Kinship terminology in SLs

[Adam Frost]

As a native user and teacher of ASL, I can confirm that Mark is  
correct in that some signers distinguish between male and female  
cousins in the same male/female fashion he was talking about.

Adam

On Dec 5, 2008, at 4:26 AM, Kim Carlton Diez wrote:

> <<<I am out of practice and not at all sure of this, but I recall at  
> least some
> signers distinguishing male and female initialized 'Cousin' in this  
> way, which
> spoken/written French does (and with the same letter) but not  
> English.>>>
>
> As a certified interpreter of ASL and a budding linguist, I can  
> confirm that this is indeed correct.
> --
> Kim Carlton Diez, BA, CI & CT
>
> What lies behind us and what lies
> before us are tiny matters
> compared to what lies within us.
> Ralph Waldo Emerson
>
> -------------- Original message from "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu 
> >: --------------
>
>
> > You may already be familiar with ASL (American Sign Language)  
> kinship terms,
> > but no one has mentioned them in this thread.
> >
> > In ASL, the locations upper face (forehead to temple) and side or  
> lower face
> > (cheek to chin) are morphemes for male and female respectively,  
> originally
> > derived from the (Old French SL) signs for 'boy' and 'girl'. In  
> addition to the
> > signs for boy, girl, man, and woman, these locations are the sole  
> markers of sex
> > in the following pairs of kinship terms:
> >
> > father : mother
> > grandfather : grandmother (& "great-...")
> > son : daughter (< BOY/GIRL + BABY)
> > brother : sister (< BOY/GIRL + SAME)
> >
> > They are also used with the initialized terms
> >
> > Uncle : Aunt
> >
> > I am out of practice and not at all sure of this, but I recall at  
> least some
> > signers distinguishing male and female initialized 'Cousin' in  
> this way, which
> > spoken/written French does (and with the same letter) but not  
> English.
> >
> >
> > -- Mark A. Mandel
> > Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania
> >
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