Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sign Language Structure'

This thesis concerns the use of sign space in Catalan Sign Language (LSC) at the discourse level. I argue that non-descriptive locations are established in the three spatial planes and I describe the grammatical features contained within them. Spatial locations are morphophonologically marked with an abstract point in space which does not have a specific direction and which is categorically interpreted in the linguistic system. In LSC, the frontal plane is grammatically relevant for specificity marking: lower spatial locations correlate with specificity, whereas upper locations correlate with non-specificity. Moreover, the incorporation of discourse structure into the analysis shows that the establishment of lower spatial locations also denotes discourse prominence. Hence, spatial locations are integrated into the grammar of LSC and they are analysed here with respect to the role they play in the denotation of specificity and discourse structure. The analysis is framed under the formalisation of Discourse Representation Theory, on the basis of a small-scale LSC corpus.<br>Aquesta tesi se centra en l’ús de l’espai en llengua de signes catalana (LSC) a nivell discursiu. Defenso que les localitzacions no descriptives s’estableixen en els tres plans espacials i en descric els trets gramaticals. Les localitzacions espacials es representen morfofonològicament amb un punt abstracte a l’espai que no té una direcció específica en els plans espacials i que s’interpreta categòricament en el sistema lingüístic. En LSC, el pla frontal és gramaticalment important i denota especificitat: les localitzacions baixes correlacionen amb especificitat, mentre que les localitzacions altes correlacionen amb no especificitat. A més, la incorporació de l’estructura del discurs a l’anàlisi demostra que les localitzacions espacials baixes també denoten prominència discursiva. Les localitzacions espacials són, per tant, part de la gramàtica de la LSC i aquí les analitzo en relació al rol que tenen en l’expressió de l’especificitat i l’estructura discursiva. L’anàlisi s’emmarca en la formalització de la Discourse Representation Theory, tot basant-se en les dades d’un corpus en LSC a petita escala.

В докладе проблема социальной природы языка интерпретируется c позиций рассмотрения природы функционирования языкового знака в качестве одного из аспектов социальной деятельности человека. Языковой знак анализируется как некая информационная информационная структура, кодирующая в своей структуре знания, "снятые" с различных концептуальных плоскостей.<br>The paper treats social nature of the language in terms of considering language sign as one of the aspects of person's social activity. Language sign is analysed as an informational structure that contains various knowledge patterns related to different conceptual domains.

This thesis is an investigation of the relation between language and thought in terms of the Saussurean concept of linguistic sign. However, it is not an empirical study of the relation between language and thought and, therefore, not a study of the Whorfian problem of linguistic relativity, but rather a study of how we understand the nature of language and thought such that we think they are related in a certain way. This thesis is an investigation of the “metaphysical” picture that underlies our understanding of the relation between language and thought. In this study, we believe that how we understand the nature of language and thought is implicitly related to how we understand their relation. Therefore, we cannot really deduce the relation between language and thought from our understanding of language and thought independently of how the relation is initially understood. The whole matter is indeed about what is the larger picture within which we understand the nature of language and thought. And, we think the Saussurean concept of linguistic sign, which deals with the problem of the duality of forms and ideas, provides us with such a picture. This is primarily the reason that motivates the present study. In investigating the relation between language and thought from the Saussurean semiological perspective, we will also take into account the problem of the origin of language, which we think, represents another picture of language in that it represents an attempt to study the nature of language from a naturalistic perspective. Therefore, we want to contrast the Saussurean picture of language with this naturalistic picture of language; we want to see how the problem of the origin of language is understood from a semiological perspective. This would allow us to see how language is understood from a synchronic perspective in the Saussurean picture of language. Finally, it is hoped the present study would contribute to our understanding of how language and thought is in fact always inseparable in our conception from a Saussurean perspective, that is, in terms of our existence as speakers.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Linguistics<br>Master<br>Master of Philosophy

The aim of this thesis is to comprehensively describe and evaluate the linguistic work of the German grammarian and teacher Max Wilhelm Götzinger (1799–1856). Götzinger‘s work has been little considered in linguistics and historiography of linguistics apart from some articles mainly on his grammatical theory. The first editions of Anfangsgründe (1825) and Die Deutsche Sprachlehre für Schulen (1827), which up to now have been considered to be lost, could be retrieved and used for this study. Aspects of Götzinger‘s didactics and grammar can still today be re-garded as modern. In many respects his didactic ideas were opposed to the methods of teaching inspired by rationalist grammar and prevailing in the schools of his time. His own method is inductive and the aim of teach-ing was mainly to make pupils familiar with the structure of the German language. Götzinger‘s grammatical system was inspired by his experience as a teacher. The logical judgement and the subject-predicate concepts were replaced by a verb centred concept of syntax and Götzinger‘s system of word classes began with the verb instead of the noun. He did not regard correct thinking, which was the main purpose of rationalist grammar, but communication as the basic aim of the teaching of grammar. His notion of the verb as the centre of the clause has basic features in common with modern dependency theories introduced by Lucien Tesnière. Götzinger performed pioneering work in the field of dialectology and he is understood be the first to include a comprehensive description of the dialects of the German speaking countries Even if there also are good reasons to criticise many aspects of his work, e.g. indistinct terminology, inconsistency in sticking to his theory, and subjectivity in the description of the dialects, Götzinger‘s achieve-ment as to the state of the art of his time and also with regard to modern linguistics must be considered remarkable.

Magister Educationis - MEd<br>In this research paper, guided by Prof Z Groener, I explore the learning barriers experienced by deaf learners in the structured workplace component of a learnership programme. I focus on the learning barriers of deaf learners at work on an Information Technology learnership where the learning environment shapes and are shaped by deaf learners. Twenty deaf learners have entered during 2005 into an Information Technology: Technical Support NQF4 learnership, funded by the Information Systems (IT), Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies Sector Education Training Authority (ISETT Seta). I have determined how deaf learners are faring with work and learning in a technological environment that has experienced rapid and extensive restructuring during the past ten years. The specific difficulties which they experience during their structured workplace component of the learnerships have also been defined. I argue that when deaf learners form part of a community of practice, consisting of both deaf learners and hearing colleagues and who operate in the same area of knowledge and activity, they fare better than those who did not form part of such a community. I conclude this research paper with a link to the situated learning theory where I explain why the learner&rsquo;s situation contributed to their ability to learn.<br>South Africa

Ce travail de thèse représente une tentative de rationalisation du lexique espagnol en accordant la priorité au signifiant. Inspiré notamment de Pierre Guiraud, nous y avons établi à la suite de Maurice Molho, Didier Bottineau, Georges Bohas ou Dennis Philps, que les mots peuvent ne référer que par la sollicitation d’une partie de leur forme, partie détectable structurellement. Nous avons pris en considération l’ensemble des capacités qualitatives (phones, formant, idéophones, graphèmes, segments) et quantitatives (duplications, répétitions, inversions, homophonies / homographies) de la forme des mots. Nous ne nous sommes donc pas limité à un support sémiologique particulier mais avons conçu le lexique, du fait de sa complexité, comme un organisme de signifiants / signifiés où chaque élément peut entrer en compte pour donner lieu à une motivation (interne ou externe). Nous avons nommé cet élément la saillance, car il s’agit d’une unité résultant d’une focalisation, d’un choix formel pour référer à telle ou telle idée. Nous avons également remarqué, notamment dans des cas d’« homonymie », que plusieurs parties pouvaient être sollicitées et que chacune permettait de renvoyer à un sens distinct. La consubstantialité du signe est donc, de notre point de vue, un principe sauf. La « synonymie » ainsi que la « polysémie » ne sont donc pas non plus des notions pertinentes car chaque terme renvoie d’une manière qui lui est propre à un sens donné. Enfin, nous avons proposé une application, avec des critères similaires, à des énoncés dit « poétiques » où plusieurs actualisations parfois insolites apparaissent mais toujours permises par le langage, par le signifiant<br>This thesis represents an attempt of rationalization of the Spanish lexicon giving priority to the signifier. Inspired in particular by Pierre Guiraud, we have established in the wake of Maurice Molho, Didier Bottineau, Georges Bohas or Dennis Philps, that the words can refer by the request of a portion of their shape, detectable structurally. We considered all the qualitative capacities (phones, submorphems, graphemes, segments) and quantitative (duplications, repetitions, reversals, homophonies / homographies) forms of words. We did not thus limited to a particular semiological support but conceived the lexicon, because of its complexity, as an organism of signifiers / signifieds where every element can be important to give rise to a motivation (internal or external). We named this element salience, because it is about a unity which results from a focus, from a formal choice to refer any particular idea. We also noted, especially in cases of "disambiguation", which many parties could be sought and each allowed to refer to a distinct meaning. The consubstantiality of the sign is thus, of our point of view, a pertinent principle. The "synonymy" as well as the "polysemy" are not therefore either relevant notions because every term sends back in a way which is appropriate for its to a given meaning. Finally, we proposed an application, with similar criteria, in "poetics" utterances where several unusual actualizations appear but always permitted by the language, the signifier

La thèse explore l'articulation entre pensée et langage en se fondant sur un parallèle systématique avec la philosophie kantienne. Au sein de la théorie linguistique, la conception du signe comme présentation d'un concept permet d'élaborer une définition réfléchissante de la langue, fondée sur la compétence linguistique individuelle, et non plus déterminante. La langue étant susceptible de rendre compte adéquatement de la pensée des individus, l'échange linguistique permet la discussion des informations véhiculées au sein des communautés de locuteurs qu'ils forment, selon les procédures rhétoriques de l'argumentation fondées sur les prétentions à la validité du discours. Envisagée historiquement comme te travail dialectique d'adéquation de l'intellectuel au sensible effectué en commun par les locuteurs, la langue apparaît poétiquement comme le symbole de la réflexion des locuteurs dans la forme a posteriori de la représentation linguistique<br>The thesis explores the relationship between language and thought on the basis of a systematic parallel with Kantian philosophy. Within linguistic theory, the conception of the sign as a presentation of a concept allows for a reflective (rather than a determinative) definition of language, based on individual language proficiency. Language is likely to reflect adequately the thinking of individuals, the linguistic exchange allows for discussion of the information conveyed in the communities of speakers that they build, in accordance with the rhetorical procedures of argumentation based on the assumption of the validity of discourse. Seen historically as the dialectical adequation of the intellectual to the sensible conducted jointly by speakers, language appears poetically as the symbol of the reflection of the speakers in the a posteriori form of the language representation

This thesis is an investigation of the complex processes and relationships between the physical human performer and the technologically manufactured cyber-human counterpart. I acted as both researcher and the physical human performer, deeply engaged in the moment-to-moment creation of events unfolding within a shared virtual reality environment. As the primary instigator and activator of the cyber-human partner, I maintained a balance between the live and technological performance elements, prioritizing the production of content and meaning. By way of using practice as research, this thesis argues that in considering interactions between cyber-human and human performers, it is crucial to move beyond discussions of technology when considering interactions between cyber-humans and human performers to an analysis of emotional content, the powers of poetic imagery, the trust that is developed through sensory perception and the evocation of complex relationships. A theoretical model is constructed to describe the relationship between a cyber-human and a human performer in the five works created specifically for this thesis, which is not substantially different from that between human performers. Technological exploration allows for the observation and analysis of various relationships, furthering an expanded understanding of ‘movement as content’ beyond the electronic connection. Each of the works created for this research used new and innovative technologies, including virtual reality, multiple interactive systems, six generations of wearable computers, motion capture technology, high-end digital lighting projectors, various projection screens, smart electronically charged fabrics, multiple sensory sensitive devices and intelligent sensory charged alternative performance spaces. They were most often collaboratively created in order to augment all aspects of the performance and create the sense of community found in digital live dance performances/events. These works are identified as one continuous line of energy and discovery, each representing a slight variation on the premise that a working, caring, visceral and poetic content occurs beyond the technological tools. Consequently, a shift in the physical human’s psyche overwhelms the act of performance. Scholarship and reflection on the works have been integral to my creative process throughout. The goals of this thesis, the works created and the resulting methodologies are to investigate performance to heighten the multiple ways we experience and interact with the world. This maximizes connection and results in a highly interactive, improvisational, dynamic, non-linear, immediate, accessible, agential, reciprocal, emotional, visceral and transformative experience without boundaries between the virtual and physical for physical humans, cyborgs and cyber-humans alike.

I propose that the HKSL phrase structure has a head-initial vP, but a head-final TP and NegP given the word order and syntactic positions of various functional elements, modals, auxiliary-like elements and negators. Previous discussion on Continuity-Maturation debate largely focuses on the presence/absence of functional projections in child phrase structure. The fact that functional projections are available at an early age in HKSL suggests that the early phrase structure is not just VP (as suggested by the Small Clause Hypothesis). The data show further that syntactic movement like V-to-v movement, object shift and subject raising in the adult grammar take time to develop. The findings support the Continuity view.<br>The grammatical category VERB in HKSL can be in various forms: lexical verbs and classifier predicates. Lexical verbs have three subtypes: agreement verbs, spatial verbs and plain verbs. These three types of lexical verbs have different properties. Agreement verbs can be marked overtly for verb agreement. Spatial verbs may encode locations of the entities. Plain verbs contrast with agreement verbs in that they are not marked for any agreement morphology or spatial locations. Classifier predicates usually consist of a verb root and classifier handshapes which may refer to the arguments. Given different properties of these different forms, the HKSL verbs are regrouped as plain verbs and non-plain verbs (i.e. agreement verbs, spatial verbs and verb roots of classifier predicates). A development from morphologically simpler verbs to morphologically complex verbs is observed while other factors like knowledge of signing space and input ambiguity also influence the developmental pattern of various kinds of verbs.<br>This thesis examines different forms of VERB and functional elements in a set of longitudinal data of a deaf child named CC in order to address the Continuity-Maturation debate. In particular, I explore the development of various forms of VERB, which lays the foundation of the study of early HKSL phrase structure. The Continuity-Maturation debate is addressed on the basis of presence/absence of a light verb phrase (vP), Tense Phrase (TP) and Negation Phrase (NegP) and syntactic movements like V-to-v movement, object shift and subject raising in early HKSL.<br>Lam, Wai Sze.<br>Adviser: Wai Lan Gladys Tang.<br>Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-01, Section: A, page: 0164.<br>Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 269-279).<br>Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.<br>Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.<br>Abstracts in English and Chinese.

This dissertation investigates whether transitivity distinctions are manifest in the phonetics of linguistic and paralinguistic manual actions, namely lexical verbs and classifier constructions in American Sign Language (ASL) and gestures produced by hearing non-signers without speech (i.e., pantomime). A positive result would indicate that grammatical features are (a) transparent and (b) may thus arise from non-linguistic sources, here the visual-praxic domain. Given previous literature, we predict that transitivity is transparent in pantomime and classifier constructions, but opaque in lexical verbs. <div><br></div><div>We first collected judgments from hearing non-signers who classed pantomimes, classifier constructions, and ASL lexical verbs as unergative, unaccusative, transitive, or ditransitive. We found that non-signers consistently judged items across all three stimulus types, suggesting that there is transitivity-related information in the signed signal. </div><div><br></div><div>We then asked whether non-signers’ judging ability has its roots in a top-down or bottom-up strategy. A top-down strategy might entail guessing the meaning of the sign or pantomime and then using the guessed meaning to assess/guess its transitivity. A bottom-up strategy entails using one or more meaningful phonetic features available in the formation of the signal to judge an item. We predicted that both strategies would be available in classing pantomimes and classifier constructions, but that transitivity information would only be available top-down in lexical verbs, given that the former are argued to be more imagistic generally than lexical verbs. Further, each strategy makes a different prediction with respect to the internal representation xv of signs and pantomimes. The top-down strategy would suggest signs and pantomimes are unanalyzable wholes, whereas the bottom-up strategy would suggest the same are compositional. </div><div><br></div><div>For the top-down analysis, we correlated lexical iconicity score and a measure of the degree to which non-signers ‘agreed’ on the transitivity of an item. We found that lexical iconicity only weakly predicts non-signer judgments of transitivity, on average explaining 10-20% of the variance for each stimulus class. However, we note that this is the only strategy available for lexical verbs. </div><div><br></div><div>For the bottom-up analysis, we annotate our stimuli for phonetic and phonological features known to be relevant to transitivity and/ or event semantics in sign languages. We then apply a text classification model to try to predict transitivity from these features. As expected, our classifiers achieved stably high accuracy for pantomimes and classifier constructions, but only chance accuracy for lexical verbs. </div><div><br></div><div>Taken together, the top-down and bottom-up analyses were able to predict nonsigner transitivity judgments for the pantomimes and classifier constructions, with the bottom-up analysis providing a stronger, more convincing result. For lexical verbs, only the top-down analysis was relevant and it performed weakly, providing little explanatory power. When interpreting these results, we look to the semantics of the stimuli to explain the observed differences between classes: pantomimes and classifier constructions both encode events of motion and manipulation (by human hands), the transitivity of which may be encoded using a limited set of strategies. By contrast, lexical verbs denote a multitude of event types, with properties of those events (and not necessarily their transitivity) being preferentially encoded compared to the encoding of transitivity. That is, the resolution of transitivity is a much more difficult problem when looking at lexical verbs. </div><div><br></div><div>This dissertation contributes to the growing body of literature that appreciates how linguistic and paralinguistic forms may be both (para)linguistic and iconic at the same time. It further helps disentangle at least two different types of iconicities (lexical vs. structural), which may be selectively active in some signs or constructions xvi but not others. We also argue from our results that pantomimes are not holistic units, but instead combine elements of form and meaning in an analogous way to classifier constructions. Finally, this work also contributes to the discussion of how Language could have evolved in the species from a gesture-first perspective: The ‘understanding’ of others’ object-directed (i.e. transitive) manual actions becomes communicative.</div>

<p>In this research paper, guided by Prof Z Groener, I explore the learning barriers experienced by deaf learners in the structured workplace component of a learnership programme. I focus on the learning barriers of deaf learners at work on an Information Technology learnership where the learning environment shapes and are shaped by deaf learners. Twenty deaf learners have entered during 2005 into an Information Technology: Technical Support NQF4 learnership, funded by the Information Systems (IT), Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies Sector Education Training Authority (ISETT Seta). I have determined how deaf learners are faring with work and learning in a technological environment that has experienced rapid and extensive restructuring during the past ten years. The specific difficulties which they experience during their structured workplace component of the learnerships have also been defined. I argue that when deaf learners form part of a community of practice, consisting of both deaf learners and hearing colleagues and who operate in the same area of knowledge and activity, they fare better than those who did not form part of such a community. I conclude this research paper with a link to the situated learning theory where I explain why the learner&rsquo<br>s situation contributed to their ability to learn.</p>

La curiosité des linguistes à l'égard des langues créoles repose sur la façon dont celles-ci ont été créées, puisque ce sont des langues que l'on a vu émerger dans des intervalles de temps très brefs et souvent dans des conditions sociohistoriques très particulières, comme l'esclavage dans les Antilles au XVIIe siècle. Les langues créoles sont le fruit d'un contact de plusieurs langues et elles sont par conséquent dans leur structure le reflet des langues en présence lors de ce contact. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéresserons particulièrement à une de ces langues créoles : le saramaka, une langue créole à base lexicale anglaise et portugaise parlée au Suriname et en Guyane française par environ 30 000 locuteurs. Cette langue sera traitée sous deux angles différents, mais complémentaires. Le premier angle est une description synchronique fine de la structure nominale et de la structure verbale et plus spécifiquement, les catégories dites « fonctionnelles » qui y apparaissent. Le second angle est une recherche approfondie de l'origine et de la création de ces deux structures, en comparaison avec les structures équivalentes dans les langues en présence au moment de sa création. Le cadre théorique dans lequel s'inscrit cette recherche est résolument saussurien, puisqu'il fait appel à la notion du signe linguistique tel que développé par Saussure (1916) comprenant un signifiant (une image acoustique) et un signifié (un concept). Les deux propriétés fondamentales du signe sont son caractère radicalement arbitraire et sa linéarité, imposée par la modalité orale. Nous reprenons les travaux de Bouchard (2002, 2005, à paraître) pour l'aspect combinatoire de ces signes linguistiques, c'est-à-dire pour l'aspect syntaxique de notre cadre théorique. Faire le choix d'un tel cadre théorique pour parler des langues créoles est en soi novateur, puisque beaucoup des recherches actuelles se déroulent au sein du cadre théorique de la grammaire générative. Dans le premier chapitre, nous verrons quels sont les problèmes liés aux hypothèses actuelles sur la genèse des langues créoles, en particulier quand celles-ci s'ancrent dans le cadre théorique de la grammaire générative. Il sera proposé plutôt de prendre comme point de départ à la genèse des langues créoles le fait que celles-ci sont des cas particuliers d'acquisition d'une langue seconde. Les agents de formation d'une langue créole ne recevant pas un enseignement explicite de la langue-cible, le système de signes linguistiques de la langue en cours d'acquisition est purement fondé sur les perceptions que ses apprenants en avaient. Ainsi, les signifiants de la langue-cible étant sonores, donc directement accessibles, ceux-ci ont été relativement bien acquis. Les signifiés de la langue-cible étant moins accessibles, puisqu'il n'y a pas eu d'enseignement explicite de la langue-cible, ceux-ci ont été moins bien acquis et souvent amalgamés avec les signifiés des signes équivalents dans la langue maternelle des apprenants. On a affaire à un mécanisme de transfert négatif dans ce cas, comme cela est abondamment documenté dans le domaine de l'acquisition des langues secondes. Dans le second chapitre, nous présentons dans les grandes lignes les caractéristiques de la langue saramaka, ainsi que la façon dont nous avons recueilli les données et quelle est la méthodologie employée pour les traiter. Les chapitres trois et quatre sont l'application directe du cadre théorique que nous développons dans le premier chapitre. Ils cherchent à comprendre et à expliquer l'origine de la structure nominale et de la structure verbale, des signes qui les composent et de l'ordre de ceux-ci. Nous voyons dans ces chapitres, au fil des démonstrations, que notre cadre théorique basé sur les perceptions des apprenants du système de signes linguistique des langues-cibles explique adéquatement la formation de ces structures. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : saramaccan, signe linguistique, Saussure, langues créoles, anglais, portugais, langues gbe, syntagme nominal, marqueurs de TMA.

Eva Krásová: Émile Benveniste and the role of sens My thesis "Émile Benveniste and the role of sens" is a monographic study of the life work of Émile Benveniste (1902-1977) through the role that the concept of meaning (sens) takes in his thought. I adopt the methodology defined by K. Kœrner as "historiography of language sciences", and thus my perspective on Benveniste's work is mainly chronological and developmental. First part of the thesis concentrates on theoretical foundations of Benveniste's thought in the school of Paris (A. Meillet and M. Bréal), Prague (R. Jakobson and V. Skalička) and Copenhagen (texts around 1939). I point out the concept of language system in diachrony in A. Meillet's thinking and in Prague school and present a hypothesis about the role of Émile Bneveniste in their contact during the International congresses of linguists. This results into a description of the perspective of meaning as it was presented in Benveniste's 1962 lecture "Levels of linguistic analysis". Second part deals with Benveniste's concept linguistics of discours. First chapter explains the main concepts of Benveniste's theory of language: semiotics and semantics or the semiotical and the semantical (le/la sémiotique, sémantique), enunciation (énonciation), appropriation (appropriation) and the theory...