). Grounded blends result from t he blending of elements from a mental space with elements of one's immediate physical environment. Grounded blends have several interestiny characieristics. First, they have the property that they...
The use of space in sign language discourse has been treated as a unique and almost defining characteristics of sign languages. This paper argues that the use of space in ASL is not conceptually different from the ‘use of space’ in spoken languages, where spatial representations can also be constructed to aid in discourse. Speakers of any language...
This chapter presents a comparison of two models of segmentation in ASL, the signed language of the American Deaf. Predicting the locations of holds in running discourse is problematic. H-deletion is a variable rule whose application is probably correlated with the formality of the signing. Perlmutter takes an almost entirely different view, in whi...
This paper has the ambitious goal of outlining the phonological structures and processes we have analyzed in American Sign Language (ASL). In order to do this we have divided the paper into five parts. In section 1 we detail the types of sequential phenomena found in the production of individual signs, allowing us to argue that ASL signs are compos...
ASL compounds are formed through a process which systematically alters the form of both lexical stems which enter into the process. The resulting phonetic form of a productively derived ASL compound is traceable to the two signs from which it was derived, but does not consist of two meaningful phonetic forms. Once lexicalized, ASL compounds undergo...
A descriptive issue is addressed here. The form of the nonmanual marking of conditionals in ASL has been variously described, perhaps because of variability in the data, but more likely because it is difficult to pick out the recurrent nonmanual features that are ever present in ASL signing. This paper describes head thrust as a significant nonmanu...
Scott K. Liddell is an Assistant Professor in the Linguistics Department, Gallaudet College. He has a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, San Diego, and is the author of American Sign Language Syntax, in the Approaches to Semiotics series (52). His current research interest is analysis of the sequential behavior in signs.
1. For...
This paper examines the nature of the sublexical structure of signs in American Sign Language, and its relevance to various descriptive and theoretical problems. Data are presented which show that the currently accepted view of a sign as a simultaneous bundle of primes-handshape, movement, location, and orientation-is insufficient in several ways....
