Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185 Rome, RM, Italy; Radboud University, Centre for Language Studies, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Radboud University, Centre for Language Studies, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Cognition. 2020 Jul;200:104246. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104246. Epub 2020 Mar 18.
A fundamental assumption about language is that, regardless of language modality, it faces the linearization problem, i.e., an event that occurs simultaneously in the world has to be split in language to be organized on a temporal scale. However, the visual modality of signed languages allows its users not only to express meaning in a linear manner but also to use iconicity and multiple articulators together to encode information simultaneously. Accordingly, in cases when it is necessary to encode informatively rich events, signers can take advantage of simultaneous encoding in order to represent information about different referents and their actions simultaneously. This in turn would lead to more iconic and direct representation. Up to now, there has been no experimental study focusing on simultaneous encoding of information in signed languages and its possible advantage for efficient communication. In the present study, we assessed how many information units can be encoded simultaneously in Italian Sign Language (LIS) and whether the amount of simultaneously encoded information varies based on the amount of information that is required to be expressed. Twenty-three deaf adults participated in a director-matcher game in which they described 30 images of events that varied in amount of information they contained. Results revealed that as the information that had to be encoded increased, signers also increased use of multiple articulators to encode different information (i.e., kinematic simultaneity) and density of simultaneously encoded information in their production. Present findings show how the fundamental properties of signed languages, i.e., iconicity and simultaneity, are used for the purpose of efficient information encoding in Italian Sign Language (LIS).
语言的一个基本假设是，无论语言模态如何，它都面临线性化问题，即世界上同时发生的事件必须在语言中分割，以便在时间尺度上进行组织。然而，手语的视觉模态不仅允许其使用者以线性方式表达意义，还允许使用者同时使用象似性和多个发音器官来同时编码信息。因此，在需要编码信息丰富的事件时，手语使用者可以利用同时编码来同时表示不同的指涉物及其动作的信息。这反过来又会导致更具象似性和直接的表达。到目前为止，还没有专门研究手语中信息的同时编码及其对高效交流的可能优势的实验研究。在本研究中，我们评估了在意大利手语（LIS）中可以同时编码多少个信息单位，以及同时编码的信息量是否会根据需要表达的信息量而变化。23 名聋人成年人参与了一个导演-匹配游戏，在游戏中他们描述了 30 个包含不同信息量的事件的图片。结果表明，随着需要编码的信息量的增加，手语使用者也增加了使用多个发音器官来同时编码不同信息（即运动同时性）和编码信息的密度。本研究结果表明，手语的基本属性，即象似性和同时性，如何被用于意大利手语（LIS）中的高效信息编码。
