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Contact sign

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Contact Sign is a contact language that arises between a Deaf sign language and a spoken language (or the written or Manually Coded form of the spoken language). Contact languages also arise between different sign languages, although the term pidgin rather than 'Contact Sign' is ususally used to describe such phenomena.

Language contact

Language contact is extremely common in most Deaf communities, as they are almost always located within a dominant spoken language ("Hearing") culture. For example, communication between hearing parents and deaf children, or deaf students and hearing teachers, often results in a signing style that is a "mid-way point" between the signed and the spoken language, or a blend of the two. It can also occur when interpreting from one language to the other, and is sometimes the main form of language used by deaf people who learn a sign language as a second language in adolescence or adulthood. Deaf people may use Contact Signing with Hearing people even when they are fluent signers; this has been observed in deaf parents' communication with their hearing children.

While deaf sign languages are distinct from spoken languages, with a different vocabulary and grammar, a boundary between the two is often hard to draw. A language 'continuum' is often described between signing with a strongly sign-language grammar to signing with a strongly spoken-language grammar, the middle-regions of which are often described as Contact Sign (or Pidgin Sign). In a conversation between a native signer and a second-language learner, both converstaion partners may be signing at different ends of the spectrum. A blend that is often seen is vocabulary from the sign language signed in the word order of the spoken language, with a simplified or reduced grammar typical of contact languages.

Linguistic features of language contact

Ceil Lucas and Clayton Valli (1992) note several differences between a the language contact arising between two sign languages, and the contact phenomena that arise between a signed and a spoken language. When two sign languages meet, the expected contact phenomena occur — lexical borrowing, foreign "accent," interference, code switching, pidgins, creoles, and mixed systems. However, between a sign language and a spoken language, while lexical borrowing and code switching also occur, the interface between the spoken and signed modes produces unique phenomena: fingerspelling, fingerspelling/sign combination, initalisation, CODA-speak, TTY conversation, mouthing and contact signing.

Long-term contact with spoken languages has generated a large influence on the vocabulary of sign languages. Loan translations are common, such as the American Sign Language signs BOY and FRIEND forming a compound meaning "boyfriend", or the Auslan partial-calque DON'T MIND, which involves the sign for the noun MIND combined with an upturned palm, which is a typical Auslan negation. At what point a loan-translation becomes fully acceptable and considered as "native" (rather than Contact Signing) is a matter over which native signers will differ in opinion. A parallel example can be drawn from the English language — over one third of words in an English dictionary are of non-English origin. While most native English speakers would not feel the word "timid" (from Latin) is any less native than "shy" (from Old English), many would still consider the phrase "carte blanche" to be foreign.

Some populations with a high proportion of deaf people have developed sign languages that are used by both hearing and deaf people in the community, such as Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, Yucatec Maya Sign Language, Adamorobe Sign Language and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language. It is unclear what kind of language contact phenomena occur (if any) in such environments.

Pidgin Sign English

The phrase Pidgin Sign English (PSE, sometimes "Pidgin Signed English") is often used to describe the different contact languages that arise between the English language and either British Sign Language, New Zealand Sign Language, Auslan or American Sign Language, but the term is increasingly falling out of favor.

See also

References

  • Ann, J. (1998). Contact between a sign language and a written language: Character signs in Taiwan Sign Language. In C. Lucas (ed.). "Pinky Extension and Eye Gaze: Language Use in Deaf Communities". Washington (DC): Gallaudet University Press.
  • Lucas, Ceil / Valli, Clayton: Language contact in the American deaf community. New York, San Francisco, London : Academic Pr. 1992 - xviii, 161 p.
  • Reilly, Judy S. / McIntire, Marina L.: ASL and Pidgin Sign English: What's the difference? In: "Sign Language Studies" 9: 27 (1980) - pp. 151-192
  • Woodward, James: Some characteristics of Pidgin Sign English. In: "Sign Language Studies" 2: 3 (1973) - pp. 39-46
  • Cokely, Dennis Richard: When is a Pidgin not a Pidgin? An alternate analysis of the ASL-English contact situation. In: "Sign Language Studies" 12: 38 (1983) - pp. 1-24
  • Supalla, T., & Webb, R. (1995). The grammar of international sign: A new look at pidgin languages. In K. Emmorey & J. Reilly (Eds.), Language, gesture and space (pp. 333-352). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
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