On The Syllable Structures In Chinese Sign Language Phonology

Sign language is a natural language used by deaf people for daily communication.It is a visual method of communication using handshape,orientation,location,movement and facial expression to convey meanings.For a long time,people’s linguistic studies were restricted to the spoken language.Sign linguistics started late.Until 1960 s,the status of sign language as a natural language was secured.Since then,more researchers have begun to sink their teeth into this field.The research scope of sign language has been branching out.Theoretical studies are dynamic and productive in every linguistic levels.However,the existing researches on syllable are mainly based on American Sign Language(ASL).Little has been done on Chinese Sign Language(CSL).And researchers are preferred to case the phonological representations,syllable components,or syllable structures.Little research has been made on the phonological changing and phonological process.This research is an attempt to delve the syllable performance of CSL.Based on the Hand-Tier Model(HT model)and phonological theories from spoken language,this research focuses on the syllable structure,syllable constraints and the relation between syllable and morpheme in CSL.Through a comparative study of CSL and ASL,both convergence and divergence of them can be revealed.In this research,five questions are solved.First,the author explains phonological representations of the five parameters in CSL.It turns out that handshape,orientation,location,movement and facial expression are represented at the phonemic level in CSL.CSL and ASL share same phonological assignment in terms of the orientation and location.However,CSL has its unique possibility scheme in considering of the handshape,movement and facial expression.Second,this research treats the CSL syllable as a timing unit and weight unit.As a timing unit,the CSL syllable is a sequential structure containing location and movement.There are five syllable types in CSL: LML,ML,LM,M,and L.As a weight unit,the CSL syllable is a simultaneous structure containing movement and other parameters.CSL syllables can be divided into two types: light syllable and heavy syllable.Third,CSL syllables are not structured randomly.There are three constraints restricting CSL syllables changing from the underlying form to the surface form.They are sonority conspiracy,count conspiracy and monosyllable conspiracy.Fourth,the relation between syllable and morpheme is revealed.It turns out that syllable and morpheme are non-isomorphic in CSL.Last,some terms or principles of phonological processes(assimilation,metathesis,deletion and epenthesis)from spoken language can also be used to explain phenomena of CSL.This research is a try to make syllable phenomena of CSL clear and accessible.It has a great contribution to deepen people’s understanding to deaf people and their languages.Besides,this study can also serve as a theoretical enlightenment towards some practical applications,such as sign language recognition,sign language translation and machine translation.