Abstract

Tactile sign languages used by Deafblind signers are most often acquired by signers competent in a visual sign language who can no longer rely on the grammatical system of the visual language as it is, since some of its features are lost due to the loss of vision. A natural question is which repair strategies are adopted to compensate for the loss of the grammatical features of the visual language that can no longer be perceived. We argue that the transformation of LIS (Italian Sign Language) into tactile Italian Sign Language (LISt) is constrained by grammatical principles, rather than reflecting communication strategies that in principle might compensate for the visual loss equally well. Certain innovations are introduced to carry over the grammatical features of LIS to LISt. Even when LISt undergoes processes that make it diverge from LIS, these processes are attested in other natural languages. For example, among the innovations unconsciously introduced by LISt signers we found an instance of cross-modal grammaticalization. Our research suggests that tactile languages have the potential of becoming complete grammatical systems, at least when they build on previous knowledge of a visual sign language.

Highlights

  • This paper focuses on tactile Italian Sign Language (LISt), the linguistic system used by the community of Italian Deafblind signers.1 LISt, as other tactile sign languages, is no natural language in the ordinary sense

  • One possibility we would like to suggest is that these factors we considered as driving the modifications of pointing signs by Deafblind signers are both at work, namely that the innovative use of pointing signs by LISt signers is the result of a complex interplay of perceptual factors as well as grammatical factors

  • Our study focused on the strategies that, in switching to the tactile modality, Deafblind signers adopt to compensate for those grammatical features of the visual sign language that can no longer be perceived

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Summary

Introduction

This paper focuses on tactile Italian Sign Language (LISt), the linguistic system used by the community of Italian Deafblind signers. LISt, as other tactile sign languages, is no natural language in the ordinary sense. This paper focuses on tactile Italian Sign Language (LISt), the linguistic system used by the community of Italian Deafblind signers.. We will see cases where a communicative device that has been invented by interpreters because it seemed very effective is never used by Deafblind people, who use an alternative strategy which is not present in LIS, but is attested in other sign and spoken languages. · Tracking method: the Deafblind person who still has residual vision holds the wrists of the interlocutor in order to maintain the signs within the visual field and receive information from the interlocutor’s movement. By this technique, the Deafblind person gets used to use sign language in a tactile mode. This work can be done only by the very few people who are both professional LISt interpreters and trained annotators

Elicitation techniques
From LIS to LISt
Change in pointing signs
Cross-modal grammaticalization
A fully-fledged language?
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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