Phonotactics in American Sign Language: Examining the Dominance and Symmetry Conditions via Unfamiliar Sign Repetition

Abstract

Phonotactic constraints are an understudied aspect of signed language linguistics. While the dominance and symmetry conditions are well-known and frequently cited examples of phonotactic constraints for signed languages, only a handful of studies have continued to examine these conditions since Battison (1977) first proposed them, and their conclusions about the strength of these conditions have been mixed. Furthermore, most of the literature on the dominance and symmetry conditions has been theoretical or has used signed language dictionaries as data; very few studies have tested these conditions against experimental data. With this dissertation, I add an evidence-based examination to the dominance and symmetry conditions literature.

The main questions I address in my dissertation are: (1) How do fluent, early exposed ASL users reproduce signs from an unfamiliar signed language that violate the dominance and symmetry conditions; and (2) How do they compare to hearing nonsigners who reproduce the same signs? To answer these questions, I had a group of early exposed ASL users and a group of hearing nonsigners reproduce unfamiliar Japanese Sign Language (JSL) signs, in isolation, which violate the dominance and symmetry conditions. I reviewed the participants’ reproductions for movement, handshape, and handedness, and then analyzed the patterns of errors that emerged among the ASL users and between the ASL users and the hearing nonsigners.

The majority of ASL users violated the dominance and symmetry conditions for all signs, but they demonstrated a general preference for reducing the markedness of the sign, either through symmetrical movement, symmetrical handshapes, or through using an unmarked nondominant handshape. Meanwhile, the hearing nonsigners either preferred target-like productions violating the dominance and symmetry conditions, or modified productions so that they were consistent with the dominance and symmetry conditions. The results imply that the dominance and symmetry conditions are violable for ASL users. The fact that the hearing nonsigners followed the dominance condition for two of the signs suggests it is possible that the dominance condition is cognitive in nature. The difference between the groups, however, indicates that these cognitive conditions are modulated by ASL experience.