Emerging linguistic features of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language

Abstract

In Sao Tome and Principe (STP), there are approximately five thousand deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Until recently, these people had no language to use between them other than basic home signs used only to communicate with their families. With this communication gap in mind, a project was set up to help them come together in a common space in order to create a dedicated environment for a common sign language to emerge. In less than two years, the first cohort began to sign and to develop a newly emerging sign language -the Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language (LGSTP). Signs were elicited by means of drawings and pictures and recorded from the beginning of the project. The emergent structures of signs in this new language were compared with those reported for other emergent sign languages such as the Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) and the Lengua de Señas de Nicarágua (NSL), and several similarities were found at the first stage. In this preliminary study on the emergence of LGSTP, it was observed that, in its first stage, signs are mostly iconic and exhibit a greater involvement of the articulators and a larger signing space when compared with subsequent stages of LGSTP emergence and with other sign languages. Although holistic signs are the prevalent structure, compounding seems to be emerging. At this stage of emergence, OSV seems to be the predominant syntactic structure of LGSTP, and yet the data suggest that new signers exhibit difficulties in syntactic constructions with two arguments.

Constructing Complexity in a Young Sign Language

“…A comparable change has been observed in the use of different arm joints – studies on sign language acquisition have found that signers change from first using joints closer to the body (e.g., movement of the shoulder) to using joints further from the body (e.g., movement of the elbow) (Lavoie and Villeneuve, 1999; Takkinen, 2003), causing reduction in the overall size of the sign. This also resembles findings by Mineiro et al (2017), in which signing size decreased in the early stages of a new sign language. It may be that signers of a new language become gradually more efficient in the use of their articulators and that as a result signing becomes reduced as the signer is able to reduce their production effort.…”

“…The research group investigating this language conducted a longitudinal study through a few successive sessions of video recordings. One of their findings is that the earlier stages of language development are characterized by larger signing space than subsequent, later stages (Mineiro et al, 2017), measured according to the size of the joints involved in sign production.…”

Pantomimic fossils in modern human communication

“…The former, e.g. Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), Isreali Sign Language (ISL) or Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language (STPSL), emerge when deaf people from different geographical locations are brought together for educational reasons [91,92]. Village signed languages, e.g.…”

“…For example, signs for actions often make use of pantomimic enactment (e.g. the sign for 'strike' in early ABSL, [103]; or the sign for 'eat' in STPSL, [92]), which can be interpreted as self-sufficient and primary-iconic signs. Such signs commonly involve the first-person perspective and peripersonal space (see §2c).…”

“…the sign for 'hit' in early ABSL; [103]), such as those that make use of other modes of representation than enactment (usually, tracing and representing), involve the third-person perspective and extrapersonal space; hence, their interpretation as primary-iconic is problematic. Further, early signs typically have a large signing space and engage actions of both hands, the head and trunk [92,105,106]. Signs are holistic in the sense that the expressive movement as a whole stands for the intended meaning [92,93,103].…”