Similarities and Differences between Spoken Languages and Natural Sign Languages

Language abnormality in deaf people with schizophrenia: a problem with classifiers

“…The test consisted of 30 items, made up of 16 picture and 14 video items. Test items requiring the manipulation of the same objects were not presented in sequence to avoid the use of exophoric reference (i.e., exploiting the pragmatic co-text between the experimenter and the participant and choosing not to name the same objects again prior to denoting their arrangements to avoid repetition) (Swisher, 1988). Where classifier responses were made, these were scored for correct handshape, orientation, location, movement, dominance and symmetry.…”

Biological, cultural, and environmental factors catalyzing the emergence of (alternate) sign languages

“…And note that even if there are remarkable similarities between spoken and signed languages, modality seems to play a crucial role in determining certain aspects of language-design that go beyond phonology (say, the general use of classifiers, clause-final wh -phrases, inflectional paradigms, particularities of the spatial systems for deixis and reference, etc, cf . i.e., Swisher, 1988 ).…”

Language Form in Terms of Sign Language

“…A rich description of similarities of syntactic structure of sign language and spoken are shown in many investigations (Neidle, Kegl, MacLaughlin, & Lee, 2000;Sandler & Lillo-Martin, 2006;Sulton-Spence &Woll, 1999) for hierarchical phrase structure, constituent order, movement operations, anaphora, embedding analogues to facial marking for topics and interrogatives, spatial marking for verb agreement. Even though the researchers have found familiarities between the sound language and the sign language, the difference between them remains enormous (Hall, Ferreira, & Mayberry, 2015), and it is related to the use of sign languages of visual space, which makes possible spatial mapping of objects and places in narrative for clarity of reference much easier than spoken language, or speed of articulation of the signs compared to the spoken word, where there is a need in slowing down the muscles activity of the body in sign language compared to the sound articulated by the vocal muscles (Swisher, 1988).…”