The Numeral System of Japanese Sign Language from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective

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The Numeral System of Japanese Sign Language from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective The numeral system of Japanese Sign Language from a cross-linguistic perspective by Keiko Sagara A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire July 2014 Student Declaration I declare that while registered as a candidate for the research degree, I have not been a registered candidate or enrolled student for another award of the University or other academic or professional institution. I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work. Signature of Candidate_____________________________________ Type of Award Master of Philosophy School of Language, Literature and International Studies (SOLLIS) i Abstract This thesis investigates how the Japanese Sign Language (JSL) numeral system can be characterised with respect to aspects of the linguistic structure of JSL numerals at the phonological and morphological levels; to typological comparisons with other sign languages; and, finally, to sociolinguistic variation. Data for JSL were collected, using various elicitation games, from a total of 37 participants from the Kanto and Kansai regions of Japan. Data for other signed languages were taken from the Sign Language Typology Project, based at the University of Central Lancashire and also from various academic sources. The study examines the semantic motivation prevalent in JSL numerals due to influence from the writing system of Japan, Kanji. Three main historical developments affecting JSL numeral signs include increased reliance on Kanji-based representations, a decrease in forms motivated by visual iconicity, and increased standardisation of forms due to a reduction in school-based variants. The analysis makes reference to four groups of sign languages and aims to carry out a comparison of each group with JSL. Group 1 consists of the JSL language family and includes South Korean Sign Language (SKSL) and Taiwan Sign Language (TSL). Group 2 comprises Chinese Sign Language, which shares similarities with JSL by way of the Kanji writing system. Group 3 contains the following urban sign languages: British Sign Language, Czech Sign Language, Ugandan Sign Language, Greek Sign Language, Argentine Sign Language, Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, Indonesian Sign Language, and Turkish Sign Language. Finally, Group 4 includes village sign languages such as Alipur Sign Language, Chican Sign Language and Mardin Sign Language. A higher level of similarity is found across JSL, SKSL and TSL, and the findings suggest considerable borrowing between TSL, SKSL and JSL in the domain of numerals. ii Contents List of figures …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….vi List of tables ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..ix Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………………..x List of sign language abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………….xiii Notational conventions…………………………………………………………………………………………………xiii 1.INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Sign languages ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. The Japanese deaf community ............................................................................................ 2 1.3. Deaf education in Japan ...................................................................................................... 4 1.4. Terminology and JSL vs. Signed Japanese ............................................................................ 7 1.5. Previous research on JSL .................................................................................................... 11 1.6. Variation in JSL ................................................................................................................... 12 1.7. Research question and structure of the thesis .................................................................. 13 2. THE SEMANTIC DOMAIN OF NUMERALS……………………………………………………………………………………15 2.1. Numerals in spoken languages .......................................................................................... 15 2.1.1. Cardinal numerals ..................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2. Ordinal numerals ....................................................................................................... 18 2.1.3. Numeral classifiers .................................................................................................... 19 2.2. Numerals in sign languages ............................................................................................... 20 2.2.1. Previous research on numerals in sign languages ..................................................... 20 2.2.2. Numeral incorporation in sign languages.................................................................. 22 2.2.3. List buoys (enumeration) .......................................................................................... 25 2.3. Summary............................................................................................................................ 26 3. THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES…………………………………………………………………………28 3.1. Spoken language typology and sign language typology .................................................... 28 3.2. Language documentation and field linguistics .................................................................. 31 3.2.1. Documentation ......................................................................................................... 31 3.2.2. Field linguistics .......................................................................................................... 32 3.2.3. Research validity and reliability ................................................................................. 33 3.3. Comparative approach to the data .................................................................................... 34 3.3.1. Grouping of sign languages for comparison with JSL ................................................ 35 3.3.2. Data analysis .............................................................................................................. 37 3.4. Variation within and across sign languages ....................................................................... 38 3.5. Summary............................................................................................................................ 40 4. METHOD……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………41 4.1. JSL data .............................................................................................................................. 41 4.1.1. Participants................................................................................................................ 41 4.1.2. Elicitation activities and spontaneous data ............................................................... 45 4.1.3. Unused data .............................................................................................................. 49 4.1.4. Transcription and analysis ......................................................................................... 49 4.2. Sign Language Typology Project data ................................................................................ 51 4.3. Introspection and data supplementation .......................................................................... 55 4.4. Research ethics .................................................................................................................. 55 4.4.1. Credibility within the deaf community ..................................................................... 56 4.4.2. Consent and confidentiality ...................................................................................... 57 iii 4.4.3. Reciprocation (‘giving back’ to the community) ........................................................ 58 5. OVERVIEW OF LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE OF JSL NUMERALS………………………………………………………..60 5.1. Cardinal numerals .............................................................................................................. 60 5.1.1. ZERO .......................................................................................................................... 60 5.1.2. ONE to NINE .............................................................................................................. 61 5.1.3. TEN ............................................................................................................................ 62 5.1.4. Cardinal numerals above ten .................................................................................... 63 5.2. Ordinal numerals ............................................................................................................... 65 5.3. Fractions ............................................................................................................................ 67 5.4. Regional and age-related variation .................................................................................... 68 5.5. Lexicalisation ..................................................................................................................... 71 5.6. Summary............................................................................................................................ 73 6. THE SEMANTIC MOTIVATIONS OF NUMERAL SIGNS…………………………………………………………………..74
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