Variation in mouthing occurrence in Greek Sign Language (GSL); the case of register and grammatical class

Tsourma, Ioanna (2019). Variation in mouthing occurrence in Greek Sign Language (GSL); the case of register and grammatical class. University of Birmingham. M.A.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the mouthing occurrence rates across different registers (informative and narrative) and grammatical classes in Greek Sign Language (GSL). A general consensus has been reached dividing mouth activity into at least two subcategories of mouth actions: mouth gestures‘and mouthings‘(see edited volume by Boyes Braem & Sutton-Spence, 2001). Data consist of 45‘of video recordings from six native and near-native1 signers, transcribed using a software tool for annotating multimedia video recordings (ELAN). In an effort to gain some control over the influence of individual variation, all six signers have an example of SL production in both registers. A combination of semantic, syntactic and morphological criteria (Schwager & Zeshan, 2008) has been utilized in order to classify all manual signs for their grammatical class, in an effort to study the potential impact of grammatical class on mouthing occurrence. Statistical analysis using a multivariate logistic regression model (Rbrul) showed both factors of register and grammatical class to be significant predictors of mouthing occurrence (p<0.001), results that comply with similar findings from most SLs studied to date (e.g. Sutton- Spence & Day, 2001; Nadolske & Rosenstock, 2007; Johnston et al., 2015). During the course of this study, I succeeded in identifying specific patterns of mouthing occurrence, thus gaining a better understanding of the way mouthings behave during sign language production.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.A.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.A.

Supervisor(s):