Discussion Post #4- Due by 5pm on Sunday, September 27

At first, I wasn’t quite sure how phonetics takes place in American Sign Language. Prior to this reading, I would’ve just assumed phonology and phonetics don't have much of a role in sign language due to how it is not a "spoken language". In regards to the sounds that are made sometimes, from my experience, the sounds differ if someone is born deaf vs became deaf or hard of hearing later on in life regardless if they are both speaking the same sign language. So, I spent some time watching videos and reading materials that went through American Sign Language phonology and phonetic details.

The video that I found to be most helpful in understanding this was ASL Linguistic’s “Sign Language Phonology” video on YouTube. In this video, the instructor discusses how principles applied in spoken languages can also be seen in sign languages. In particular, the viewpoints of Stokoe and other linguists are addressed. I thought that it was beneficial seeing how linguistics developed a model that makes a connection between the structures of sign and spoken languages.

Similarly to how the words in spoken languages can be broken down into syllables and then eventually sounds, words in sign languages also have a similar pattern. According to Liddell and Johnson, most words in sign language have a “hold, movement, hold” sequence. This allows for signs to be broken down into parts. Based on this video, each individual segment in an ASL sign can be analyzed based on the handshakes, palm orientations, and mouth movement similarly to how words in English can be analyzed based on their sounds. That being said, I think the best way for me to gain a greater understanding of the different segments of signs is to continue exposing myself to new vocabulary while also taking more time to make phonetic connections to the signs that I am learning. Prior to this reading, I didn't think to look more into why sign handshape and movement matters. In the past, Reba has corrected me for mistakes that would seem simple, but do make a significant difference (signing favorite instead of color). I appreciate how I am corrected on the spot for phonetic mistakes. Now that I know more about why phonetics matters in ASL, I hope to learn more specifics about handshapes and movements.

I found these resources to be most helpful in my understanding of how phonology and phonetics play a role in American Sign Language.

Source 1: ASL Linguistic's "Sign Language Phonology"
Source 2: Sign Language Phonology
Source 3: Sign Lowering and Phonetic Reduction in American Sign Language

Note: In the above image that is found at source 2, the signs given are BSL, not ASL. However, I thought this was a great example of how important the parameters of signs are and how handshape, location, and movement have a crucial influence on the meaning behind a sign.

One of my favorite things about Indonesian is that there is no importance of stress of the language. An Indonesian word can be stressed in many different ways and still mean the same thing. Similarly, there is no difference in tone of the word or sound to change the meaning. However, Indonesian locals tend to have a rising pitch in their phrases, even if the sentence is not a question. I have been trying to incorporate this into the way I speak Indonesian, which is made easier by the fact that most of my sentences are spoken which a high level of uncertainty!

The Indonesian ‘k’, particularly when at the end of a word (for example, tidak, or not), is slightly different from the English k. Although it is still a stop, it occurs more in the glottis than the mouth, and is near voiceless. If I have understood this correctly, it is similar to the German voiceless velar fricative of ‘ch.’ It is difficult for me to understand this word’s exact pronunciation over zoom, unfortunately. When Farida pronounces the word, it sounds like ti-dɑ (according to International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA) over zoom audio. However, when I repeat that (or say the word like ti-dak), she corrects me, so I think there is some type of fricative at the end of the word that is not in English and not audible over zoom. My best guess is that it is pronounced like ti-dax, ti-daɣ, or ti-daχ. Although I understand the location of where all these sounds come from and how they are different, to be entirely honest they all sound exactly the same to me.

There are also a lot of ‘ung’ words in Indonesian that are located in the glottis, rather than the nasal area like many English ‘n’ sounds. The word datang, or to come, is a perfect example of this. According the the IPA, it is spelled like this: dɑ-tɑɴ. Fortunately, my practice with some of the glottal sounds in Italian facilitates my pronunciation of this common sound in Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia also has long vowels, such as in ‘maaf’ or sorry. This is pronounced like mɑ-ɑf in the IPA.

There are also retroflex taps or trills in Bahasa Indonesia, shown by the letter r. For example, the beginning of the word rumah, or ‘house’, is pronounced by flicking the tip of the tongue against the back roof of the mouth (behind the alveolar ridge), verging into a trill. The word rumah can be written in IPA as rɵ-mɑ. I particularly enjoy these sounds in Indonesian, which I learned from Spanish and Italian. Trilling my tongue is fun, and I appreciate the casual frequency that Bahasa Indonesia uses this sound.

Fortunately, there are no velar fricatives, voiceless uvular stops, nor fricatives in Indonesian. These sounds are very difficult for me to pronounce, as there’s nothing similar in the English language. I have struggled in French and Greek to pronounce the ‘X’ sound in the back of the throat, and still haven’t gotten it down.

Replies

Faith Pinckney September 27, 2020 at 3:55pm
At first, I wasn’t quite sure how phonetics takes place in American Sign Language. Prior to this reading, I would’ve just assumed phonology and phonetics don't have much of a role in sign language due to how it is not a "spoken language". In regards to the sounds that are made sometimes, from my experience, the sounds differ if someone is born deaf vs became deaf or hard of hearing later on in life regardless if they are both speaking the same sign language. So, I spent some time watching videos and reading materials that went through American Sign Language phonology and phonetic details.

The video that I found to be most helpful in understanding this was ASL Linguistic’s “Sign Language Phonology” video on YouTube. In this video, the instructor discusses how principles applied in spoken languages can also be seen in sign languages. In particular, the viewpoints of Stokoe and other linguists are addressed. I thought that it was beneficial seeing how linguistics developed a model that makes a connection between the structures of sign and spoken languages.

Similarly to how the words in spoken languages can be broken down into syllables and then eventually sounds, words in sign languages also have a similar pattern. According to Liddell and Johnson, most words in sign language have a “hold, movement, hold” sequence. This allows for signs to be broken down into parts. Based on this video, each individual segment in an ASL sign can be analyzed based on the handshakes, palm orientations, and mouth movement similarly to how words in English can be analyzed based on their sounds. That being said, I think the best way for me to gain a greater understanding of the different segments of signs is to continue exposing myself to new vocabulary while also taking more time to make phonetic connections to the signs that I am learning. Prior to this reading, I didn't think to look more into why sign handshape and movement matters. In the past, Reba has corrected me for mistakes that would seem simple, but do make a significant difference (signing favorite instead of color). I appreciate how I am corrected on the spot for phonetic mistakes. Now that I know more about why phonetics matters in ASL, I hope to learn more specifics about handshapes and movements.

I found these resources to be most helpful in my understanding of how phonology and phonetics play a role in American Sign Language.
- Source 1: ASL Linguistic's "Sign Language Phonology"
- Source 2: Sign Language Phonology
- Source 3: Sign Lowering and Phonetic Reduction in American Sign Language
- Note: In the above image that is found at source 2, the signs given are BSL, not ASL. However, I thought this was a great example of how important the parameters of signs are and how handshape, location, and movement have a crucial influence on the meaning behind a sign.
Madelyn Hair September 24, 2020 at 8:19pm

One of my favorite things about Indonesian is that there is no importance of stress of the language. An Indonesian word can be stressed in many different ways and still mean the same thing. Similarly, there is no difference in tone of the word or sound to change the meaning. However, Indonesian locals tend to have a rising pitch in their phrases, even if the sentence is not a question. I have been trying to incorporate this into the way I speak Indonesian, which is made easier by the fact that most of my sentences are spoken which a high level of uncertainty!

The Indonesian ‘k’, particularly when at the end of a word (for example, tidak, or not), is slightly different from the English k. Although it is still a stop, it occurs more in the glottis than the mouth, and is near voiceless. If I have understood this correctly, it is similar to the German voiceless velar fricative of ‘ch.’ It is difficult for me to understand this word’s exact pronunciation over zoom, unfortunately. When Farida pronounces the word, it sounds like ti-dɑ (according to International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA) over zoom audio. However, when I repeat that (or say the word like ti-dak), she corrects me, so I think there is some type of fricative at the end of the word that is not in English and not audible over zoom. My best guess is that it is pronounced like ti-dax, ti-daɣ, or ti-daχ. Although I understand the location of where all these sounds come from and how they are different, to be entirely honest they all sound exactly the same to me.

There are also a lot of ‘ung’ words in Indonesian that are located in the glottis, rather than the nasal area like many English ‘n’ sounds. The word datang, or to come, is a perfect example of this. According the the IPA, it is spelled like this: dɑ-tɑɴ. Fortunately, my practice with some of the glottal sounds in Italian facilitates my pronunciation of this common sound in Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia also has long vowels, such as in ‘maaf’ or sorry. This is pronounced like mɑ-ɑf in the IPA.

There are also retroflex taps or trills in Bahasa Indonesia, shown by the letter r. For example, the beginning of the word rumah, or ‘house’, is pronounced by flicking the tip of the tongue against the back roof of the mouth (behind the alveolar ridge), verging into a trill. The word rumah can be written in IPA as rɵ-mɑ. I particularly enjoy these sounds in Indonesian, which I learned from Spanish and Italian. Trilling my tongue is fun, and I appreciate the casual frequency that Bahasa Indonesia uses this sound.

Fortunately, there are no velar fricatives, voiceless uvular stops, nor fricatives in Indonesian. These sounds are very difficult for me to pronounce, as there’s nothing similar in the English language. I have struggled in French and Greek to pronounce the ‘X’ sound in the back of the throat, and still haven’t gotten it down.

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