A Study of Lexical Variation, Comprehension and Language Attitudes in Deaf Users of Chinese Sign Language (CSL) from Beijing and Shanghai Yunyi Ma UCL Ph.D. in Psychology and Language Science I, Yunyi Ma, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. The ethics for this project have been approved by UCL’s Ethics Committee (Project ID Number: EPI201503). Signed: ii Abstract Regional variation between the Beijing and Shanghai varieties, particularly at the lexical level, has been observed by sign language researchers in China (Fischer & Gong, 2010; Shen, 2008; Yau, 1977). However, few investigations into the variation in Chinese Sign Language (CSL) from a sociolinguistic perspective have previously been undertaken. The current study is the first to systematically study sociolinguistic variation in CSL signers’ production and comprehension of lexical signs as well as their language attitudes. This thesis consists of three studies. The first study investigates the lexical variation between Beijing and Shanghai varieties. Results of analyses show that age, region and semantic category are the factors influencing lexical variation in Beijing and Shanghai signs. To further explore the findings of lexical variation, a lexical recognition task was undertaken with Beijing and Shanghai signers in a second study looking at mutual comprehension of lexical signs used in Beijing and Shanghai varieties. The results demonstrate that Beijing participants were able to understand more Shanghai signs than Shanghai participants could understand Beijing signs. Historical contact is proposed in the study as a possible major cause for the asymmetrical intelligibility between the two varieties. The third study investigated signers’ attitudes towards regional varieties of CSL and Signed Chinese via a questionnaire. The findings demonstrate that older signers tended to have a conservative attitude towards their comprehension of regional signs of CSL, and that participants of both regions tended to ascribe high solidarity to their own varieties and high social status to Signed Chinese. This study has expanded our knowledge of sociolinguistic variation in Beijing and Shanghai signing varieties, and lays the groundwork for a future comprehensive study of the regional varieties in CSL. This study may also serve as a useful reference for official sign language planning in China including such issues as promoting a standardised lexicon across China and offering qualifications for CSL learners and interpreters. iii Acknowledgements During the four years of being a Ph.D. student, I have benefited greatly from a number of key individuals whose help, support, and encouragement were the catalyst for this thesis. I would like to give them my sincere thanks. First and foremost are my supervisors Prof. Bencie Woll and Dr. Kearsy Cormier. They have provided immensely professional and generous advice for my thesis. Bencie, my primary supervisor, has generously provided her own funds to support my data collection in Beijing and Shanghai. She is always willing to counsel and direct me to people and resources from whom and which my research has greatly benefited. I also owe so much to Kearsy, who always offers detailed comments on my work, and never hesitates to show affirmation in my work to keep building my confidence in writing. Although she is my secondary supervisor, the counsel I have received from her is definitely far beyond what a secondary supervisor could normally offer. I am so lucky to have both of them being my supervisors. In short, this thesis owes much to their insightful guidance, enthusiasm in my project, and not least at all, infinite patience with my slow progress over the past few years. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the deaf individuals who participated in the three studies of this thesis and a big thank you to the individuals who have provided crucial help during my trips for data collection in China. Xu Jianping is a responsible and trustworthy deaf friend who not only assisted me to recruit the deaf participants in Shanghai but also introduced to me the researchers and fieldworkers in Beijing Normal University. The fieldworkers in Beijing, Wu Yongsheng and Qiu Bing, made the procedure of data collection very organised, starting from recruiting Beijing deaf participants to sorting the collected documents. My fieldwork went much more smoothly thanks to their professional work ethics. I would also thank Prof. Gu Dingqian and Wei Dan for kindly providing the filming sites in iv Beijing Normal University. I also owe my Hong Kong friend Ella Hoiling Wong an appreciation for her help in reproducing the lexical stimuli in the lexical comprehension task. My appreciation also goes to Prof. Gong Qunhu for sharing with me important reference on sociolinguistic research on CSL and for allowing me to join the weekly sign language seminar held in Fudan University. I would also like to thank the faculty members and students from East China Normal University, my M.A supervisor Prof. Jisheng Zhang for guiding me to the studies of sign linguistics, and my colleague Yanhong Wu for continuously sharing updates on relevant researches going on in China with me. My research has also benefited from Dr. Adam Schembri whose answers to my questions on Rbrul have been essential. I also owe a big thank you to Dr. David McKee for kindly sharing with me his student’s dissertation on HKSL, and to Dr. Bronwen Evans for being the examiner in my upgrade viva. Many of her suggestions in the upgrade viva have laid a solid foundation for the initial start-up of my research. I would also like to sincerely thank Dr. Lisa McEntee- Atalianis and Dr. Junhui Yang who kindly agreed to be the external examiners for my thesis viva. Without their detailed and insightful comments during the process of revision, the thesis would not have been professional and persuasive as it is now. My gratitude also goes to the warm and friendly DCAL staff: to Hannah Philips-Haynes for her help with many administrative issues around DCAL and UCL; to Daniel Diaz, for his kind help with the installation and use of all kinds of software; to Sannah Gulamani for demonstrating the data coding for me; to Dr. Gabrielle Hodge and Dr. Elizabeth Manrique Cordeje for always being nice and supportive; to Heidi Proctor for being a nice officemate and for organising the weekly BSL lunch. I would also like to thank Antonietta Esposito for offering kind help along the four years of my study in UCL. I would also like to thank the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for offering me the scholarship to support my study in London throughout the four years. v Last, but definitely not the least, thanks to my family for their unconditional love and support. Special thanks to my mother Meirong Lin and father Changle Ma who have been supporting me anytime and anywhere unconditionally. Thanks to my sister Yunxin Ma for the emotional support when things did not go well. We have always been the best friends to each other. I would also like to thank my boyfriend Jiachen Zhang who has provided the most crucial support throughout my four years of study in the UK. This thesis would not be possible without him. Pursuing a PhD in UCL was totally beyond my imagination five years ago. Without the help, support and love from these lovely people, this journey would never have come true. vi Impact Statement This research investigated the sign language used by deaf people in China from a sociolinguistic perspective. The use of lexical signs, comprehension of regional signs, and attitudes towards the varieties among the signers were found to vary along social and linguistic factors. It is hoped that the findings obtained from the research will have an impact on linguistic studies of sign languages, language policy and public awareness of the deaf people in China. The study of Chinese Sign Language (CSL) as a language started relatively late compared with work on other sign languages. The current study is the first systematic investigation of sociolinguistic variation of lexical signs in CSL, with data collected from deaf signers in Beijing and Shanghai. The study thus lays the groundwork for future research on a comprehensive study of regional varieties in CSL. The results from this research will be written up for publication, to disseminate both across China and abroad, and to serve as reference materials for teachers in deaf schools, sign language interpreters and sign language researchers. Another benefit arising from the current research is the potential for contributing to language policy making on sign language in China. Until recently, language policies on Chinese Sign Language in China have placed the focus on promoting a standard sign variety, while possibly neglecting the variation in natural signing used within the deaf community. With the increasing amount of research that has been carried out on natural sign languages in recent decades, this tradition is now undergoing some changes. The current study thus can serve as relevant reference for language planning on issues such as implementing a standardised lexicon across China, and the data collected for the study can be shared to CSL learners and sign language interpreters as learning materials. Finally, the research helps promote to the public the language used by the deaf community of China. Deaf people in China are socially marginalised and are seen by many as just disabled individuals. This is reflected by the overall negative attitudes towards deaf people in public. vii This research, which explores the signing used by deaf signers in China, aims to see the deaf community in China as a cultural and linguistic group and hopes to contribute to the public awareness of deaf community in China.