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Kearsy Cormier

University College London, Linguistics, Faculty Member

University College London, Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre, Faculty Member

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For more about me, see www.kearsy.com
Phone: +44 (0)207 6748679 (x28679)
Address: University College London
Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre
49 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD

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Papers by Kearsy Cormier

Indicating verbs as typologically unique constructions: Reconsidering verb ‘agreement’ in sign languages (in press)

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier

Glossa

In this paper, we present arguments for an analysis of indicating verbs, building on Liddell (200... more In this paper, we present arguments for an analysis of indicating verbs, building on Liddell (2000), as a typologically unique, unimodal fusion of signs and pointing gestures used for reference tracking. This contrasts with many formalist analyses that assume that directionality in indicating verbs constitutes an agreement marking system. While exploring some of the debate in the literature about these forms, we propose a model of indicating verbs within a Construction Grammar framework that compares them to multimodal constructions in spoken languages. We explain how our model of indicating verbs appear to align with a growing body of research on co-speech gesture and is supported by some recent findings about these verbs from corpus-based studies of sign languages.

Issues in determining phonological structure of sign languages in usage-‐based lexicons: The case of BSL SignBank (under revision)

by Kearsy Cormier and Bencie Woll

Fenlon, Jordan, Kearsy Cormier, Robert Adam & Bencie Woll. under review. Issues in determining ph... more Fenlon, Jordan, Kearsy Cormier, Robert Adam & Bencie Woll. under review. Issues in determining phonological structure of sign languages in usage-based lexicons: The case of BSL SignBank. (submitted 11 October 2016). Check for updates before citing. Abstract: Sign languages have a sublexical level of organisation in which a fixed number of contrastive units combine to form all the signs that make up the core native lexicon of a sign language. Most accounts of sign language phonology have identified these units using a parameter-based approach that acknowledged handshape, location, movement and orientation as significant parameters and/or a featural approach. These aspire to account for all the possible phonological contrasts within a given (or multiple) sign language(s). However, much of this work has been based on signs from relatively small datasets which are not organised on the basis of lexical contrast. Here, we outline an ongoing attempt to identify the minimal features required for an adequate phonological description of a sign language lexicon within a corpus-based lemmatised lexical database of British Sign Language (BSL), issues that arise in doing so, and implications of these issues for phonological theory.

Sign language phonology (2018)

by Diane Brentari and Kearsy Cormier

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2018

Sign language phonology is the abstract grammatical component where primitive structural units ar... more Sign language phonology is the abstract grammatical component where primitive structural units are combined to create an infinite number of meaningful utterances. Although the notion of phonology is traditionally based on sound systems, phonology also includes the equivalent component of the grammar in sign languages, because it is tied to the grammatical organization, and not to particular content. This definition of phonology helps us see that the term covers all phenomena organized by constituents such as the syllable, the phonological word, and the higher-level prosodic units, as well as the structural primitives such as features, timing units, and autosegmental tiers, and it does not matter if the content is vocal or manual. Therefore, the units of sign language phonology and their phonotactics provide opportunities to observe the interaction between phonology and other components of the grammar in a different communication channel, or modality. This comparison allows us to better understand how the modality of a language influences its phonological system.

Archiving large-scale legacy multimedia research data: A case study (2018)

International Journal of Digital Curation, 2018

In this paper we provide a case study of the creation of the DCAL Research Data Archive at Univer... more In this paper we provide a case study of the creation of the DCAL Research Data Archive at University College London. In doing so, we assess the various challenges associated with archiving large-scale legacy multimedia research data, given the lack of literature on archiving such datasets. We address issues such as the anonymisation of video research data, the ethical challenges of managing legacy data and historic consent, ownership considerations, the handling of large-size multimedia data, as well as the complexity of multi-project data from a number of researchers and legacy data from eleven years of research. (Accepted 17 Aug 2017.)

Sociolinguistic Typology and Sign Languages

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier

This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphologic... more This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphological 'complexity' and how this contributes to linguistic diversity, specifically via the typological nature of the sign languages of deaf communities. We sketch how the notion of morphological complexity, as defined by Trudgill (2011), applies to sign languages. Using these criteria, sign languages appear to be languages with low to moderate levels of morphological complexity. This may partly reflect the influence of key social characteristics of communities on the typological nature of languages. Although many deaf communities are relatively small and may involve dense social networks (both social characteristics that Trudgill claimed may lend themselves to morphological 'complexification'), the picture is complicated by the highly variable nature of the sign language acquisition for most deaf people, and the ongoing contact between native signers, hearing non-native signers, and those deaf individuals who only acquire sign languages in later childhood and early adulthood. These are all factors that may work against the emergence of morphological complexification. The relationship between linguistic typology and these key social factors may lead to a better understanding of the nature of sign language grammar. This perspective stands in contrast to other work where sign languages are sometimes presented as having complex morphology despite being young languages (e.g., Aronoff et al., 2005); in some descriptions, the social determinants of morphological complexity have not received much attention, nor has the notion of complexity itself been specifically explored.

Variation and change in English varieties of British Sign Language (2018)

by Kearsy Cormier and Adam Schembri

Sociolinguistics in England, 2018

British Sign Language (BSL) is the language used by the deaf community in the United Kingdom. In ... more British Sign Language (BSL) is the language used by the deaf community in the United Kingdom. In this chapter, we describe sociolinguistic variation and change in BSL varieties in England. This will show how factors that drive sociolinguistic variation and change in both spoken and signed language communities are broadly similar. Social factors include, for example, a signer's age group, region of origin, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status (e.g., .

The phonology of sign languages (2018)

by Kearsy Cormier and Diane Brentari

The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory, 2018

Sociolinguistic variation in the nativisation of BSL fingerspelling (2017)

British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual-gestural language distinct from spoken languages used in ... more British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual-gestural language distinct from spoken languages used in the United Kingdom but in contact with them. One product of this contact is the use of fingerspelling to represent English words via their orthography. Fingerspelled loans can become “nativised”, adapting manual production to conform more closely to the native lexicon’s inventory of phonemic constraints. Much of the previous literature on fingerspelling has focused on one-handed systems but, unlike the majority of sign languages, BSL uses a two-handed manual alphabet. What is the nature of nativisation in BSL, and does it exhibit sociolinguistic variation? We apply a cross-linguistic model of nativisation to BSL Corpus conversation and narrative data (http://bslcorpusproject.org) obtained from 150 signers in 6 UK regions. Mixed effects modelling is employed to determine the influence of social factors. Results show that the participants’ home region is the most significant factor, with London and Birmingham signers significantly favouring use of fully nativised fingerspelled forms. Non-nativised sequences are significantly favoured in signers of increasing age in Glasgow and Belfast. Gender and parental language background are not found to be significant factors in nativisation. The findings also suggest a form of reduction specific to London and Birmingham.

Regional sign language varieties in contact: Investigating patterns of accommodation (2016)

Short-term linguistic accommodation has been observed in a number of spoken language studies. The... more Short-term linguistic accommodation has been observed in a number of spoken language studies. The first of its kind in sign language research, this study aims to investigate the effects of regional varieties in contact and lexical accommodation in British Sign Language (BSL). Twenty-five participants were recruited from Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, and Newcastle and paired with the same conversational partner. Participants completed a “spot-the-difference” task which elicited a considerable amount of contrasting regionally specific sign data in the participant-confederate dyads. Accommodation was observed during the task with younger signers accommodating more than older signers. The results are interpreted with reference to the relationship between language contact and lexical accommodation in BSL, and address how further studies could help us better understand how contact and accommodation contribute to language change more generally.

Perceptual categorization of handling handshapes in British Sign Language (2016)

British Sign Language (BSL) includes partially lexicalized signs that analogically depict the spa... more British Sign Language (BSL) includes partially lexicalized signs that analogically depict the spatial-visual properties of objects – DEPICTING CONSTRUCTIONS (Scott K. Liddell, 2003b). To describe handling or manipulation of objects, signers produce handshapes that represent how the referent’s hand shapes for handling. It remains unclear if handling handshapes depict object size/shape in a categorical or gradient manner. In this study, participants completed handshape identification and discrimination tasks. The aim was to reveal whether deaf BSL signers perceive handling handshapes continuously or categorically and a comparison with hearing non-signers examined whether sign language experience mediates handshape perception. The results showed no differences, regardless of BSL knowledge, in how perceivers categorized dynamically presented handshapes that varied continuously in aperture. Variability of handshape form within category influenced categorization, suggesting that handling handshape perception is mediated by general visual or cognitive processes rather than exclusively by linguistic parsing. An analysis of RTs revealed that variability within a category influenced discrimination in deaf signers, but not in hearing non-signers, in a manner suggesting a graded category structure, with handshape prototype grounding the category. These findings provide much needed evidence about the structure and representation of handling handshapes and highlight the complex relationship between sign language, cognition, and gesture.

Rethinking constructed action (2015)

by Kearsy Cormier and Zed Sevcikova Sehyr

We aim to demonstrate the importance of defining linguistic phenomena by using constructed action... more We aim to demonstrate the importance of defining linguistic phenomena by using constructed action or CA (i.e. a stretch of discourse that represents one role or combination of roles depicting actions, utterances, thought, attitudes and/or feelings of one or more referents) as an example. The problem is that different assumptions about CA have led to some apparent contradictions about the nature of this phenomenon. Based on observations and analyses of the British Sign Language narrative data, we outline criteria and recommendations for defining and analysing CA. We show that, in carefully defining the phenomenon in question and providing criteria for its identification, applying these criteria to usage data leads to emergence of particular types of Constructed Action. We also show how identifying these types can help resolve some of the apparent contradictions in the literature.

Indicating verbs in British Sign Language favour motivated use of space (2015)

by Kearsy Cormier and Adam Schembri

Sign languages have traditionally been described as having a distinction between (1) arbitrary (r... more Sign languages have traditionally been described as having a distinction between (1) arbitrary (referential or syntactic) space, considered to be a purely grammatical use of space in which locations arbitrarily represent concrete or abstract subject and/or object arguments using pronouns or indicating verbs, for example, and (2) motivated (topographic or surrogate) space, involving real-world mapping of locations of concrete referents onto the signing space via classifier constructions. Some linguists have suggested that it may be misleading to see the two uses of space as being completely distinct from one another. In this study, we use conversational data from
the British Sign Language Corpus (www.bslcorpusproject.org) to look at the use of space with modified indicating verbs – specifically the directions in which these verbs are used as well as the co-occurrence of eyegaze shifts and constructed action. Our findings suggest that indicating verbs are frequently produced in conditions that use space in a motivated way and are rarely modified using arbitrary space. This contrasts with previous claims that indicating verbs in BSL prototypically use arbitrary space. We discuss the implications of this for theories about grammaticalisation and the role of gesture in sign languages and for sign language teaching.

Building BSL SignBank: The lemma dilemma revisited (2015)

One key criterion when creating a representation of any lexicon within a dictionary or lexical da... more One key criterion when creating a representation of any lexicon within a dictionary or lexical database is that the lexeme must be clearly distinguished from idiosyncratic or systematically modified variants. However, few researchers have attempted to outline these principles as they apply to sign languages. As a consequence, the vast majority of sign language dictionaries and lexical databases are mixed collections of unidentified phonetic, phonological, morphological, and lexical variants of lexical signs (e.g., Brien 1992) which have not addressed what may be termed as the lemma dilemma. In this paper, we outline the lemmatisation practices used in the creation of BSL SignBank (Fenlon et al. 2014a), a lexical database and dictionary of British Sign Language based on signs identified within the British Sign Language Corpus (http://www.bslcorpusproject.org). We argue that the principles outlined here should be considered in the creation of any sign language lexical database and ultimately any sign language dictionary and reference grammar.

Documentary and corpus approaches to sign language research (2015)

In this chapter, we discuss some key aspects of methodology associated with sign language documen... more In this chapter, we discuss some key aspects of methodology associated with sign language documentation and corpus based approaches to sign language research. We first introduce the field of sign language corpus linguistics, carefully defining the term ‘corpus’ in this context, and discussing the emergence of technology that has made this new approach to sign language research possible. We then discuss specific details of the methodology involved in corpus building, such as the recruitment of participants, the selection of language activities for the corpus, and the set up for filming. We move onto a discussion of annotation for corpora, with a focus on the use of ID glossing. We close with a brief discussion of online archiving and accessibility.

Is BSL changing?

by Rose Stamp, Adam Schembri, and Kearsy Cormier

Pronouns, agreement and classifiers: What sign languages can tell us about linguistic diversity and linguistic universals

The search for linguistic universals (and understanding universals in the face of diversity) is o... more The search for linguistic universals (and understanding universals in the face of diversity) is one
of the key issues in linguistics today. Yet the vast majority of the linguistic research has focused
only on spoken languages. Sign languages constitute an important test case for theories on
universals and diversity, since a language “universal” only deserves this name if it holds both for
signed and spoken languages, and languages in a different modality surely have much to teach us
about the full range of diversity within human language. In this paper I consider three
morphosyntactic phenomena found in sign languages that have traditionally been assumed to be
the same as spoken languages but which, on closer inspection, reveal some fundamental
differences relating to particular affordances of the visual-spatial modality. In order to understand
these differences in more detail, linguists must consider the multimodal nature of human language
(including gesture) rather than just the classic linguistic characteristics which are the exclusive
focus of much work in mainstream approaches to the study of language.

In or out? Spatial scale and enactment in narratives of native and non-native signing deaf children acquiring British Sign Language

Age of sign language acquisition effects have been found at various levels of linguistic structur... more Age of sign language acquisition effects have been found at various levels of linguistic structure, and also in cognitive abilities such as perspective taking. The current study investigates two aspects of perspective taking in BSL narratives by 4 deaf native signing children and 4 non-native signing children ages 8-10, via use of spatial scale – character (large) scale vs. observer (small) scale - and enactment (i.e. constructed action). Results show that all children from both groups use constructed action in character space (i.e. fully “in” the character space); this points to the primacy of enactment in all children early in development. Two deaf children from hearing families used observer scale with constructed action, but no deaf children from deaf families did. Likewise, three deaf children from deaf families used character scale without constructed action, but no deaf children from hearing families did. The differences between the two groups suggest that complex uses of perspective taking require very early exposure to a sign language.

Lexical variation and change in British Sign Language

This paper presents results from a corpus-based study investigating lexical variation in BSL. An ... more This paper presents results from a corpus-based study investigating lexical variation in BSL. An earlier study investigating variation in BSL numeral signs found that younger signers were using a decreasing variety of regionally distinct variants, suggesting that levelling may be taking place. Here, we report findings from a larger investigation looking at regional lexical variants for colours, countries, numbers and UK placenames elicited as part of the BSL Corpus Project. Age, school location and language background were significant predictors of lexical variation, with younger signers using a more levelled variety. This change appears to be happening faster in particular sub-groups of the deaf community (e.g., signers from hearing families). Also, we find that for the names of some UK cities, signers from outside the region use a different sign than those who live in the region.

Using conversational data to determine lexical frequency in British Sign Language: The influence of text type

This paper presents findings from an objective lexical frequency study in British Sign Language (... more This paper presents findings from an objective lexical frequency study in British Sign Language (BSL) based on 24,823 tokens collected as part of the BSL Corpus Project. The BSL study is only the fourth objective frequency study involving sign languages to be reported and is also the first study for any sign language to be based on entirely on spontaneous conversational data. When compared to previous frequency studies (both spoken and signed), some similarities can be observed although differences that may be attributed to text type are also recorded. When compared with subjective frequency ratings collected for BSL, a positive relationship is reported (similar to what has been observed for spoken languages). This is in contrast to a previous study which suggested a much weaker relationship between the two; however, this conclusion was based on a frequency count derived from narratives. These differences highlight the importance of using frequency measures derived from natural and spontaneous data, an opinion that has been emphasised in the spoken language literature.

Point of view in British Sign Language and spoken English narrative discourse: the example of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’

This article discusses how point of view (POV) is expressed in British Sign Language (BSL) and sp... more This article discusses how point of view (POV) is expressed in British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English narrative discourse. Spoken languages can mark changes in POV using strategies such as direct and indirect discourse. Signed languages can mark changes in POV using ‘role shift’, where the signer ‘becomes’ a referent by taking on attributes of that referent, such as facial expression and/or body position. In this study, two native BSL signers and two native British English speakers were asked to tell the story ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’. Data were then compared to see how point of view is expressed and maintained in both languages. Results indicated that the English speakers preferred the narrator’s perspective, whereas the BSL signers preferred a character’s perspective. This suggests that spoken and signed language users may structure stories in different ways. However, some co-speech gestures and facial expressions used in the spoken English stories to denote characters’ thoughts and feelings are remarkable in their resemblance to the hand movements and facial expressions used by the BSL storytellers. This suggests that while approaches to storytelling may differ, spoken and signed languages share some gestural resources which manifest themselves in different ways across different modalities.

Indicating verbs as typologically unique constructions: Reconsidering verb ‘agreement’ in sign languages (in press)

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier

Glossa

In this paper, we present arguments for an analysis of indicating verbs, building on Liddell (200... more In this paper, we present arguments for an analysis of indicating verbs, building on Liddell (2000), as a typologically unique, unimodal fusion of signs and pointing gestures used for reference tracking. This contrasts with many formalist analyses that assume that directionality in indicating verbs constitutes an agreement marking system. While exploring some of the debate in the literature about these forms, we propose a model of indicating verbs within a Construction Grammar framework that compares them to multimodal constructions in spoken languages. We explain how our model of indicating verbs appear to align with a growing body of research on co-speech gesture and is supported by some recent findings about these verbs from corpus-based studies of sign languages.

Issues in determining phonological structure of sign languages in usage-‐based lexicons: The case of BSL SignBank (under revision)

by Kearsy Cormier and Bencie Woll

Fenlon, Jordan, Kearsy Cormier, Robert Adam & Bencie Woll. under review. Issues in determining ph... more Fenlon, Jordan, Kearsy Cormier, Robert Adam & Bencie Woll. under review. Issues in determining phonological structure of sign languages in usage-based lexicons: The case of BSL SignBank. (submitted 11 October 2016). Check for updates before citing. Abstract: Sign languages have a sublexical level of organisation in which a fixed number of contrastive units combine to form all the signs that make up the core native lexicon of a sign language. Most accounts of sign language phonology have identified these units using a parameter-based approach that acknowledged handshape, location, movement and orientation as significant parameters and/or a featural approach. These aspire to account for all the possible phonological contrasts within a given (or multiple) sign language(s). However, much of this work has been based on signs from relatively small datasets which are not organised on the basis of lexical contrast. Here, we outline an ongoing attempt to identify the minimal features required for an adequate phonological description of a sign language lexicon within a corpus-based lemmatised lexical database of British Sign Language (BSL), issues that arise in doing so, and implications of these issues for phonological theory.

Sign language phonology (2018)

by Diane Brentari and Kearsy Cormier

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2018

Sign language phonology is the abstract grammatical component where primitive structural units ar... more Sign language phonology is the abstract grammatical component where primitive structural units are combined to create an infinite number of meaningful utterances. Although the notion of phonology is traditionally based on sound systems, phonology also includes the equivalent component of the grammar in sign languages, because it is tied to the grammatical organization, and not to particular content. This definition of phonology helps us see that the term covers all phenomena organized by constituents such as the syllable, the phonological word, and the higher-level prosodic units, as well as the structural primitives such as features, timing units, and autosegmental tiers, and it does not matter if the content is vocal or manual. Therefore, the units of sign language phonology and their phonotactics provide opportunities to observe the interaction between phonology and other components of the grammar in a different communication channel, or modality. This comparison allows us to better understand how the modality of a language influences its phonological system.

Archiving large-scale legacy multimedia research data: A case study (2018)

International Journal of Digital Curation, 2018

In this paper we provide a case study of the creation of the DCAL Research Data Archive at Univer... more In this paper we provide a case study of the creation of the DCAL Research Data Archive at University College London. In doing so, we assess the various challenges associated with archiving large-scale legacy multimedia research data, given the lack of literature on archiving such datasets. We address issues such as the anonymisation of video research data, the ethical challenges of managing legacy data and historic consent, ownership considerations, the handling of large-size multimedia data, as well as the complexity of multi-project data from a number of researchers and legacy data from eleven years of research. (Accepted 17 Aug 2017.)

Sociolinguistic Typology and Sign Languages

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier

This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphologic... more This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphological 'complexity' and how this contributes to linguistic diversity, specifically via the typological nature of the sign languages of deaf communities. We sketch how the notion of morphological complexity, as defined by Trudgill (2011), applies to sign languages. Using these criteria, sign languages appear to be languages with low to moderate levels of morphological complexity. This may partly reflect the influence of key social characteristics of communities on the typological nature of languages. Although many deaf communities are relatively small and may involve dense social networks (both social characteristics that Trudgill claimed may lend themselves to morphological 'complexification'), the picture is complicated by the highly variable nature of the sign language acquisition for most deaf people, and the ongoing contact between native signers, hearing non-native signers, and those deaf individuals who only acquire sign languages in later childhood and early adulthood. These are all factors that may work against the emergence of morphological complexification. The relationship between linguistic typology and these key social factors may lead to a better understanding of the nature of sign language grammar. This perspective stands in contrast to other work where sign languages are sometimes presented as having complex morphology despite being young languages (e.g., Aronoff et al., 2005); in some descriptions, the social determinants of morphological complexity have not received much attention, nor has the notion of complexity itself been specifically explored.

Variation and change in English varieties of British Sign Language (2018)

by Kearsy Cormier and Adam Schembri

Sociolinguistics in England, 2018

British Sign Language (BSL) is the language used by the deaf community in the United Kingdom. In ... more British Sign Language (BSL) is the language used by the deaf community in the United Kingdom. In this chapter, we describe sociolinguistic variation and change in BSL varieties in England. This will show how factors that drive sociolinguistic variation and change in both spoken and signed language communities are broadly similar. Social factors include, for example, a signer's age group, region of origin, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status (e.g., .

The phonology of sign languages (2018)

by Kearsy Cormier and Diane Brentari

The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory, 2018

Sociolinguistic variation in the nativisation of BSL fingerspelling (2017)

British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual-gestural language distinct from spoken languages used in ... more British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual-gestural language distinct from spoken languages used in the United Kingdom but in contact with them. One product of this contact is the use of fingerspelling to represent English words via their orthography. Fingerspelled loans can become “nativised”, adapting manual production to conform more closely to the native lexicon’s inventory of phonemic constraints. Much of the previous literature on fingerspelling has focused on one-handed systems but, unlike the majority of sign languages, BSL uses a two-handed manual alphabet. What is the nature of nativisation in BSL, and does it exhibit sociolinguistic variation? We apply a cross-linguistic model of nativisation to BSL Corpus conversation and narrative data (http://bslcorpusproject.org) obtained from 150 signers in 6 UK regions. Mixed effects modelling is employed to determine the influence of social factors. Results show that the participants’ home region is the most significant factor, with London and Birmingham signers significantly favouring use of fully nativised fingerspelled forms. Non-nativised sequences are significantly favoured in signers of increasing age in Glasgow and Belfast. Gender and parental language background are not found to be significant factors in nativisation. The findings also suggest a form of reduction specific to London and Birmingham.

Regional sign language varieties in contact: Investigating patterns of accommodation (2016)

Short-term linguistic accommodation has been observed in a number of spoken language studies. The... more Short-term linguistic accommodation has been observed in a number of spoken language studies. The first of its kind in sign language research, this study aims to investigate the effects of regional varieties in contact and lexical accommodation in British Sign Language (BSL). Twenty-five participants were recruited from Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, and Newcastle and paired with the same conversational partner. Participants completed a “spot-the-difference” task which elicited a considerable amount of contrasting regionally specific sign data in the participant-confederate dyads. Accommodation was observed during the task with younger signers accommodating more than older signers. The results are interpreted with reference to the relationship between language contact and lexical accommodation in BSL, and address how further studies could help us better understand how contact and accommodation contribute to language change more generally.

Perceptual categorization of handling handshapes in British Sign Language (2016)

British Sign Language (BSL) includes partially lexicalized signs that analogically depict the spa... more British Sign Language (BSL) includes partially lexicalized signs that analogically depict the spatial-visual properties of objects – DEPICTING CONSTRUCTIONS (Scott K. Liddell, 2003b). To describe handling or manipulation of objects, signers produce handshapes that represent how the referent’s hand shapes for handling. It remains unclear if handling handshapes depict object size/shape in a categorical or gradient manner. In this study, participants completed handshape identification and discrimination tasks. The aim was to reveal whether deaf BSL signers perceive handling handshapes continuously or categorically and a comparison with hearing non-signers examined whether sign language experience mediates handshape perception. The results showed no differences, regardless of BSL knowledge, in how perceivers categorized dynamically presented handshapes that varied continuously in aperture. Variability of handshape form within category influenced categorization, suggesting that handling handshape perception is mediated by general visual or cognitive processes rather than exclusively by linguistic parsing. An analysis of RTs revealed that variability within a category influenced discrimination in deaf signers, but not in hearing non-signers, in a manner suggesting a graded category structure, with handshape prototype grounding the category. These findings provide much needed evidence about the structure and representation of handling handshapes and highlight the complex relationship between sign language, cognition, and gesture.

Rethinking constructed action (2015)

by Kearsy Cormier and Zed Sevcikova Sehyr

We aim to demonstrate the importance of defining linguistic phenomena by using constructed action... more We aim to demonstrate the importance of defining linguistic phenomena by using constructed action or CA (i.e. a stretch of discourse that represents one role or combination of roles depicting actions, utterances, thought, attitudes and/or feelings of one or more referents) as an example. The problem is that different assumptions about CA have led to some apparent contradictions about the nature of this phenomenon. Based on observations and analyses of the British Sign Language narrative data, we outline criteria and recommendations for defining and analysing CA. We show that, in carefully defining the phenomenon in question and providing criteria for its identification, applying these criteria to usage data leads to emergence of particular types of Constructed Action. We also show how identifying these types can help resolve some of the apparent contradictions in the literature.

Indicating verbs in British Sign Language favour motivated use of space (2015)

by Kearsy Cormier and Adam Schembri

Sign languages have traditionally been described as having a distinction between (1) arbitrary (r... more Sign languages have traditionally been described as having a distinction between (1) arbitrary (referential or syntactic) space, considered to be a purely grammatical use of space in which locations arbitrarily represent concrete or abstract subject and/or object arguments using pronouns or indicating verbs, for example, and (2) motivated (topographic or surrogate) space, involving real-world mapping of locations of concrete referents onto the signing space via classifier constructions. Some linguists have suggested that it may be misleading to see the two uses of space as being completely distinct from one another. In this study, we use conversational data from
the British Sign Language Corpus (www.bslcorpusproject.org) to look at the use of space with modified indicating verbs – specifically the directions in which these verbs are used as well as the co-occurrence of eyegaze shifts and constructed action. Our findings suggest that indicating verbs are frequently produced in conditions that use space in a motivated way and are rarely modified using arbitrary space. This contrasts with previous claims that indicating verbs in BSL prototypically use arbitrary space. We discuss the implications of this for theories about grammaticalisation and the role of gesture in sign languages and for sign language teaching.

Building BSL SignBank: The lemma dilemma revisited (2015)

One key criterion when creating a representation of any lexicon within a dictionary or lexical da... more One key criterion when creating a representation of any lexicon within a dictionary or lexical database is that the lexeme must be clearly distinguished from idiosyncratic or systematically modified variants. However, few researchers have attempted to outline these principles as they apply to sign languages. As a consequence, the vast majority of sign language dictionaries and lexical databases are mixed collections of unidentified phonetic, phonological, morphological, and lexical variants of lexical signs (e.g., Brien 1992) which have not addressed what may be termed as the lemma dilemma. In this paper, we outline the lemmatisation practices used in the creation of BSL SignBank (Fenlon et al. 2014a), a lexical database and dictionary of British Sign Language based on signs identified within the British Sign Language Corpus (http://www.bslcorpusproject.org). We argue that the principles outlined here should be considered in the creation of any sign language lexical database and ultimately any sign language dictionary and reference grammar.

Documentary and corpus approaches to sign language research (2015)

In this chapter, we discuss some key aspects of methodology associated with sign language documen... more In this chapter, we discuss some key aspects of methodology associated with sign language documentation and corpus based approaches to sign language research. We first introduce the field of sign language corpus linguistics, carefully defining the term ‘corpus’ in this context, and discussing the emergence of technology that has made this new approach to sign language research possible. We then discuss specific details of the methodology involved in corpus building, such as the recruitment of participants, the selection of language activities for the corpus, and the set up for filming. We move onto a discussion of annotation for corpora, with a focus on the use of ID glossing. We close with a brief discussion of online archiving and accessibility.

Is BSL changing?

by Rose Stamp, Adam Schembri, and Kearsy Cormier

Pronouns, agreement and classifiers: What sign languages can tell us about linguistic diversity and linguistic universals

The search for linguistic universals (and understanding universals in the face of diversity) is o... more The search for linguistic universals (and understanding universals in the face of diversity) is one
of the key issues in linguistics today. Yet the vast majority of the linguistic research has focused
only on spoken languages. Sign languages constitute an important test case for theories on
universals and diversity, since a language “universal” only deserves this name if it holds both for
signed and spoken languages, and languages in a different modality surely have much to teach us
about the full range of diversity within human language. In this paper I consider three
morphosyntactic phenomena found in sign languages that have traditionally been assumed to be
the same as spoken languages but which, on closer inspection, reveal some fundamental
differences relating to particular affordances of the visual-spatial modality. In order to understand
these differences in more detail, linguists must consider the multimodal nature of human language
(including gesture) rather than just the classic linguistic characteristics which are the exclusive
focus of much work in mainstream approaches to the study of language.

In or out? Spatial scale and enactment in narratives of native and non-native signing deaf children acquiring British Sign Language

Age of sign language acquisition effects have been found at various levels of linguistic structur... more Age of sign language acquisition effects have been found at various levels of linguistic structure, and also in cognitive abilities such as perspective taking. The current study investigates two aspects of perspective taking in BSL narratives by 4 deaf native signing children and 4 non-native signing children ages 8-10, via use of spatial scale – character (large) scale vs. observer (small) scale - and enactment (i.e. constructed action). Results show that all children from both groups use constructed action in character space (i.e. fully “in” the character space); this points to the primacy of enactment in all children early in development. Two deaf children from hearing families used observer scale with constructed action, but no deaf children from deaf families did. Likewise, three deaf children from deaf families used character scale without constructed action, but no deaf children from hearing families did. The differences between the two groups suggest that complex uses of perspective taking require very early exposure to a sign language.

Lexical variation and change in British Sign Language

This paper presents results from a corpus-based study investigating lexical variation in BSL. An ... more This paper presents results from a corpus-based study investigating lexical variation in BSL. An earlier study investigating variation in BSL numeral signs found that younger signers were using a decreasing variety of regionally distinct variants, suggesting that levelling may be taking place. Here, we report findings from a larger investigation looking at regional lexical variants for colours, countries, numbers and UK placenames elicited as part of the BSL Corpus Project. Age, school location and language background were significant predictors of lexical variation, with younger signers using a more levelled variety. This change appears to be happening faster in particular sub-groups of the deaf community (e.g., signers from hearing families). Also, we find that for the names of some UK cities, signers from outside the region use a different sign than those who live in the region.

Using conversational data to determine lexical frequency in British Sign Language: The influence of text type

This paper presents findings from an objective lexical frequency study in British Sign Language (... more This paper presents findings from an objective lexical frequency study in British Sign Language (BSL) based on 24,823 tokens collected as part of the BSL Corpus Project. The BSL study is only the fourth objective frequency study involving sign languages to be reported and is also the first study for any sign language to be based on entirely on spontaneous conversational data. When compared to previous frequency studies (both spoken and signed), some similarities can be observed although differences that may be attributed to text type are also recorded. When compared with subjective frequency ratings collected for BSL, a positive relationship is reported (similar to what has been observed for spoken languages). This is in contrast to a previous study which suggested a much weaker relationship between the two; however, this conclusion was based on a frequency count derived from narratives. These differences highlight the importance of using frequency measures derived from natural and spontaneous data, an opinion that has been emphasised in the spoken language literature.

Point of view in British Sign Language and spoken English narrative discourse: the example of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’

This article discusses how point of view (POV) is expressed in British Sign Language (BSL) and sp... more This article discusses how point of view (POV) is expressed in British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English narrative discourse. Spoken languages can mark changes in POV using strategies such as direct and indirect discourse. Signed languages can mark changes in POV using ‘role shift’, where the signer ‘becomes’ a referent by taking on attributes of that referent, such as facial expression and/or body position. In this study, two native BSL signers and two native British English speakers were asked to tell the story ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’. Data were then compared to see how point of view is expressed and maintained in both languages. Results indicated that the English speakers preferred the narrator’s perspective, whereas the BSL signers preferred a character’s perspective. This suggests that spoken and signed language users may structure stories in different ways. However, some co-speech gestures and facial expressions used in the spoken English stories to denote characters’ thoughts and feelings are remarkable in their resemblance to the hand movements and facial expressions used by the BSL storytellers. This suggests that while approaches to storytelling may differ, spoken and signed languages share some gestural resources which manifest themselves in different ways across different modalities.

Variation and change in varieties of British Sign Language in England (accepted). In: Braber, Natalie and Sandra Jansen (eds). Sociolinguistics in England. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

by Adam Schembri, Rose Stamp, and Kearsy Cormier

British Sign Language (BSL) is the language used by the deaf community in the United Kingdom. In ... more British Sign Language (BSL) is the language used by the deaf community in the United Kingdom. In this chapter, we describe sociolinguistic variation and change in BSL varieties in England. This will show how factors that drive sociolinguistic variation and change in both spoken and signed language communities are broadly similar. Social factors include, for example, a signer's age group, region of origin, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status (e.g., .

Sociolinguistic variation and change in sign languages

by Adam Schembri, Della Goswell, Kearsy Cormier, and David McKee

The British Sign Language (BSL) norms for age of acquisition, familiarity, and iconicity

by Adam Schembri, Kearsy Cormier, and Tanya Denmark

Behavior …, Jan 1, 2008

Research on signed languages offers the opportunity to address many important questions about lan... more

Lexical frequency in British Sign Language conversation: A corpus-based approach

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier

Indicating verbs as 'multimodal' constructions

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier

No agreement on agreement: Are we missing the point?

by Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier