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<DIV dir=ltr>Kathy wrote:<BR> <BR>>(And I WOULD like to know if anyone can list the phonemes of any sign language...and justify their phonemic Zstatus...)<BR> <BR>That's a really good question. :) </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>I have searched for an answer to that questions some years now and haven't found any full description of the phonemesystem of any signed language yet. But of course I may not have found the one that exists (please let me know if that is the case :)</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>One of my Ph.D. students who is working on notational systems for sign lanuage dictionaries seems to close in to a conclusion that one of the major problems for notational system is to capture shared iconic features of different signs.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Personally I believe that many, if not allmost of all the parameters in a single sign and including nonmanual features can (and often do) carry an iconic potential which makes them by definition non-arbitrary and that means again they could not be phonemic in the sense of spoken language phonemes, because phonemes are by definition arbitrary. On the other hand is for example a handshape not always morphemic either since it does not carry some meaning in a morphemic sense, just an iconic potential that can be activated in a sign. I think that signed languages probably do not fit entirely in the linguistic level model of phonemic - morphemic and that we probably need a new level, somewhat in between these two "levels" describing how "iconemes" work. I use the terms "iconeme" roughly said for the "smallest analysable unit in a language carrying an iconic potential". </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>And if (I say IF!) we end up describing an iconeme-level of signed languages this could also influence our understanding of writing systems/notational tools for signed languages.</DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr>Just my two cents on a friday morning :)</DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr>All the best</DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr>Sonja Erlenkamp<BR><BR><BR><BR></DIV>
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