TY - JOUR
T1 - Mutual intelligibility among the sign languages of Belgium and the Netherlands
AU - Sáfár, Anna
AU - Meurant, Laurence
AU - Haesenne, Thierry
AU - Nauta, Ellen
AU - De Weerdt, Danny
AU - Ormel, Ellen
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - In an exploratory study of mutual intelligibility between the sign languages of the northern part of Belgium (Flemish Sign Language, VGT), the southern part of Belgium (French Belgian Sign Language, LSFB), and the Netherlands (Sign Language of the Netherlands, NGT), we tested the comprehension of VGT by signers of LSFB and NGT. In order to measure the influence of iconic structures (classifier constructions and constructed action) that linguistic analyses have shown to be similar across different sign languages, two genres were compared: narrative and informative signing. To investigate the effect of the overlap between the spoken languages surrounding the Dutch and Flemish Deaf communities, videos were presented in two conditions: first without and subsequently with mouthings. As we hypothesized, both LSFB and NGT signers understood narratives better than informative signing, showing for the first time that iconic structures facilitate comprehension of foreign signing. Furthermore, the results at least partially confirm our hypothesis that NGT signers benefit more from mouthings than LSFB signers, uncovering a source of intelligibility that is unique to sign languages.
AB - In an exploratory study of mutual intelligibility between the sign languages of the northern part of Belgium (Flemish Sign Language, VGT), the southern part of Belgium (French Belgian Sign Language, LSFB), and the Netherlands (Sign Language of the Netherlands, NGT), we tested the comprehension of VGT by signers of LSFB and NGT. In order to measure the influence of iconic structures (classifier constructions and constructed action) that linguistic analyses have shown to be similar across different sign languages, two genres were compared: narrative and informative signing. To investigate the effect of the overlap between the spoken languages surrounding the Dutch and Flemish Deaf communities, videos were presented in two conditions: first without and subsequently with mouthings. As we hypothesized, both LSFB and NGT signers understood narratives better than informative signing, showing for the first time that iconic structures facilitate comprehension of foreign signing. Furthermore, the results at least partially confirm our hypothesis that NGT signers benefit more from mouthings than LSFB signers, uncovering a source of intelligibility that is unique to sign languages.
KW - iconicity
KW - mouthing
KW - mutual intelligibility
KW - narrative
KW - sign language
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84926375822&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/ling-2015-0004
DO - 10.1515/ling-2015-0004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84926375822
SN - 0024-3949
VL - 53
SP - 353
EP - 374
JO - Linguistics
JF - Linguistics
IS - 2
ER -