speed of movement in signs

[David Corina]

Hello Rain, Susan and Rachel,

I agree with Rachel, that one needs to find if speed is a recurring
and systematic device for *phonological contrasts. Further It seems
the pairs ARRIVE and PROVE has additional phonological differences (which
however may become neurtalized in some contexts). In particular
doesn't ARRIVE have a hand orientation change in the "wind-up" before
contact ? PROVE seems not to need this. Repetition (2X) seems pretty
standard for PROOF, and not ARRIVE. Native inutitions welcome.

best
David Corina





On Sun, 23 Jun 2002, Rachel Channon wrote:

> I think there are two interesting questions here.
> A. First, are differences in speed a REGULAR means of distinguishing signs
> in any sign language? It seems to me that a single example, such as ARRIVE
> and PROVE, although interesting, does not by itself show that the
> distinction exists.  If this is the only example in the language, the most
> reasonable assumption is that there is probably some other factor involved
> (perhaps iconicity or emphasis).  Or it might even be a case of homonyms,
> where there is no underlying distinction between the two forms. Any
> distinction that is significant in a language should also be reasonably
> common, otherwise how could a child be expected to learn it?
>
> B. The second question is whether there are any sign languages which have
> minimal pairs that differ only in the speed of a PART of the sign.  For
> example, imagine a set of signs which contact the ear, mouth and chest.
> Sign A moves quickly between the ear and mouth and then at normal speed
> between mouth and chest.  Sign B moves at normal speed throughout.  Sign C
> moves slowly between ear and mouth and at normal speed from mouth to chest.
> And so on....
>
> In my (just finished) dissertation, I provided a number of arguments to show
> that a sign must be represented as a single unordered segment with dynamic
> features (such as direction or repetition).  Although I did not discuss the
> issue in detail, my model also requires that there cannot be signs with
> differences of the type discussed in B.  Signs of type A, with an overall or
> global difference in speed, could occur.  They would have to be handled with
> a feature such as [tense] or [fast]. However, my guess is that this feature
> does not occur, because it is pre-empted by the use of speed for emphasis.
> Rachel Channon
>