Lexical creation by signing apes

[Mark Mandel]

This is from LINGUIST List #12-1320, at
http://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-1320.html.
*** PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO ME ***
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Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 17:09:33 +0200
From: Celso Álvarez Cáccamo <lxalvarz at udc.es>
Subject: Lexical creation by signing apes

Hello,

I've just watched a documentary on Koko, the signing gorilla. In it, it is
reported that Koko once transferred the sign for "eyebrow" for a type of
lettuce called "browse" (spelling?) for which researchers didn't have yet a
specific sign. Koko would move her thumb(s) across her eyebrow(s) to
request browse -- not any lettuce. So, Koko seemed to be able to dettach
the iconic component of the ASL sign and thus to create a pure symbol.

If this is so (that is, if this was an innotative creation by Koko, not
prompted by the researchers' own use of the sign, my questions are,

(1) How would we better characterize this procedure? Lexical creation based
on partial homophony? But, since the sign is not vocal-aural, what is the
term commonly used for homophony for visual signs?

(2) Has this phenomenon been observed in other signing apes? I am not
referring, obviously, to lexical creation by composition (e.g. Koko's 'hole
+ hat' for 'mask', or 'ring + wrist' for 'bracelet'), or to the use of
preestablished symbols by apes, but to a type of creative symbolization
similar (I would say) to the transfer of ideographs for indicating phonetic
component of other signs, or to the use of originally ideographic symbols
in Japanese kanji.

(3) What can be said about the implications of this procedure in signing
apes with regards to their linguistic capabilities? Does this imply
linguistic analysis and reflexivity beyond what is commonly assumed?

Thank you,

Celso Álvarez Cáccamo              Tel. +34 981 167000 ext. 1888
Linguística Geral, Faculdade de Filologia     FAX +34 981 167151
Universidade da Corunha                          lxalvarz at udc.es
15071 A Corunha, Galiza (Espanha)  http://www.udc.es/dep/lx/cac/

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I have replied to the author as follows

     In sign linguistics we call it homophony, just as we speak of the
phonetics
     and phonology of signed languages. The underlying processes of signed
and
     spoken languages seem to be comparable at all levels until
articulation
     and sensory perception.

     I am forwarding your question to the Sign Language Linguistics List,
     SLLING-L, for wider circulation among sign linguists. Of course, the
main
     subject matter of that list is human signing, but some participants
are
     interested in ape signing as well.

     I'm not familiar with any kind of lettuce called "browse", but that
word
     (as a verb) is homophonous with English "brows". For this transference
to
     have occurred without reference to the English spoken words would be
too
     great a coincidence to believe. Either Koko associated the lettuce and
     the facial feature with their English names (which she presumably
learned
     from the researchers, whether they meant her to or not), or the
transferred
     sign was used by a researcher.

        Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
               Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Senior Linguist
      320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com

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