Compounding in sign languages
Irit Meir University of Haifa PARSEME 6th general meeting Struga, Macedonia, 7-8 April, 2016 Sign Languages – general facts
• Natural languages • Emerge spontaneously in communities with deaf people • Not universal • Known sign languages are relatively young Sign languages and compounding
• What could be special? • Modality – Makes use of space – Allows for more simultaneous structure – Very different phonological building blocks • Age – Sign languages in general are young languages – Allow us to observe emerging linguistic structures
3 Modality
4 Phonological structure of the sign
• Basic building blocks (classes of phonemes): • Handshape • Location • Movement ASK Handshape: Location: mouth (lower face) Movement: arc, outward 5
Minimal pairs
MOTHER NOON HEALTH CURIOUSITY
ESCAPE BETRAY Syllable template of the sign
HC
L M L
contact [arc] medial
Sandler, 1989 lower head Iconicity and arbitrariness
• Signs can be iconic, arbitrary or partly iconic
Iconic sign Arbitrary sign Partly iconic EAT LOAN ASK
8 Compounds in Sign Language
• All sign languages studied to date have compounding • Wide-spread in and across sign languages • First described in American Sign Language (ASL) by Klima and Bellugi 1979: The Signs of Language. – Chapter 9: “On the Creation of New Lexical Items by Compounding,” devoted to lexical compounds – Chapter 10: “Linguistic Expression of Category Levels,” devoted to coordinate compounds
9 Properties of compounds
• Form a lexeme • Show word properties (rather than phrasal): – Lexicalized meaning – A single stress unit – Phonological reduction • Reduced vowels • Assimilation • omission – Structural relations between components (head- modifier) – Special morphological properties How are these properties manifested in sign languages? Lexical compounds in ASL
• SICK^SPREAD ‘epidemic’ • EAT^NOON ‘lunch’ • SLEEP^SUNRISE ‘oversleep’ • SURE^WORK ‘seriously’ • RED^FLOW ‘blood’ • THINK^TOUCH ‘keep thinking about’ • WRONG^HAPPEN ‘accidentally’
12 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, ch. 9-10 Lexicalization of meaning
• Meaning can be idiosyncratic: Language Compound Meaning ASL (Klima and Bellugi 1979) SLEEP^SUNRISE Oversleep
BSL (Brennan 1990) WORK^SUPPORT Service
ISL (Meir and Sandler 2008) HEART^OFFER Volunteer
Auslan (Johnston and Schembri 1999) RED^BALL Tomato
ABSL (Aronoff et al 2008) SWAET^SUN Summer
IPSL (Zeshan 2000) UNDERSTAND^MUCH Intelligent
NZSL (Kennedy 2002) MAKE^DEAD Fatal Lexicalization of meaning
BLUE^SPOT ‘bruise’
14 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, p. 203 A single meaning unit
• Internal components of compounds cannot be modified or interrupted – BLUE LARGE SPOT ‘large blue spot’ – *BLUE-LARGE-SPOT ‘large bruise’ – BLU-ISH SPOT ‘bluish spot’ – *BLU-ISH-SPOT ‘?’
15 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, p. 207 A single meaning unit
• Compound modifiers can contradict internal constituents
– BLUE^SPOT GREEN, VAGUE YELLOW ‘that bruise is green and yellowish’
– BED^SOFT HARD ‘my pillow is hard’
16 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, p. 209 Phonological changes
• Compounds are shorter than equivalent phrases
– GOOD 28 fields – ENOUGH 49 fields – GOOD ENOUGH 77 fields – GOOD^ENOUGH ‘barely adequate’ 38 fields
17 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, p. 212 Reduction of first component
• The first element of a compound is ‘radically compressed compared with its duration in second position’ • First position mean duration: 9 fields; second position mean duration: 22 fields
18 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, p. 213 Handshape and orientation Omission of assimilation segments: L1, M1, L3 Phonological reduction
• Towards the form of a single sign: – One set of handshape specifications (assimilation) (Liddell & Johnson 1986; Sandler 1987, 1989, 1993) – A single movement (omission and reduction of segments) (Sandler 1989) – Reduction of features of M1 (e.g. reduplication) (Liddell & Johnson 1986) – Anticipation of H2 (Klima & Bellugi 1979) Syntactic Categories of ASL lexical compounds
• EAT/FOOD?-NOON ‘lunch’ V-N • BLUE-SPOT ‘bruise’ A-N • FLOWER-GROW ‘plant’ N-V • WRONG-HAPPEN ‘fate’ A-V • FACE-STRONG ‘resemble’ N-A • THINK/MIND?-ALIKE ‘agree’ V-A
21 Morpho-syntactic structure
Compounds: headedness
[+head]: [-head]: Endocentric Exocentric
Right Left coordinate headed headed Morpho-syntactic structure
• ASL (Klima & Bellugi 1979) – Many exocentric compounds – Both right-headed and left-headed endocentric compounds “The linear position of the head is of limited importance in these types of compounds.” (Loos 2009) • ISL (Meir & Sandler 2008) – Many exocentric compounds – Endocentric compounds borrowed from Hebrew are usually left-headed: PARTY^SURPRISE ‘surprise party’ – Verbal compounds are often right-headed: HEART^SUGGEST ‘volunteer’, BREAD^FEED ‘provide for’ Coordinate compounds (‘dvandva’)
• Compound members are of equal rank – Hunter-gatherer, bittersweet • A special type: hyponyms of a superordinate term – Sanskrit ma:ta:ra-pita:ra mother-father ‘parents’ – Sanskrit pa:ņi-pa:dam hand-foot ‘limbs’
Coordinate compounds in ASL
• CAR-PLANE-TRAIN ‘vehicle’ • CLARINET-PIANO-GUITAR ‘musical instrument’ • RING-BRACELET-NECKLACE ‘jewelry’ • CHAIR-TABLE-LAMP ‘furniture’ • KILL-STAB-RAPE ‘crime’ • MOTHER-FATHER-BROTHER-SISTER ‘family’
25 Klima & Bellugi, 1979, pp. 324-235 ASL dvandva compounds are single units
• The movement of each component sign is reduced (compressed) in time, space, and repetition • Pauses between signs are minimal or eliminated • Transitions between signs are minimal
26 ASL dvandva compounds are not fixed
• Different members of a superordinate category may be used: • CLARINET-PIANO-GUITAR or • DRUM-FLUTE-VIOLIN • The order of elements may vary: • RING-BRACELET-NECKLACE-EARRING • EARRINGS-NECKLACE-BRACELET-RING • *RING-BRACELET-NECKLACE-EARRINGS (difficult transitions between signs)
27 Fixed dvandva compounds
• Are few in number • Have two elements: KNIFE^FORK • Have invariable order, i.e., they behave like ‘regular’ compounds
28 ASL dvandva compounds as a construction
• Some ASL signers use productive dvandva compounds more than others • Social class distinctions have been reported • Younger signers use dvandva compounds very little and may consider them to be old fashioned or socially stigmatized
29 Simultaneous compounding
• Each hand produces a different sign, simultaneously – BSL: AIRPLANE^ROCKET = SPACE-SHUTTLE (Sutton-Spence & Woll 1999) TELEPHONE^TYPE = MINICOM (Brennan 1990) • Exceedingly rare Productive compounding
• Is compounding a productive word formation process in a given sign language?
• A study of novel compounding in Israeli Sign Language (5 signers) and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign language (8 signers) (Tkachman & Meir 2015) Task
• Object naming (26 pictures) – all of easily recognizable objects with no established name in the language – therefore their naming is likely to elicit a subordinate category level of description (Rosch 1975), such as a basic-level sign plus some other sign (Newport & Bellugi 1978)
– ISL responses: • CL-SYLINDRICAL+SPRAY+POISON • POISON+SPRAY • RESTROOM+SPRAY • SPRAY+SMELL+RESTROOM
Results
• Form: – In ~70% of the responses, both signs were signed at the same height Results
• Form: – Spread of non- dominant head (in ~80% of the responses with a 2-handed sign)
TREE APPLE ‘apple tree’ Results
• Structure: order of constituents – 43% of all compounds (69% of all genuine compounds, 48.6% overall) are modifier+head
50% 45% 43% 40% 38% 35% 30% 25% 20% 16% 15% 10% 4% 5% 0% mod+head head+modifier head+modifier other (genuine) (genuine) (loan) Conclusions form study
• Formational properties of compounding seem to arise before syntactic structure is conventionalized Modality: Interim summary
• Across sign languages: – Tendency towards single-word properties – Phonological reduction of various types – Order of components seem to vary – Prevalence of exocentric compounds – Simultaneous compounding is very rare • Comparison with spoken languages: – Once we factor out the physical differences caused by the different modality, there is little difference between compounds in sign languages and compounds in spoken languages – Is prevalence of exocentricity modality-related? – Are exocentric compounds more common in newer languages (e.g. pidgins or creoles)?
37 Age: Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL)
Wendy Sandler
Carol Padden
Mark Aronoff
Irit Meir 38
Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language
• Over 130 deaf people in ~4,000 member community (Kisch 2012) • ABSL is currently in its third generation • Different in lexicon and structure from surrounding languages (Sandler et al 2005, Al-Fityani and Padden 2007) • Widely used by deaf and hearing (Kisch 2000, 2012) • Emerged and developed with minimal contact with other languages • Therefore it is the clearest case of the emergence of a language de novo
39 Compounds in a new language (Meir et al 2010)
• When do compounds arise in the development of a language? • How do compounds arise? • How do they get conventionalized? • What kind of structure do they get, and how?
40 Elicitation material: picture naming Compound Elicitation
• Picture naming Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 5 signers 8 signers 10 signers 2 second generation 4 second generation 3 second generation
3 third generation 4 third generation 7 third generation 60 pictures 66 pictures 40 pictures 29 compounds 14 compounds 8 compounds
• Translation of vocabulary items ̶ 1 signer, 218 Hebrew lexemes, 55 compounds 42 Challenges in analyzing compounds
• How can we tell whether a string of words is a compound, a phrase or just a list of words? • In a newly studied language – No data to rely on (e.g. regarding the structure of compounds) – Large degree of variation in the community →Hard to use uniformity as a criterion Criteria for identifying compounds
• Uniform across at least some signers • Share at least two components with some signers • Produced with a fluidity and ease When do compounds arise?
• Only 2 minute recording of a 1st generation signer • Compounds are prevalent in the language of 2nd generation
How do compounds arise?
• Two possible scenarios:
– combining two words
– reduction of longer strings to two-word strings
46 Reduction of longer strings
• When there is no lexical item for a concept, ABSL signers use long string of words related to the concept. • CALENDAR: • TIME+SEE+COUNT-ROWS+WRITE+ TIME+CONTINUE+FLIP+SEE+COUNT-ROWS • WRITE+ROW+MONTH+ROW+WRITE • NUMBERS+ROW+MONTH+ FLAT-ON-WALL+FLIP • FLIP+WRITE+FLIP
47 Reduction of longer strings
• Some degree of conventionalization: fewer lexical items, variation in terms of choice and order.
– STOVE-RANGE: • Lexical choices: COOK, TURN, WIDE-OBJECT, INSERT • Variation: – TURN+COOK+WIDE-OBJECT – TURN+FIRE+4+BURNER+ FIRE – TURN+WIDE-OBJECT – COOK+INSERT – COOK+WIDE-OBJECT
48 Reduction of longer strings
• Very few signs in our data have (relatively) fixed forms (for some signers): – LEMON, KETTLE, TOMATO, EGG
KETTLE
49 Degrees of conventionalization
TEA+RD-OBJECT TEA+RD-OBJECT TEA+RD-OBJECT TEA+RD-OBJECTTEA+RD-OBJECT SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ+SQUEEZEa long string, but composed onlySQUEEZE of RD-OBJ, RED,SLICE+RD-OBJ and SLICE RED+RD-OBJ SLICE+RED SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ WATER+SPOUT SPOUT+RD-OBJECT SPOUT+RD-OBJECT SPOUT+RD-OBJECTWATER+RD-OBJECT RED+RD-OBJ TURN+COOK TURN+B-WIDE TURN+B-WIDE TURN+COOK COOK+TURN GET-ON+BRIDLE+RIDEBRIDLE BRIDLE BRIDLE+RUN RIDE+BRIDLE BRIDLE+RUN BRIDLE BRIDLE+RIDE DATE+TREE DATE+TREE TREE+DATE TREE TREE DRINK(F)+COFFEE COFFEE+CUP(5) DRINK(babyC)+MUG DRINK(F)+CUP(babyC)DRINK(F)(+COFFEE?) PECK+SMALL-RD-OBJ+BREAKPECK+SMALL-RD-OBJWINGS+LAY+RD-OBJ RD-OBJ+CRACK PECK+CRACK ? CRACK CRACK+PECK+SMALL-RD-OBJ B-WIDE+MOVIE B-WIDE+MOVIE MOVIE+B-WIDE MOVIE MOVIE GOAT+COW+SLICE+COOKCOW+KILL GOAT(?)+KILL SLICE+CIR-OBJ 4+ GOAT+KILL COOK-MEAT KILL STIR+SPOON-TO-MOUTHSTIR STIR+LONG-THIN-OBJ SPOON-TO-MOUTHSPOON-TO-MOUTH TREE+(LONG-THIN-OBJ?)TREE+(LONG-THIN-OBJ?)TREE+REC-OBJ TREE+LEAF TREE+LEAF LEAF+WOOD LONG-THIN-OBJ(moving)+LEAF4+ PECK+BOY (2 times) PECK+BOY PECK+BOY+RD-OBJ PECK+BOY PECK WOOD+LEAF PECK+COMB (once) CLICK+PUT-IN-POCKETWRITE+CLICK+WRITECLICK+WRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJTAKE-FROM-POCKET+WRITE+PUT-IN-POCKETWRITE+CLICK+WRITEWRITE+CLICK+WRITECLICK CLICK+WRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJ REC-OBJ+STIR COOK+REC-OBJ+STIRSTIR+REC-OBJ STIR+LONG-THIN-OBJSTIR 4+ 4+ COFFEE+CUP(babyC) DRINK(F)+COFFEEB-TALL+COFFEE WRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJ CLOTHES+DOORS DOOR+CLOTHES+DOORSDOORS DOORS DOORS SQUARE+REMOTE TV+REMOTE PUSH-BUTTONS+REC-OBJ REMOTE TV+REC-OBJ null TV+REMOTE TV+REMOTE(inflected)+REC-OBJ PECK+WINGS(+OVERHEAD)PECK+WINGS(+OVERHEAD)WINGS WINGS WINGS TV+REMOTE REC-OBJ+FRY (2 times?)FRY+SHAKE-IN? CIR-OBJ+HANDLE+FRY+CIR-OBJFRY FRY 4+ SHOES+BABY+CHILD 4+ description BABY+SHOES SHOES+BABY+SHOES??SHOES+BABY SHOES+SMALL CIR-OBJ+HANDLE FRY(handling) SLEEP SLEEP+PILLOW+NECK+SLEEP4+ REC-OBJ+PILLOWPILLOW(arm)+B-WIDEPILLOW(arm) PILLOW(arm) (touches pillow) TIME+CIR-OBJ(vertical)TIME+CIR-OBJ(vertical)TIME+CIR-OBJ(vertical) TIME+CIR-OBJ(vertical)TIME+CIR-OBJ(vertical) COFFEE+DRINK(F)+POURCOFFEE+POUR COFFEE+POUR COFFEE+POUR COFFEE+POUR SLEEP+PULL-UP PULL-UP+SLEEP 4+ PULL-UP+FOLD SLEEP+B-FLAT (BEDSLEEP+B-FLAT rather than BLANKET?)4+ (BED rather than BLANKET?)(??)+FOLD POUR COFFEE+POUR POUR COFFEE+POUR COFFEE+POUR (?) PREPARE-FOOD+EAT+FIRECOOK null 4+ DRINK(F)+COOK FIRE+TURN COOK+TURN+OPENTURN+COOK CLEAN+B-TALL 4+ DROP-IN+TALL DROP-IN+TALL TALL+DROP-IN TURN+COOK FIRE+B-WIDE DROP-IN+DOWN?? INSERT PECK+WOMAN WOMAN+PECK PECK+RD-OBJ PECK+GIRL PECK SHARPEN+WRITE WRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJ+SHARPENWRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJ WRITE+SHARPEN+LONG-THIN-OBJSHARPEN+LONG-THIN-OBJWRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJ+WRITEWRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJWRITE+LONG-THIN-OBJ PECK+WOMAN+RD-OBJ WASH+SHOWER WASH+SHOWER WASH+SHOWER WASH+SHOWERWATER+TALL(+SHOWER) SCREW-IN+LIGHT (something at mouth)+LIGHTSCREW-IN+LIGHT LIGHT null LIGHT+SCREW-INSCREW-IN+LIGHT SCREW-IN+RD-OBJ WASH+B-TALL SCREW-IN+LIGHT SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ- TAIL TAIL TAIL CLAWS+TAIL CLAWS+TAIL CLAWS+TAIL CLAWS CLAWS+TAIL TREE+SQUEEZE TREE+SQUEEZE+RD-OBJ(?)TREE+SQUEEZE TREE SQUEEZE+TREE CLAWS+STING+TAIL WATER+S@mouth+LONG-CIR-OBJ+WRAPPED-UPWATER+SPRAY SHOWER+WRAPPED-UP+(LONG-CIR-OBJ?)WATER+LONG-CIR-OBJ+SPRAYWATER+LONG-CIR-OBJ WATER+LONG-CIR-OBJ TURN+B-WIDE B-WIDE+TURN(+HEAR)TURN+B-WIDE TURN+B-WIDE TURN+B-WIDE TREE+OLIVE TREE+OLIVE OLIVE+TREE OLIVE+TREE OLIVE+TREE CLOTHES+SEW CLOTHES+SEW CLOTHES+SEW SEW+CLOTHES CLOTHES BREAD+PLUG+CLOSEBREAD+CLOSE+PLUGPLUG+FLIP+CLOSE+PLUG 4+(made up of PLUG,OPEN/CLOSE+COOK+BREAD FRY, OPEN/CLOSE, FLIP) Group 2: BREAD+PLUG BREAD+CLOSE B-WIDE B-WIDE B-WIDE+BUILD+B-WIDE BUILD+B-WIDE BUILD+B-WIDE CHILDREN+CLOTHESBABY+CLOTHES BABY+CLOTHES BABY+CLOTHES BABY+CLOTHES BABY+(SUIT?) TABLE+EAT+TABLE FURNITURE+EAT+FURNITUREFURNITURE+EAT+SIT+TABLEFURNITURE+EATCIR-OBJ+FURNITURE FURNITURE+(CIR-OBJ or TABLE) SWEEP+WATER+SWEEPWATER+SWEEP SWEEP+WATER WATER+SWEEP SWEEP Mode: 28.5% TURN+LIGHT+TURN 4+ TURN+LIGHT TURN TURN+LIGHT Group 1: SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SQUEEZE SQUEEZE SQUEEZE SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SLICE+R.OBJ. SQUEEZE TURN+B-WIDE COOK+INSERT TURN+COOK+B-WIDE TURN+B-WIDE TURN+COOK TURN+B-WIDECOOK+B-WIDE 4 TURN+FIRETURN+COOK+B-WIDE Mode: 51.2% SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.RED+RD.OBJ SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ.SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. SQUEEZE+RD.OBJ. CUCMBER CUCMBER CUCMBER+LONG-THIN-OBJ CUCMBER+ALONGATED-OBJCUCMBER CUCMBER+LONG-THIN-OBJCUCUMBER CUCMBER+LONG-THIN-OBJCUCMBER+LONG-THIN-OBJCUCMBER+LONG-THIN-OBJ CUCMBER+LONG-THIN-OBJ PECK+SMALL-RD-OBJPECK+SMALL-RD-OBJCRACK+PECK CRACK PECK+SMALL-RD-OBJPECK+SMALL-RD-OBJPECK? CRACK PECK+SMALL-RD-OBJPECK+SMALL-RD-OBJ PECK? PECK+SMALL-RD-OBJ CRACK TREE+LEAF TREE+LEAF (?) TREE+LEAF LEAF LEAF THROW+FLAT-BLEAF TREE+FALL+LONG-THIN-OBJLEAF+TREE+LEAFTREE+LEAF FALL+LEAF MOVIE+B-WIDE MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE+B-WIDEMOVIE MOVIE+B-WIDEMOVIE MOVIE+B-WIDE HORN+TAIL HORN HORN+TAIL HORN HORN TAIL+HORN HORN BEARD+HORNTAIL+HORNHORN Group 3: Mode: 51.2% 50 Measuring variation
• Mode: the most common value in a set – The percentage of users using the most common form in a set expressing the same notion – High percentage → more uniformity • Number of variants – Mean percentage of variants out of the number of forms – High percentage → less uniformity
Degree of variation
80% 76%
70% 65%
60% 51% 51% 50%
40% 34% Mode 28% 30% Variants
20%
10%
0% Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
• Degrees of variation in ABSL compounds according to two measures: mean values for mode and number of variants in three ABSL groups Degrees of conventionalization
• Higher uniformity score goes hand in hand with: – Phonological reduction – Increased structure
53 Phonological reduction
• Phonological reduction is evidenced in the three most uniform signs: • TOMATO, LEMON, EGG – Smoother transitional movement – Reduced movement of 1st component (TOMATO, LEMON) – Handshape assimilation (EGG)
54 Increased structure
• Two salient structural tendencies (one much stronger than the other): – SASS final compounds – Mod-Head order
55 Increased structure: SASS compounds
Size and shape specifiers: signs expressing the shape of an object
Remote control Pencil TV+FLAT-RECTANGUALR-OBJECT WRITE +LONG-THIN-OBJECT
56 Increased structure: SASS is final
Percentage of SASS-final vs. non-final compounds in ABSL data
Number of SASS-final vs. non-final compounds in ABSL Signers 10%
16 14 12 10 SASS non-final 8 90% SASS-final 6 4 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Signers
57 Increased structure: Mod-Head
Percentage of Mod-Head vs. Head-Mod compounds in ABSL data
5% 4%
Structure of Endocentric Compounds in ABSL Mod-Head Head-Mod 14 HMH 12 MHM 37% 54% MHM 10 HMH 8 Head-Mod 6 Mod-Head 4 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Signers
58 Increased structure
• Signs that got higher scores on the uniformity scale are SASS-final and (almost always) Mod- Head: – SASS-final: LEMON, TOMATO, EGG, KETTLE, CLOCK, RADIO – Mod-Head: BABY-CLOTHES, COFFEE-POT, LIGHT- BULB
59 Other types of compounds
• Sense-sign+sign: – Smart: HEAD+GOOD – Stupid: HEAD+"SO-SO" – Wait: EYE+SOON – Mistake: HEAD+OPPOSITE • Place names: – Jerusalem: PRAY+THERE – Jordan: F-on-forehead+THERE – Lebanon: BEARD+THERE – Palestine: KEFIYYE+THERE
60 Other types of compounds
• Predication relationship: – Beautiful: FACE+GOOD – Empty: NOTHING+AROUND – Expensive: MONEY+A LOT • Verb+argument: – Sell: MONEY+LET-GO – Operation: CUT(on body)+DOCTOR • Others: – How much: 1,2,3,4+Question-word – Travel: CAR+AWAY – Soldier: GUN+POLICE – Iron: TAP-ON+STRONG – Summer: SWEAT+SUN
61 Conclusions
• Conventionalization – a gradual process • Happens first in small sub-domains (SASS compounds, place names) • Conventionalization ↔ word-like properties – Stable structure, more compact phonology
Conclusions
• ABSL shows the beginnings of phenomena that are well established in ASL • ABSL thus provides us with a window on the development of compounding as a phenomenon in a language that is emerging almost before our eyes
63 Thanks
• Participants from Al-Sayyid • Colleagues: Wendy Sandler, Carol Padden, Mark Aronoff, Oksana Tkachman • Shai Davidi, video clips • Douglas McKenney for assistance with coding and analysis of data • Funding: NIH grant #R01 DC 6473–06, ISF grant #553-04
64 References
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