Weak Hand Lowering and Weak Drop: The Influence of Sub-Lexical Iconicity on Sign Language Phonology

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dc.contributor.advisorOrmel, E.A.
dc.contributor.advisorCrasborn, O.A.
dc.contributor.authorVennes, L
dc.date.issued2018-08-30
dc.description.abstractThe influence of iconicity on sign language production has so far mostly focused on iconicity on a holistic sign level. However, Paligot et al. (2016) found that sign production is also phonologically influenced by iconicity on a sub-lexical level. This thesis aims to demonstrate the phonological influence of sub-lexical iconicity by examining the influence of Motivation of Two-Handedness and Motivation of Level on the phonological processes Weak Hand Lowering and Weak Drop. To this end, 39 sign types (i.e. 1030 tokens) were coded for formal aspects and for motivation of two-handedness and level. The distance between the two hands to operationalise Weak Hand Lowering and Weak Drop was measured through superimposed and distancenormalised grids. The measurements were analysed using linear mixed-effects models. The results show that motivation of two-handedness significantly influences both Weak Hand Lowering and Weak Drop. Motivation of level is shown to only significantly influence Weak Hand Lowering. Also, within the motivated level category, metaphoric signs were found to not influence Weak Hand Lowering significantly more than non-metaphoric signs. The findings support the presence of sub-lexical iconicity through the working of semantic implementation rules, as well as the role of iconicity in sign processing. Also, the similarity of influencing factors for reduction patterns in spoken and signed languages suggests that Weak Hand Lowering and Weak Drop are parts of the same reduction continuum, with Weak Drop being the extreme form of Weak Hand Lowering. Keywords: Nederlandse Gebarentaal, Sign Language Phonology, Weak Drop, Weak Hand Lowering, Phonological Reduction, Sub-Lexical Iconicityen_US
dc.file.source5b8917107e641-Ormel_Vennes_MasterThesis_Repository.pdfen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/6544
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.thesis.facultyFaculteit der Letterenen_US
dc.thesis.specialisationLinguistics, general programmeen_US
dc.thesis.studyprogrammeMaster Taalwetenschappen/Linguisticsen_US
dc.thesis.typeMasteren_US
dc.titleWeak Hand Lowering and Weak Drop: The Influence of Sub-Lexical Iconicity on Sign Language Phonologyen_US
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