Grammatical Gender in BSL

[Daisuke Sasaki]

To be more precise, in Japanese Sign Language (JSL), the upright thumb is not for male persons, but for "a" male person, whereas the upright pinky is not for female persons, but for "a" female person.

In JSL, we have a distinction between singular and plural in the use of above classifiers.  Foe example, A-GROUP-OF-MEN is expressed by the upright-thumb handshape in both hands making a circle in the neutral space (this movement is opposite to that of GROUP/FAMILY/TEAM in ASL).  However, my research into the comparison of vocabulary between  JSL and TSL (Taiwan SL) and KSL (Korean SL) has so far suggested that it does not seem that KSL makes no distinction between singular and plural.  Due to Japan's colonial occupation of Taiwan and Korea before and during the WWII, TSL and KSL have much influence from JSL.  It seems that TSL makes distinction like in JSL, but it seems that KSL uses the Y handshape for both singular and plural persons.  This is only the finding  based on the lexicon found in KSL dictionaries, so I would like to welcome more precise information.

In addition, the Y handshape is used as a bound morpheme which stands for MAN-AND-WOMAN (there is no individual sign with this handshape in JSL).  For example, PEOPLE is expressed by this handshape in both hands moving outward from the center; if this handshape is used with the same movement as A-GROUP-OF-MEN above, it stands for SOCIETY; FAMILY is the compound of HOUSE + this Y handshape.

Another well-know example will be a sign for MARRY.  It will be expressed by the upright thumb in one hand and the upright pinky in the other hand moving toward the center  and making a contact in the neutral space.  The opposite movement, as you may expect, stands for DIVORCE.

In her response, I don't understand what Ulrike means by the distinction between the classifier system in JSL and the auxiliary system in TSL.  If she means that these handshapes (i.e., the upright thumb and the upright pinky) can be incorporated into some signs, the same thing applies to JSL.  In JSL, GO can be expressed in three ways: moving the hand forward by the palm facing upward with the handshape of 1) the upright index finger, 2) the upright thumb, or 3) the upright pinky.  Case 1 is used for both make and female, since the upright index is used for a person without expressing any gender.  Case 2 can stand either for a) any gender or for b) a male person, the distinction can be made depending on the context.  The same phenomenon can be seen in spoken languages where the gender for male stands for a general person.  However, case 3 only stands for a female person going.

However, this phenomenon does not applies to all the JSL signs with the upright thumb.  HELP in JSL uses the upright thumb in H2, but this is not interchangeable with either the upright pinky or the upright index.  Only the upright thumb is possible in HELP, and that handshape is registered in the information of the lexicon, where as the information for the handshape in GO may be freer.


Daisuke

At 2002/06/24 14:39:06 Ulrike Zeshan wrote:
> The closest thing to gender marking that I have seen in sign languages is
> the sub-system in the Japanese Sign Language family where an upright thumb
> stands for male persons and an upright little finger stands for female
> persons. It only works for humans though, so it is not exactly like the
> French example below. For Japanese Sign Language, this gender marking is
> part of the classifier system. In Taiwanese Sign Language, it is part of the
> auxiliary system.
> Ulrike


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Daisuke Sasaki    mailto:daisuke at e-mail.ne.jp    http://www.daisuke.com/
Doctoral Student of Linguistics, The University of Texas at Austin
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