Sign Language & Linguistics - Volume 18, Issue 1, 2015

In this article, we investigate the referential and textual functions of finger loci, that is, the pointing towards one or more fingers of the weak hand in signed discourse. The first part of the article deals with the theoretical discussion about referentiality and the related notions of definiteness and specificity in the literature on spoken languages. The second empirical part of the article shows that the use of finger loci in German Sign Language (DGS) varies according to the genre of signed discourse, fulfilling not only referential but also textual functions. Furthermore, formal variations within the use of finger loci reflect referential gradation and specificity.

This paper reports a study of the forms and functions of head movements produced in the dimension of depth in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). Specifically, the paper describes and analyzes the phonetic forms and prosodic, grammatical, communicative, and textual functions of nods, head thrusts, nodding, and head pulls occurring in FinSL data consisting of a continuous dialogue recorded with motion capture technology. The analysis yields a novel classification of the kinematic characteristics and functional properties of the four types of head movement. However, it also reveals that there is no perfect correspondence between form and function in the head movements investigated.

This article explores patterns of co-use of two sign languages in casual conversational data from four deaf bilinguals, who are fluent in Indian Sign Language (ISL) and Burundi Sign Language (BuSL). We investigate the contributions that both sign languages make to these conversations at lexical, clause, and discourse level, including a distinction between signs from closed grammatical classes and open lexical classes. The results show that despite individual differences between signers, there are also striking commonalities. Specifically, we demonstrate the shared characteristics of the signers’ bilingual outputs in the domains of negation, where signers prefer negators found in both sign languages, and wh-questions, where signers choose BuSL for specific question words and ISL for general wh-questions. The article thus makes the argument that these signers have developed a fairly stable bilingual variety that is characteristic of this particular community of practice, and we explore theoretical implications arising from these patterns.