Community interactions and phonemic inventories in emerging sign languages

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Language Evolution
• Sign Language Studies

Background:

• Phonological systems are fundamental to language structure.
• Emerging sign languages provide unique insights into language genesis.
• Comparative analysis of sign languages can illuminate universal linguistic principles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the structural, iconic, and social factors influencing phonological system emergence in two distinct sign languages.
• To compare the handshape inventories and their evolution in Central Taurus Sign Language (CTSL) and Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL).
• To understand how community size and social structure impact phonological development in nascent sign languages.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of linguistic data from CTSL and NSL.
• Examination of handshape inventories and their historical changes.
• Assessment of handshape complexity in both sign languages.
• Consideration of community size and social structure differences.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were observed in the handshape inventories of CTSL and NSL.
• CTSL's handshape inventory exhibited slower change over time compared to NSL's.
• Despite similar inventory sizes, NSL demonstrated higher handshape complexity than CTSL.
• Community and social factors appear to correlate with observed linguistic differences.

Conclusions:

• Emerging sign languages offer valuable perspectives on the long-standing question of phonological system emergence.
• The study highlights how different social contexts can shape the phonological trajectory of new languages.
• Comparative analysis of CTSL and NSL demonstrates the dynamic interplay of structural and social factors in language creation.