Brentari Diane, Di Renzo Alessio, Keane Jonathan, Volterra Virginia
Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago.
Top Cogn Sci. 2015 Jan;7(1):95-123. doi: 10.1111/tops.12123. Epub 2014 Dec 22.
In this paper the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic bases for a pattern of conventionalization of two types of iconic handshapes are described. Work on sign languages has shown that handling handshapes (H-HSs: those that represent how objects are handled or manipulated) and object handshapes (O-HSs: those that represent the class, size, or shape of objects) express an agentive/non-agentive semantic distinction in many sign languages. H-HSs are used in agentive event descriptions and O-HSs are used in non-agentive event descriptions. In this work, American Sign Language (ASL) and Italian Sign Language (LIS) productions are compared (adults and children) as well as the corresponding groups of gesturers in each country using "silent gesture." While the gesture groups, in general, did not employ an H-HS/O-HS distinction, all participants (signers and gesturers) used iconic handshapes (H-HSs and O-HSs together) more often in agentive than in no-agent event descriptions; moreover, none of the subjects produced an opposite pattern than the expected one (i.e., H-HSs associated with no-agent descriptions and O-HSs associated with agentive ones). These effects are argued to be grounded in cognition. In addition, some individual gesturers were observed to produce the H-HS/O-HS opposition for agentive and non-agentive event descriptions-that is, more Italian than American adult gesturers. This effect is argued to be grounded in culture. Finally, the agentive/non-agentive handshape opposition is confirmed for signers of ASL and LIS, but previously unreported cross-linguistic differences were also found across both adult and child sign groups. It is, therefore, concluded that cognitive, cultural, and linguistic factors contribute to the conventionalization of this distinction of handshape type.
本文描述了两种标志性手型的常规化模式的认知、文化和语言基础。手语研究表明，操作手型（H-HS：表示如何操作或操纵物体的手型）和物体手型（O-HS：表示物体的类别、大小或形状的手型）在许多手语中表达了施事/非施事语义区别。H-HS用于施事事件描述，O-HS用于非施事事件描述。在这项研究中，对美国手语（ASL）和意大利手语（LIS）的产出（成人和儿童）以及每个国家使用“无声手势”的相应手势者群体进行了比较。虽然手势者群体总体上没有采用H-HS/O-HS区别，但所有参与者（手语使用者和手势者）在施事事件描述中比在非施事事件描述中更频繁地使用标志性手型（H-HS和O-HS一起）；此外，没有一个受试者产生与预期相反的模式（即H-HS与非施事描述相关，O-HS与施事描述相关）。这些影响被认为是基于认知的。此外，观察到一些个体手势者在施事和非施事事件描述中产生了H-HS/O-HS对立——也就是说，意大利成年手势者比美国成年手势者更多。这种影响被认为是基于文化的。最后，ASL和LIS的手语使用者中施事/非施事手型对立得到了证实，但在成人和儿童手语使用者群体中也发现了以前未报告的跨语言差异。因此，得出结论，认知、文化和语言因素促成了这种手型类型区别的常规化。
