The (non-)random distribution of formational parameters in the established lexicon of Israeli Sign Language (ISL)
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Orit Fuks
Orit Fuks (b. 1966) is head of the Special Education program at Kaye College 〈ofuks@zahav.net.il〉. Her research interests include Sign Language linguistics, gestures, and Sign Language acquisition. Her publications include ``The signs B- and B-bent in Israeli Sign Language according to the theory of phonology as human behavior'' (with Y. Tobin, 2008); ``The status of movement in the semiotic phonology of Israeli Sign Language'' (2009); ``Struggle and compromise between the striving for transparency and the tendency for ease of performance in the semiotic phonology of Israeli Sign Language'' (with Y. Tobin, 2009); ``The semiotic notion of gesture in Israeli Sign Language'' (with Y. Tobin, 2009) and ``Gradient and categorically: Handshape's two semiotic dimensions in Israeli Sign Language discourse'' (2014).
Abstract
The study questions the prevailing opinion that lexemes are the only relevant units conveying meaning in signed language lexicons. Content analysis performed on 560 entries taken randomly from Israeli sign language (ISL) show that the distribution of the formational parameters of the lexical forms is motivated in the core-lexicon by cognitive-perceptual features triggering lexical paradigms: hence, basic units are actually basic signs. The findings thus reject the separation of semantics and phonology in ISL. They suggest that invariant meanings motivate signals in all language and discourse contexts and deepen understanding of the role of iconicity in signed languages.
About the author
Orit Fuks (b. 1966) is head of the Special Education program at Kaye College 〈ofuks@zahav.net.il〉. Her research interests include Sign Language linguistics, gestures, and Sign Language acquisition. Her publications include ``The signs B- and B-bent in Israeli Sign Language according to the theory of phonology as human behavior'' (with Y. Tobin, 2008); ``The status of movement in the semiotic phonology of Israeli Sign Language'' (2009); ``Struggle and compromise between the striving for transparency and the tendency for ease of performance in the semiotic phonology of Israeli Sign Language'' (with Y. Tobin, 2009); ``The semiotic notion of gesture in Israeli Sign Language'' (with Y. Tobin, 2009) and ``Gradient and categorically: Handshape's two semiotic dimensions in Israeli Sign Language discourse'' (2014).
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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- The (non-)random distribution of formational parameters in the established lexicon of Israeli Sign Language (ISL)
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- A life for images: Homage to Omar Calabrese
- Semiotic entanglement: The concepts of environment, Umwelt, and Lebenswelt in semiotic perspective
- Passage à l'écrit et production du sensfictionnel : Deux cas du berbère
- The role of symbolism in adolescent gang membership: Results of a pilot study
- What can a philosophy and ethics of communication look like in the context of documentary filmmaking?
- Micropolitics: Signs of interpersonal hierarchy and solidarity in everyday conversation
- Boris Uspenskij and the semiotics of communication: An essay and an interview
- The (non-)random distribution of formational parameters in the established lexicon of Israeli Sign Language (ISL)
- Consumer satisfaction and confirmation of habits of comprehension: The effect of inductive print advertisements – Peircean comments
- Hegemonic signification from perspective of visual rhetoric
- Measuring the luxurious in advertisements: On the popularization of the luxury perfume market
- Environmental issues in unconventional social advertising: A semiotic perspective
- Jim and Bonnie's telephone conversation revisited: A meaning-based approach to talk in interactive events
- Political semiotics of national campaign posters and pictorial representation: Thailand's 2011 general elections
