[Slling-l] On the Philly 'accent' in ASL

[Peyton Todd]

I was once told by a (hearing) instructor in an ASL class here in Atlanta, Georgia that I should be making the ASL sign SUNDAY in a certain way - I forgot whether he claimed that the fingers should be closed vs. open, and whether he claimed that the second movement of the sign should start at the same position near the chest or from a position somewhat lower (but it must have been the lower, or I would not have been struck by it). Skeptical of his claim, I asked a group of deaf signers here in Atlanta, all of whom know each other personally, how they would make the sign. Just in this small group of eight or so signers, I found ALL FOUR POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS of the two choices above. In this case, at least, individual differences surpass any dialectal effects. Unless, of course, I was merely viewing the range of possible variation within which each signer produces the sign.  
Peyton Todd
      From: Adam Schembri <A.Schembri at LATROBE.EDU.AU>
 To: SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU 
 Sent: Friday, December 4, 2015 5:14 PM
 Subject: [SLLING-L] On the Philly 'accent' in ASL
   
 Hi everyone,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3345846/Sign-language-accent-Linguists-discover-variation-signing-seen-Philadephia.html
Just a head’s up about this: no surprises here, but the media reportsabout this are inaccurate. 
My understanding is that the researchers in Philadelphia are undertakinga study to see if there is evidence in their corpus of a distinctivePhiladelphia ‘accent’ in American Sign Language (ASL) - they’ve not yetfound one, but there are anecdotal reports of one. The evidence for theexistence of regional ‘accents’ for sign languages such as ASL, Auslan and BritishSign Language is unclear. While there are clearly documented differencesacross the US and Australia in how particular signs are produced, I’ve not yet seen anyevidence yet that native signers can tell WHERE someone is from in the US, Australiaor the UK based on the way they produce specific phonological features ofsigns alone. We’ve plenty of evidence of regional dialect differencesbased on lexical differences, but not accent as such. On the other hand, it isclear that second language learners produce ASL and BSL signs with an‘accent’, and there is also work on Black and White ASL which shows someinteresting sociophonetic differences between these varieties.
The most accurate report I’ve seen thus far is here: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/penn-linguists-document-philadelphia-accent-american-sign-language
Adam
-- 
Assoc. Prof. Adam Schembri, PhD https://latrobe.academia.edu/AdamSchembriDepartment of Languages & Linguistics | La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) | Victoria |  3086 |  Australia |Tel : +61 3 9479 2887 | Twitter: @AdamCSchembri
From: linguists interested in signed languages <SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU> on behalf of Barbara Gerner De Garcia <barbara.gerner.de.garcia at GALLAUDET.EDU>
Reply-To: linguists interested in signed languages <SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU>
Date: Thursday, 3 December 2015 at 01:45
To: "SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU" <SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Numerical Incorporation for Age signs in ASL


Indeed!

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 9:25 AM, Boris Fridman Mintz <chido at mac.com> wrote:

Illuminating response. Isn´t it?

> On Dec 2, 2015, at 2:17 AM, Elton, Frances <f.elton at UCL.AC.UK> wrote:
>
> Please don't take in research by hearing people, only take in by Deaf people.
> Thanks
> Frances
>
> Frances Elton MA, DCAL, UCL
>
>
>> On 2 Dec 2015, at 08:27, Sarah Hafer <sarah.hafer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I understand that some publishings say the age signs in ASL where the numbers are
>> blended with the OLD sign for ASL are part of the numerical incorporation category. For
>> some reason, it just does not feel right to me that these should be classified as numberical
>> incorporation. I want to say it is because of some kind of phonological process such as
>> phonological reduction. Then i saw one website says these AGE signs in ASL are rather
>> 'assimilation,' and that felt quite more right to me.
>>
>> I am wondering what are your take on this? Any scientific publishing on how the AGE signs
>> in ASL are perhaps not numerical incorporation but rather something else?
>>
>> Sarah
>>
>





-- 
Dr. Barbara Gerner de Garcia, Professor 
Department of Education
Gallaudet University
800 Florida Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002-3695

Phone: 202-651-5207


 
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