Japanese Sign Language "ni" Which is the "unmarked" form?

[Geoffrey Hunt]

If a linguist were dealing with the phonetics of a SL, then one would expect
a definition of all three, namely 'touching', 'parallel' and 'spread'.
However, when dealing with phonology (the important consideration when
writing a language), if there are only two significant distinctions in
Japanese SL,  one can use the two symbols below flexibly.
 
Geoffrey 
  _____  

From: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
[mailto:owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] On Behalf Of Penner Mark
Sent: 26 September 2005 05:39
To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
Subject: [sw-l] Japanese Sign Language "ni" Which is the "unmarked" form?



We are in the process of trying to determine the standard fingerspelling for
"ni" ( and by the same principle, "mi") in Japanese Sign language. The
handshape has two fingers out, but the native signer doesn't think of them
as the fingers touching  u
<http://signbank.org/signpuddle/sgn-JP/dict/sl/u.png> (eg. ASL "u") or
spread 2 <http://signbank.org/signpuddle/sgn-JP/dict/sl/2.png> (eg. ASL
"v"). In actuality, they do not touch, but neither are they spread. They are
"just there". The "u" option seems too stiff, but the "v" option seems way
too purposefully spread.

We would like to hear from others in the SW community. When you see the
first handshape, do you think of the fingers touching? Or do you think of
two fingers out parallel, maybe, but not necessarily, touching?

Thanks in advance for your input,

Mark

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