Malaia Evie, Borneman Joshua D, Wilbur Ronnie B
Purdue University, USA.
Lang Speech. 2018 Mar;61(1):97-112. doi: 10.1177/0023830917708461. Epub 2017 May 31.
The ability to convey information is a fundamental property of communicative signals. For sign languages, which are overtly produced with multiple, completely visible articulators, the question arises as to how the various channels co-ordinate and interact with each other. We analyze motion capture data of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives, and show that the capacity of information throughput, mathematically defined, is highest on the dominant hand (DH). We further demonstrate that information transfer capacity is also significant for the non-dominant hand (NDH), and the head channel too, as compared to control channels (ankles). We discuss both redundancy and independence in articulator motion in sign language, and argue that the NDH and the head articulators contribute to the overall information transfer capacity, indicating that they are neither completely redundant to, nor completely independent of, the DH.
传达信息的能力是交际信号的一项基本属性。对于手语而言，其通过多个完全可见的发音器官公然做出动作，于是就出现了各种通道如何相互协调与互动的问题。我们分析了美国手语（ASL）叙事的动作捕捉数据，结果表明，从数学角度定义的信息吞吐量在优势手（DH）上最高。我们进一步证明，与控制通道（脚踝）相比，非优势手（NDH）以及头部通道的信息传递能力也很显著。我们讨论了手语发音器官动作中的冗余性和独立性，并认为非优势手和头部发音器官对整体信息传递能力有贡献，这表明它们与优势手既不是完全冗余的，也不是完全独立的。
