Phonological Functions of Facial Movements. Evidence from deaf users of German Sign Language.

Autor/in	Elliott, Eeva A.
Titel	Phonological Functions of Facial Movements. Evidence from deaf users of German Sign Language. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Phonologische Funktionen der Gesichtsbewegungen.
Quelle	Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin (2013), XI, 103 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (3) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Diss., 2013.
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie
URN	urn:nbn:de:kobv:188-fudissthesis000000094808-1
Schlagwörter	Deutsch; Fonologie; Gesicht; Bewegung (Motorische); Dissertation; Gebärdensprache; Aufgabe
Abstract	In this dissertation I address the issue of how facial movements are used by deaf signers of German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache; DGS) at the lexical and sub-lexical level. Although it is an empirical fact that signers of various signed languages make facial movements that have scope over only single lexical items, currently there is no consensus on how these movements should be accounted for in linguistic theory, because many of the facial movements occurring at this level do not fit neatly into the preexisting linguistic constructs "phoneme" or "morpheme". The move that is taken by most theorists in order to account for these facial elements is to propose that there are at least two very distinct phenomena that occur at this level each requiring a different model to account for its use. The facial movements that fit well with the widely accepted definition of "morpheme" are dealt with by existing morpho-syntactic theories, the facial movements that fit well with the widely accepted definition of "phoneme" can be dealt with by existing phonological theories, while those that seem to behave a bit like a phoneme and a bit like a morpheme are accounted for with special frameworks or are deemed "extra linguistic", therefore not requiring linguistic explanation at all. Although facial movements with scope over single lexical items vary on the following dimensions: which facial muscles are used; their origin i.e. derived from ambient spoken languages or derived within signed languages, and whether they seem to add semantic information or not, I regard them as essentially the same general phenomenon in contrast to most current accounts. I claim that they are phonological features with some semantic properties. The definition of phoneme then that I adopt is: a phoneme is a unit whose function is to provide distinctive perceptual cues to allow receivers to distinguish between elements in the communicated signal. Whether this unit is associated with a meaning or not does not contradict the claim that it also functions to create perceptually salient oppositions in the communicated signal. In this dissertation I have conducted two studies on two types of facial movements with scope over single lexical items: mouthings and expressions of disgust. In my first study, I applied the claim that mouthings are phonological elements to the issue of how deaf people read German (Elliott, Braun, Kuhlmann, & Jacobs, 2012). In my second study, I attempt to establish whether facial expressions from the domain of emotions are used as phonological elements (Elliott & Jacobs, 2013; Elliott & Jacobs, submitted). (Orig.).
Erfasst von	Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2014/1