A Study Of Prosody In CSL From The Perspective Of Prosodic Phonology

As the number of people with hearing impairment increases,people gradually realize the importance of sign language in communication.In the past few decades,sign language research has been a hot linguistic topic abroad.In contrast,domestic research in this field is relatively lagging behind.Prosodic Phonology is a theory of the interaction of phonology with syntax,which focuses on the prosodic structure of human language and the relationships between these prosodic units.In order to reveal the universality of prosody in Chinese sign language(CSL),this study attempts to analyze phonological phrases,intonation phrases and utterances in the framework of Prosodic Phonology.With the help of ELAN,a multi-modal annotation software,the author uses Comparative Analysis Approach and Hypothesis Testing Approach to analyze some research data from Chinese Sign Language,www.spreadthesign.com and www.newdeaftv.com.Through the observation and annotation for these static and dynamic sign language data,the author gives the following hypotheses: prosody is universal in CSL;Prosodic Phonology Theory is also applicable to the prosodic study of CSL;due to the modal difference,the prosodic system of CSL is similar to that of Chinese in function,but different in form.The analysis results indicate that similar to Chinese,the signed streams of CSL can also be systematically structured into a string of prosodic components,and these components are organized in a hierarchical form.At the level of phonological phrases in CSL,non-dominant hand spreading and phrase-final lengthening are the main prosodic markers.Most of the intonational phrases are expressed by the non-manual features,such as raised brows,furrowed brows,blinks,etc.In utterances,pause and dropping hands occur mostly at the end of declarative sentences,while various facial expressions are prosodic markers for interrogative sentences,exclamatory sentences,imperative sentences and so on.Therefore,this research enriches domestic studies of sign language and prosody and broadens the scope of application of Prosodic Phonology Theory.Besides,the research results can further help people understand the nature of natural language,and help sign language educators and learners understand the structure and characteristics of CSL.