VIDI project funded by the NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Asli Özyürek Postdoctoral researcher: Dr. Pamela Perniss
Project title: Relations between modality and language structure: Insights from comparisons of sign languages and gestures
Project summary: The aim of the project is to investigate the role of the visual and action (gesture) modalities in shaping the linguistic structure of sign languages. These are the natural languages of the Deaf and use the hands, body, face, eye gaze, and mouth as articulators for linguistic expression. In spite of the differences in modality, sign languages share basic linguistic structures with spoken languages. However, recently it has been claimed that some of the core structures of sign languages do not resemble those observed in spoken languages. This is attributed to the fact that the visual-spatial modality, through which sign languages are transmitted affords a greater potential for iconic representations. It is currently debated which structures in sign languages are shaped by linguistic constraints and which by the effects of the visual-spatial modality. The project tackles this question in two sub-projects. It exploits a core property of language that is strongly connected to modality-specific effects, namely establishing and maintaining coreference in discourse. The first subproject compares to unrelated sign languages (i.e. Turkish Sign Language (TID) and German Sign Language (DGS)) to investigate whether similar structures emerge in both languages due to the similarity of modality. The second subproject investigates to what extent structures in sign languages are similar to non-linguistic gestural expressions that accompany spoken languages, but use the same modality for expression as sign languages. Specifically, devices that maintain coreference in each sign language will be compared to gestures accompanying speech in the speaking communities surrounding the two sign languages (i.e. in Turkey and Germany). Both comparisons are necessary to reveal which aspects of sign language expression are attributable to modality-specific properties and which aspects are not. The findings are relevant for our understanding of the fundamental design features of language.