Perception study -- ASL vs. Gestures

Allen Gardner gardner at UNR.EDU
Wed Apr 25 05:10:00 UTC 2012


Dear dr. Myriam Vermeerbergen

I am intensely interested in simultaneous signs in the structure of sign languages.
Please send me a copy of your article Vermeerbergen, M. & Demey, E. 2007
Together, if convenient, with references to studies of simultaneous signs that may have appeared since your book.

Cordially,

Allen Gardner

From: linguists interested in signed languages [mailto:SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU] On Behalf Of Myriam Vermeerbergen
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 9:50 PM
To: SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU
Subject: Re: Perception study -- ASL vs. Gestures

Dear colleagues,

I agree with Adam's last point.

Some years ago, my colleague Eline Demey and myself published a paper on the comparison of simultaneous constructions in signed languages to instances of speech + co-speech gesture. The paper also includes an introduction to gesture and different types of gesture.

The reference is:

Vermeerbergen, M. & Demey, E. 2007. Sign + Gesture = Speech + Gesture? Comparing Aspects of Simultaneity in Flemish Sign Language to Instances of Concurrent Speech and Gesture. In: Vermeerbergen, M, Leeson, L., Crasborn, O. (Eds.), Simultaneity in Signed Languages: Form and Function. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p. 257-282.
Feel free to contact me if you would like me to provide you with a copy.

Best wishes,

Myriam


dr. Myriam Vermeerbergen

LESSIUS/ K.ULeuven
Subfaculty of Language and Communication
Sint Andriesstraat 2
2000 ANTWERPEN
BELGIUM
myriam.vermeerbergen at lessius.eu<mailto:myriam.vermeerbergen at lessius.eu>




On 24 Apr 2012, at 01:14, Adam Schembri wrote:


Many gesture researchers use the term 'emblem' to refer to gestures that
are like lexical items in spoken and signed languages: conventionalised
gestures that have culturally-specified forms and meanings (the 'ok',
'thumbs up' etc). As others on the SLLING list have already mentioned,
some of these are widely recognised in different parts of the world, but
many identical forms have quite different meanings in different cultures
(the 'thumbs up' is used in some European countries to also represent the
number one, for example, whereas in Australia I think most non-signers
would use the extended index finger). Extending index and middle finger
with palm towards the body and moving the hand configuration upwards in
Australia and Britain was traditionally an obscene gesture, although I
seem to see this less often these days in Australia as the extended middle
finger gesture ('flipping the bird') has become more widely used.

I can't emphasise enough how important it is that sign language
researchers acquaint themselves with the gesture literature. I have
sometimes seen claims by sign language linguists about how sign languages
differ from gesture that really don't sit well with what gesture
researchers have shown.

Adam

--
Assoc. Prof. Adam Schembri, PhD
Director | National Institute for Deaf Studies and Sign Language
La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) | Victoria |  3086 |  Australia
Tel : +61 3 9479 2887 | Mob: +61 432 840 744
|http://www.adamschembri.net/webpage/Welcome.html






On 24/04/12 0:43 , "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU<mailto:mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>> wrote:


Adam,
What do you mean by "emblems"? Things like "come here", "stop", "hi", "be
quiet"? Group membership or other (semi-)secret signs in the non-SL sense
of "(secret) sign", such as gang or lodge recognition signals?
Best,
Mark Mandel



On 12.04.20, at 8:52 PM, Adam Schembri wrote:

Don,
What do you mean by 'gestures'? Co-speech gesture? Emblems? Mime?
Cheers,
Adam Schembri




On 21/04/12 1:48 , "Grushkin, Donald A" <grushkind at CSUS.EDU<mailto:grushkind at CSUS.EDU>> wrote:

Has there ever been a study investigating whether nonsigners with no
exposure to ASL or other signed languages can detect the difference
between gestures and natural signed languages such as ASL?  I seem to
think I did come across something like that once, but cannot rememmber
where or who, if it's not a figment of my imagination.

--Don Grushkin
________________________________________




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