Phonological similarity in American Sign Language

Abstract

The studies reported here investigate deaf and hearing subjects' ratings of American Sign Language (ASL) signs to assess whether linguistic experience shapes judgements of sign similarity. Sign language stimuli were constructed in such a way as to vary the formational similarity of the signs along well-accepted 'phonological' parameters. Deaf subjects were native and nonnative users of ASL, whereas hearing subjects were sign-nä L ve. In Study 1, subjects were asked to choose from signs that shared different combinations of two formational parameters with the target (movement + location, movement + handshape, or location + handshape). In Study 2, participants chose from signs that shared only one parameter with the target (movement, location, or handshape). Our findings reveal that all subjects, regardless of exposure to ASL, categorise signs that share movement and location (and differ by handshape) as highly similar (Study 1). However, examination of additional parameter contrasts reveals that varying degrees of linguistic knowledge of the deaf signers influenced their similarity judgements (Study 2). Our findings are consistent with linguistic theories that posit movement and location as core structural elements of syllable structure in ASL. The pattern of similarity judgements of the deaf subjects who learned ASL later in life reflects their unique familiarity with the language.