Cylinders, planes, lines and points: Suggestions for a new conception of the handshape parameter in sign languages

2003 Linguistics in the Netherlands  
The phonological specification of lexical items in sign languages has centered around different properties of the whole hand. Its shape, orientation and location are specified for each sign, while changes in these properties result in movement. This paper contributes evidence for the claim that the phonologically specified articulator in sign languages is not always the hand as a whole. Rather, the articulator is argued to consist of a more abstract perceptual specification, which is typically
more » ... rticulated by the fingers. The evidence consists of the phonetic use of fingers that are flexed to different degrees for the purpose of articulating phonological specifications that do not refer to the fingers (i.e. are not articulations of handshape features). A set of perceptual categories is put forward which consists of zero-, one-, two-and three-dimensional objects, which can be seen as a first step away from the central role of the hand in all phonological descriptions and analyses since Stokoe (1960). The phonological specification of handshape Handshapes are traditionally characterized by specifying the selected fingers and their position. The selected fingers can for example be the index finger, the thumb, the pinky, the thumb and index, or all four fingers (excluding the thumb). The finger position can be extended, bent, or clawed (see images below, in which the selected finger is the index). 1 Crasborn & van der Kooij (2003) argue that the MCP joints of the fingers are not phonologically specified. Data to support the argument include the variation between 'straight' and 'bent' that was found, among other things, to correlate to specific combinations of location and orientation values. All positions between −15
doi:10.1075/avt.20.06cra fatcat:vcbsf556bjgohdsrdusmrtpi5e