The hands and mouth do not always slip together in British sign language: dissociating articulatory channels in the lexicon.
In contrast to the single-articulatory system of spoken languages, sign languages employ multiple articulators, including the hands and the mouth. We asked whether manual components and mouthing patterns of lexical signs share a semantic representation, and whether their relationship is affected by the differing language experience of deaf and hearing native signers. We used picture-naming tasks and word-translation tasks to assess whether the same semantic effects occur in manual production and mouthing production. Semantic errors on the hands were more common in the English-translation task than in the picture-naming task, but errors in mouthing patterns showed a different trend. We conclude that mouthing is represented and accessed through a largely separable channel, rather than being bundled with manual components in the sign lexicon. Results were comparable for deaf and hearing signers; differences in language experience did not play a role. These results provide novel insight into coordinating different modalities in language production.
Vinson
David P
DP
Deafness, Cognition, and Language Research Centre, Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom. d.vinson@ucl.ac.uk
Thompson
Robin L
RL
Skinner
Robert
R
Fox
Neil
N
Vigliocco
Gabriella
G
D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D012660:Semantics; D012813:Sign Language; D006113:United Kingdom; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult