The signs are meaningful: Understanding the linguistics of sign language (Part 3)

I have encountered people who have asked me questions such as “How do you understand the different gestures in sign language?” This question does not come as a surprise to me. I would have asked the same if I were in their “shoes”. In this blogpost, we shall consider the morphology of sign language. Sign languages operate in the visual-gestural modality and the movement of the hands produces meaningful structures. In other words, when the phonological parameters of the signs are altered, the meaning is altered as well.

To read more on the phonology of signs, check out my blog post https://medgronah.blogspot.com/2020/09/on-face-and-body-internal-structure-of.html 

Morphology is the study of the smallest meaningful units in language and of how those meaningful units are used to build new words or signs (1). That is, morphology considers how words are formed, and how languages combine smaller units to build larger meaningful units. In linguistic research, the term morpheme is used to refer to the smallest unit of meaning. For example, the plural morpheme in English mostly expressed as -s changes a word from singular to plural. However, -s cannot stand on it own as a word although it is meaningful. Morphemes that need to be attached to other morphemes to make complete meanings are known as bound morphemes. On the other hand, free morphemes are independent and can occur without the “reliance” on another morpheme. Free and bound morphemes are found in sign languages. For example, in Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL), the agentive marker -er is a bound morpheme that changes a verb to a noun (2).

TEACHER
STUDENT
PERSON

In the examples above, the personification or agentive marker depicted by the second handshape and movement (in TEACHER & STUDENT) is a bound morpheme. The agentive marker is distinctive from the sign PERSON. (We can mention a morphophological change in the free morpheme PERSON in the environment of other verbs). The TEACH->TEACHER example derives nouns from verbs and is an example of a sequential morphological process. The sequential morphological structure of sign language deals with adding an affix to beginning or end of the base sign (3). Simultaneous morphological structure of sign language on the other hand, adds grammatical features by altering the direction, rhythm, or path of the base sign and not by sequentially adding new phonological segment to the word (3). Intensive aspect expressed with classifier predicates in sign language is an example of simultaneous morphological structure. In classifier predicates, the hand configuration represents an independent classifier morpheme, and it attaches to locations and movements that also have morphological status (3). Each hand in the classifiers predicates may function as an independent morpheme and a single classifier may characterize a string of predicates. The example below shows two classifier predicates: entity classifier depicted with the index and middle finger, and handling classifier depicted with the closed hand. The entity classifier shows a two-legged human person in motion and the handling classifier shows a human hand dragging or pulling another entity behind. This example is translated as a man moves along dragging a goat behind him.

TWO-LEGGED-HUMAN-MOVE FORWARD-(WHILE) DRAGS ENTITY


Compounding is another morphological process in sign language that is used to create new words. Compounds in sign language are just like compounds in spoken languages, that is the occurrence of two free morphemes to create a new word. (Some compounds undergo morphonological processes). Examples of compounds in GSL include: AGREE- THINK^SAME; WIFE- FEMALE^MARRY.

                                                AGREE= THINK+SAME      

                                                    WIFE=FEMALE+MARRY

Other morphological processes in sign language include reduplication, numeral incorporation, verb agreement and comparatives. We shall discuss these in subsequent blog posts.


References

1.     1.  Valli, C., Lucas, C., Mulrooney, K. & Villanueva, M., 2011. Linguistics of American sign language: An introduction. 5th Edition ed. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.

2.      2. Edward, M., 2014. The Phonology and the Morphology of the Ghanaian Sign language. Abidjan, Cote d’lvoire, ATELIER International Conference.

3.     3.  Aronoff, M., Meir, I. & Sandler (2005). The paradox of Sign language morphology. Language, p. 301-344.

Location: Brighton, UK

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