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Morphological Properties of Mouthings in Hungarian Sign Language (MJNY)

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Morphological Properties of Mouthings in Hungarian Sign Language (MJNY) Morphological Properties of Mouthings in Hungarian Sign Language (MJNY) A corpus-based study Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades des Doktors der Philosophie bei der Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Hamburg vorgelegt von SZILARD RACZ-ENGELHARDT aus Budapest, Ungarn Hamburg Februar 2016 Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 17.08.2017 Vorsitzender der Prüfungskommission: Prof. Dr. Christian Rathmann Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Christian Rathmann Zweitgutachter: Prof Dr. Penny Boyes Braem i Abstract This dissertation presents the first systematic, empirical investigation of the morphological properties of mouthings in Hungarian Sign Language (MJNY). MJNY, unlike other European sign languages, borrows mouth forms from the surrounding spoken language, Hungarian, which is a Finno-Ugric language with rich inflectional morphology (Kiefer 2000). Based upon informal observations, native signers of MJNY make use of these spoken inflections in mouthings (Rácz 2010a). This doctoral project examines which inflectional categories are exhibited in mouthings. An MJNY video collection of interviews with Hungarian Deaf signers served as the source of the empirical data. I investigated the production of five participants (110 minutes of raw material) in order to find MJNY utterances with potential inflections in mouthings. Transcription was carried out with the annotation tool iLex (Hanke & Storz 2010). Mouthing forms were annotated as spoken Hungarian words. The data analysis shows that the main inflectional categories used by the signers are Person and Number on verbs and nouns; other relevant categories are Case and nominal Number. These findings are interpreted in a language contact framework. The term cross- modal code-mixing is used to refer to mouthings, emphasising that it is a specific language contact phenomenon not described in spoken languages. The dissertation closes with a discussion on a bilingual approach which describes mouthings with Hungarian inflection as a natural part of the dynamic bilingual linguistic repertoire of Hungarian signers. This language production provides a unique window to understand the bilingualism of Deaf signers in Hungary. Key words: mouthings, spoken inflection, language contact, bilingualism ii Acknowledgements This page of the dissertation reveals way more about the process of completing a PhD thesis than the actual written chapters that follow. Because this short message reminds us that any act of human creation is an act of co-creation in nature. Life is the experience of connectedness between people, places and things. I cannot put into words how much I value and adore this Life in me, with me and around me. In this sense, I am truly grateful for all the support from individuals who took part in my reality and accompanied me, enriching my life, and who have contributed to my efforts to finish the present work. I am thankful for my supervisor, Christian Rathmann, for his gentle guidance throughout the process. From the first to the last day of my project, he gave me the space of freedom to think of and choose anything that helped me find good intellectual solutions, as well as emotional balance – both being relevant for a PhD candidate. He also made me aware of scientifically valuable information, introduced me to other fellow linguists and was simply there to answer my questions when I needed it. A special thanks goes to the staff of the Institute of German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf. It was a pleasure for me to work at this great place and interact with all of you. A big thank you especially goes to Thomas Hanke, for your interest in my questions, your patience when listening to me and for providing me with important theoretical and technical advice. A heartfelt thanks goes to Okan Kubus and Dolly Blanck for their special friendship. Through our exchanges about sign linguistics, science in general and through the private conversations with you on the big issues of life, you gave me the opportunity to grow in understanding as a being, a person and a scientist. A beautiful co-creation has already been taking place now for years between my wonderful wife, Anne, my children, Hannah and Emma, my mother, Rita and my grandmother, Margit dedi. You guys deserve a whole book, not just a few lines. So here, I can let the world know that you are amazing! Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to Karoly Csömör, Hajnalka Csernyák, Maria Helga Szabó, Csilla Bartha, Helga Hattyár and all the members of the Deaf community in Hungary with whom I had the fortune to interact. Thank you for your great academic and personal support; without it, this thesis could not have been put together. iii Table of contents Abstract ...................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................. ii List of Tables .......................................................................................... vii List of Figures .......................................................................................... ix 1 Introduction ................................................................................. 1 1.1 The subject matter of the dissertation ..................................................... 1 1.2 Sign language research in Hungary ........................................................ 2 1.3 Research questions and objectives ......................................................... 3 1.4 Spelling conventions .............................................................................. 4 1.5 Structure of the dissertation ................................................................... 5 Part I. Research Background................................................................... 7 2 Mouthings in the Hungarian deaf community ........................... 8 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 8 2.2 The phenomenon of mouthing................................................................ 8 2.3 The language community: a sociolinguistic background ...................... 11 2.3.1 The tradition of oral education and the medical perspective ................. 12 2.3.2 Shift in current political and educational settings ................................. 12 2.3.3 Sociolinguistic diversity....................................................................... 13 2.4 Observations of mouthings in the deaf community ............................... 15 2.4.1 Mouthings reflected in opinions and judgements.................................. 16 2.4.2 Mouthings in dialects and jokes ........................................................... 18 2.4.3 Experience of hearing L2 signers ......................................................... 18 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................. 20 3 Inflectional Morphology: a brief overview of Hungarian and MJNY 21 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 21 3.2 A descriptive morphological framework .............................................. 21 3.3 Applied terminology ............................................................................ 23 3.4 A general typology of inflectional morphology .................................... 24 3.5 Inflectional morphology of Hungarian and MJNY ............................... 26 3.6 Morphological categories in Hungarian and MJNY.............................. 29 3.6.1 Person and Number in Hungarian ........................................................ 29 3.6.1.1 Person and Number on nouns and in noun phrases ........................... 30 3.6.1.2 Person and Number on pronouns and adverbs .................................. 33 Table of contents iv 3.6.1.3 Person and Number on verbs, auxiliaries and infinitives ................... 35 3.6.2 Person and Number in MJNY .............................................................. 40 3.6.2.1 Person and Number on personal pronouns ........................................ 41 3.6.2.2 Person and Number on agreement verbs ........................................... 45 3.6.2.3 Number marking on nouns ............................................................... 49 3.6.2.4 Number marking on classifier constructions ..................................... 50 3.6.3 Categories other than Person and Number ............................................ 51 3.6.3.1 Possession in Hungarian and MJNY ................................................. 51 3.6.3.2 Case in Hungarian ............................................................................ 56 3.6.3.3 Class in MJNY ................................................................................. 57 3.6.3.4 Tense, Mood, Definiteness and Aspect ............................................. 59 3.7 Summary ............................................................................................. 63 4 Literature Review on language contact and mouthings ........ 67 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 67 4.2 Bilingualism and language contact research ......................................... 67 4.3 Language contact in sign-spoken bilingualism ..................................... 70 4.4 Mouth actions ...................................................................................... 75 4.5 Approaches to mouthings
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