Visual prosody in Korean Sign Language: (non)manual cues for boundary and prominence

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Sign Language Studies
• Phonetics and Phonology

Background:

• Prosodic marking in sign languages is crucial for conveying linguistic information.
• Previous research often linked nonmanual features to prosodic boundary marking.
• The specific role of nonmanuals in Korean Sign Language (KSL) for prominence versus boundary marking requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether manual and nonmanual features in KSL primarily mark prominence or Accentual Phrase (AP) boundaries.
• To analyze the contribution of specific nonmanual cues (e.g., eye contact, eyebrow movements) and manual features (e.g., sign duration) to prosodic marking in KSL.
• To determine if KSL prosody is prominence-driven or boundary-driven.

Main Methods:

• A controlled card-arrangement task was used to elicit target signs from six Deaf KSL signers.
• Participants' signing was analyzed under four prosodic conditions: focused vs. unfocused prominence and AP-initial vs. AP-medial positions.
• Bayesian mixed-effects modeling was applied to evaluate manual and nonmanual features (eye contact, eyebrow movements, sign duration) in relation to prominence and boundary position.

Main Results:

• Prominence significantly influenced both manual and nonmanual features, with increased frequency in focused conditions (e.g., eye contact, furrowed eyebrows, squinted eyes).
• Boundary position showed minimal impact on feature usage, with few differences between AP-initial and AP-medial positions.
• Interaction effects between prominence and boundary position were inconsistent across features.

Conclusions:

• KSL prosody is predominantly prominence-driven, with nonmanual features serving as key markers of focus.
• Nonmanual cues in KSL are more indicative of prominence than AP boundaries.
• This study highlights the language-specific nature of prosodic strategies in sign languages, contributing to cross-linguistic research.