[Slling-l] On the Philly 'accent' in ASL

[Adam Schembri]

Hi everyone,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3345846/Sign-language-accent
-Linguists-discover-variation-signing-seen-Philadephia.html

Just a head’s up about this: no surprises here, but the media reports
about this are inaccurate.

My understanding is that the researchers in Philadelphia are undertaking
a study to see if there is evidence in their corpus of a distinctive
Philadelphia ‘accent’ in American Sign Language (ASL) - they’ve not yet
found one, but there are anecdotal reports of one. The evidence for the
existence of regional ‘accents’ for sign languages such as ASL, Auslan and British
Sign Language is unclear. While there are clearly documented differences
across the US and Australia in how particular signs are produced, I’ve not yet seen any
evidence yet that native signers can tell WHERE someone is from in the US, Australia
or the UK based on the way they produce specific phonological features of
signs alone. We’ve plenty of evidence of regional dialect differences
based on lexical differences, but not accent as such. On the other hand, it is
clear that second language learners produce ASL and BSL signs with an
‘accent’, and there is also work on Black and White ASL which shows some
interesting sociophonetic differences between these varieties.

The most accurate report I’ve seen thus far is here: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/penn-linguists-document-philadelphia-accent-american-sign-language

Adam

--

Assoc. Prof. Adam Schembri, PhD https://latrobe.academia.edu/AdamSchembri
Department of Languages & Linguistics  | La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) | Victoria |  3086 |  Australia |Tel : +61 3 9479 2887 | Twitter: @AdamCSchembri

From: linguists interested in signed languages <SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU<mailto:SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU>> on behalf of Barbara Gerner De Garcia <barbara.gerner.de.garcia at GALLAUDET.EDU<mailto:barbara.gerner.de.garcia at GALLAUDET.EDU>>
Reply-To: linguists interested in signed languages <SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU<mailto:SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU>>
Date: Thursday, 3 December 2015 at 01:45
To: "SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU<mailto:SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU>" <SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU<mailto:SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU>>
Subject: Re: Numerical Incorporation for Age signs in ASL

Indeed!

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 9:25 AM, Boris Fridman Mintz <chido at mac.com<mailto:chido at mac.com>> wrote:
Illuminating response. Isn´t it?

> On Dec 2, 2015, at 2:17 AM, Elton, Frances <f.elton at UCL.AC.UK<mailto:f.elton at UCL.AC.UK>> wrote:
>
> Please don't take in research by hearing people, only take in by Deaf people.
> Thanks
> Frances
>
> Frances Elton MA, DCAL, UCL
>
>
>> On 2 Dec 2015, at 08:27, Sarah Hafer <sarah.hafer at GMAIL.COM<mailto:sarah.hafer at GMAIL.COM>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I understand that some publishings say the age signs in ASL where the numbers are
>> blended with the OLD sign for ASL are part of the numerical incorporation category. For
>> some reason, it just does not feel right to me that these should be classified as numberical
>> incorporation. I want to say it is because of some kind of phonological process such as
>> phonological reduction. Then i saw one website says these AGE signs in ASL are rather
>> 'assimilation,' and that felt quite more right to me.
>>
>> I am wondering what are your take on this? Any scientific publishing on how the AGE signs
>> in ASL are perhaps not numerical incorporation but rather something else?
>>
>> Sarah
>>
>




--
Dr. Barbara Gerner de Garcia, Professor
Department of Education
Gallaudet University
800 Florida Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002-3695

Phone: 202-651-5207
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