Intuitions of native Japanese Sign Language signers onmouthing words with multiple pronunciations

Abstract

Mouthings in signed languages have traditionally been understood as derived from spokenlanguages, and Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is no exception. However, Bauer andKyuseva (2022) has suggested that it is also a written language-contact phenomenon, astheir Russian Sign Language mouthing study shows that RSL signers mouth shapes thatpeople using spoken Russian would not. This study focuses on Japanese Sign Languageuser’s mouthing patterns when producing a word that has multiple possible mouthings.Spoken Japanese have multiple readings for the same logographic character, kanji, someJapanese-derived (kun-yomi), and some Chinese-derived (on-yomi). Fluent JSL signerswere asked to produce JSL signs for two sets: one for concepts with kun-yomi readingsin spoken language, and for objects ordinarily expressed with two or more kanji with onyomireadings. The findings show that JSL signers overwhelmingly use kun-yomi in theirmouthings, even for words read in on-yomi in spoken Japanese. In sum, this paper corroboratesBauer and Kyuseva’s finding that mouthings are not necessarily a completelyspoken language-contact phenomenon.