Cover not available

Introduction published In: Signed and spoken language contrastive research: A multimodal approach
Edited by Sílvia Gabarró-López and Laurence Meurant
[Languages in Contrast 22:2] 2022
► pp. 169–194

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
Introduction

Contrasting signed and spoken languages

Towards a renewed perspective on language

ORCiD logo with link | Stockholm University, Sweden | University of Namur, Belgium
ORCiD logo with link | University of Namur, Belgium
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the authors.

Published online: 23 August 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00024.gab
Abstract
For years, the study of spoken languages, on the basis of written and then also oral productions, was the only way to investigate the human language capacity. As an introduction to this first volume of Languages in Contrast devoted to the comparison of spoken and signed languages, we propose to look at the reasons for the late emergence of the consideration of signed languages and multimodality in language studies. Next, the main stages of the history of sign language research are summarized. We highlight the benefits of studying cross-modal and multimodal data, as opposed to the isolated investigation of signed or spoken languages, and point out the remaining methodological obstacles to this approach. This contextualization prefaces the presentation of the outline of the volume.
Article outline
  • 1.Language, gesture and sign
    • 1.1A delayed revolution
    • 1.2A new agenda
  • 2.Sign language linguistics
    • 2.1Stages of history of sign language research
    • 2.2Corpus-based linguistics
  • 3.Spoken and signed language contrastive studies
    • 3.1The shortcoming of studying signed vs. spoken languages separately
    • 3.2Conducting (spoken vs. signed) contrastive studies on the basis of comparable multimodal data
  • 4.Outline of the volume
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (98)
References
Auchlin, A., Filliettaz, L., Grobert, A. and Simon, A. C. 2004. (En)action, expérienciation du discours et prosodie. Cahiers de linguistique française 261: 217–249.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, A., van den Bogaerde, B., Pfau, R. and Schermer, T. 2016. The Linguistics of Sign Languages. An Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, A., Van Den Bogaerde, B. and Crasborn, O. 2003. Cross-Linguistic Perspectives in Sign Language Research. Hamburg: Signum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barberà, G. and Zwets, M. 2013. Pointing and Reference in Sign Language and Spoken Language: Anchoring vs. Identifying. Sign Language Studies 13(4): 491–515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benveniste, E. 1966. Problèmes de linguistique générale (Vol. 11). Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bressem, J., Ladewig, S. and Müller, C. 2018. Ways of Expressing Action in Multimodal Narrations ― The Semiotic Complexity of Character Viewpoint Depictions. In Linguistic Foundations of Narration in Spoken and Sign Languages, A. Hübl and M. Steinbach (eds), 223–249. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolly, C. T., and Boutet, D. 2018. The Multimodal CorpAGEst Corpus: Keeping an Eye on Pragmatic Competence in Later Life. Corpora 13(2): 1–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brône, G. and Oben, B. 2015. InSight Interaction: A Multimodal and Multifocal Dialogue Corpus. Language Resources & Evaluation 491: 195–214. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, H. 1996. Using Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2016. Depicting as a Method of Communication. Psychological Review 123(3): 324–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, H. and Gerrig, R. 1990. Quotations as Demonstrations. Language 661: 764–805. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crible, L. 2019. Discourse Markers and (Dis)fluency. Forms and Functions across Languages and Registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cuxac, C. 2007. Une manière de reformuler en langue des signes française. La linguistique 431: 117–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dancygier, B. and Sweetser, E. 2012. Viewpoint in language: A multimodal Perspective. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Brabanter, P. 2010. The Semantics and Pragmatics of Hybrid Quotations. Language and Linguistics Compass 41: 107–120. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dresher, E. and van der Hulst, H. (eds). to appear. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ducrot, O. 1984. Le dire et le dit. Paris: Minuit.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Earis, H. and Cormier, K. 2013. Point of View in British Sign Language and Spoken English Narrative Discourse: The Example of the Tortoise and the Hare. Language and Cognition 5(4): 313–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emmorey, K. 2002. 15. The Effects of Modality on Spatial Language: How Signers and Speakers Talk about Space. In Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages, R. P. Meier, K. Cormier, D. Quinto-Pozos (eds), 405–421. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Enfield, N. J. 2009. The Anatomy of Meaning: Speech, Gesture, and Composite Utterances. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Engberg-Pedersen, E. 1993. Space in Danish Sign Language: The Semantics and Morphosyntax of the Use of Space in a Visual Language. Hamburg: Signum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, V. and Green, M. 2006. Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fenlon, J., Cooperrider, K., Keane, J., Brentari, D. and Goldin-Meadow, S. 2019. Comparing Sign Language and Gesture: Insights from Pointing. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 4(1):1–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferrara, L. and Johnston, T. 2014. Elaborating who’s what: A Study of Constructed Action and Clause Structure in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Australian Journal of Linguistics 34(2): 193–215. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferrara, L. and Hodge, G. 2018. Language as Description, Indication, and Depiction. Frontiers in Psychology 9(716):1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frankenberg-Garcia, A. and Santos, D. 2003. Introducing COMPARA, the Portuguese-English Parallel Corpus. In Corpora in Translator Education, F. Zanettin, S. Bernardini and D. Stewart (eds), 71–88. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gabarró-López, S. 2018. CorMILS: Pilot multimodal corpus of French – French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB) interpreters. Institutionen för lingvistik, Stockholms universitet, Sweden, LSFB-Lab, Université de Namur, Belgium.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W. Jr. 2017. Embodiment. In Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, B. Dancygier (ed.), 449–462. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanke, T., König, L., Wagner, S. and Matthes, S. 2010. DGS Corpus & Dicta-Sign: The Hamburg Studio Setup. Workshop Proceedings. W13. FourthWorkshop on Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpora and Sign Language Technologies. Valletta, Malta, 19–21 May 2010. European Language Resources Association. 106–109.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hansen-Schirra, S., Neumann, S. and Steiner, E. 2012. Cross-Linguistic Corpora for the Study of Translations. Insights from the Language Pair English-German. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hockett, C. F. 1978. In Search of Jove’s Brow. American Speech 531: 243–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hodge, G., Sekine, K., Schembri, A. and Johnston, T. 2019. Comparing Signers and Speakers: Building a Directly Comparable Corpus of Auslan and Australian English. Corpora 14(1): 63–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hostetter, A. and Alibali, M. W. 2019. Gesture as Simulated Action: Revisiting the Framework. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 261: 721–752. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hunyadi, L., Váradi, T., Szekrényes, I., Kovács, G., Kiss, H. and Takács, K. 2018. Human-Human, Human-Machine Communication: On the HuComTech Multimodal Corpus. Proceedings of the Seventh CLARIN Annual Conference. Pisa, Italy, 8–10 October 2018. 6–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janzen, T. 2004. Space Rotation, Perspective Shift, and Verb Morphology in ASL. Cognitive Linguistics 15(2): 149–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2012. Cross-Linguistic Perspectives. In English Corpus Linguistics: Crossing Paths, M. Kytö (ed.), 45–68. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnston, T., Vermeerbergen, M., Schembri, A. and Leeson, L. 2007. Real Data are Messy: Considering Cross-Linguistic Analysis of Constituent Ordering in Australian Sign Language (Auslan), Vlamse Gebarantaal (VGT), and Irish Sign Language (ISL). In Visible Variation: Comparative Studies on Sign Language Structure, P. Perniss, R. Pfau and M. Steinbach (eds), 163–208. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2016. Auslan Corpus Annotation Guidelines. Macquarie University, Sydney; La Trobe University, Melbourne. [URL] [last accessed 7 November 2021].
Kendon, A. 1986. Some Reasons for Studying Gesture. Semiotica 62(1–2): 3–28. Available at [URL].
2004. Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010. Language and Gesture: Unity or Duality? In Language and Gesture, D. McNeil (ed.), 47–63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014. Semiotic Diversity in Utterance Production and the Concept of ‘Language’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 3691: 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klima, E. and Bellugi, U. 1979. The Signs of Language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Konrad, R. 2012. Sign Language Corpora Survey [June 2012 version]. Available at [URL] [last accessed 23 August 21].
Kunz, K. and Lapshinova-Koltunski, E. 2015. Crosslinguistic Analysis of Discourse Variation across Registers. Nordic Journal of English Studies 14(1): 258–288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levinson, S. C. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liddell, S. 2003. Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillo-Martin, D. 1995. The Point of View Predicate in American Sign Language. In Language, Gesture and Space, K. Emmorey and J. Rilley (eds), 155–170. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Asociates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lucas, C. and Valli, C. 1992. Language Contact in the American Deaf Community. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lucas, C., Bayley, R. and Valli, C. 2001. Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language. Washington: Gallaudet University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. 2013. The Emergence of Language from Embodiment. In The Emergence of Language, B. MacWhinney (ed.), 213–256. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McEnery, T. and Hardie, A. 2012. Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McEnery, T. and Wilson, A. 2001. Corpus Linguistics (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNeill, David. 1992. Hand and Mind. What Gestures Reveal about Thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meurant, L. 2015. Corpus LSFB. First Digital Open Access Corpus of Movies and Annotations of French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB). University of Namur, LSFB-Lab. Available at [URL]
Meurant, L., Lepeut, A., Tavier, A., Vandenitte, S., Lombart, C., Gabarró-López, S. and Sinte, A. Ongoing. The Multimodal FRAPé Corpus: Towards Building a Comparable LSFB and Belgian French Corpus.
Meurant, L., Lepeut, A., Vandenitte, S. and Lombart, C. submitted. The Multimodal FRAPé Corpus: Towards Building a Comparable LSFB and Belgian French Corpus. Corpora.
Meurant, L. and Sinte, A. 2016. La reformulation en langue des signes de Belgique francophone (LSFB). Narration, explication, conversation. L'information grammaticale 1491: 32–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Metzger, M. 1995. Constructed Dialogue and Constructed Action in American Sign Language. In Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities, C. Lucas (ed.), 255–271. Washington: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Niederhoff, B. 2013. Perspective – Point of View. In The Living Handbook of Narratology, P. Hühn, J. C. Meister, J. Pier and W. Schmid (eds). Hamburg: Hamburg University. Available at [URL]
Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S., McNeill, D. and Tassendorf, S. (eds). 2013. Body ― Language ― Communication, Volume 1. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(eds). 2014. Body ― Language ― Communication, Volume 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, C. 2018. Gesture and Sign: Cataclysmic Break or Dynamic Relations? Frontiers in Psychology 9(1651): 1–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Notarrigo, I. 2017. Marqueurs de (dis)fluence en langue des signes de Belgique francophone. PhD Thesis, Université de Namur.
Padden, C. 1986. Verbs and Role-Shifting in American Sign Language. Proceedings of the Fourth National Symposium on Sign Language Research and Teaching, C. Padden (ed.), 44–57. Silver Spring: National Association of the Deaf.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parisot, A.-M., Pilarski, A., Richer-Lemay, L., Rinfret, J. and Voghel, A. 2008. Description de la variation du marquage spatial en Langue des Signes Québécoise (LSQ). Paper presented at the 76e Congrès de l’Acfas, Canada, 5–9 May 2008.
Paggio, P., Allwood, J., Ahlsén, E. and Jokinen, K. 2010. The NOMCO Multimodal Nordic Resource: Goals and Characteristics. Proceedings of the Sixth international Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2010). Valetta, Malta, 17–23 May 2010. 2968–2973.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parrill, F. 2010. Viewpoint in Speech-Gesture Integration: Linguistic Structure, Discourse Structure, and Event Structure. Language and Cognitive Processes 25(5): 650–668. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peirce, C. S. 1955. Philosophical Writings of Peirce. Mineola: Dover.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perniss, P. 2018. Why we should Study Multimodal Language. Frontiers in Psychology 9(1109):1–5. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perniss, P. M., Pfau, R. and Steinbach, M. (eds). 2007. Visible Variation: Cross-Linguistic Studies in Sign Language Structure. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quinto-Pozos, D. 2002. Contact between Mexican Sign Language and American Sign Language in Two Texas Border Areas. PhD Thesis, University of Texas at Austin.
Quinto-Pozos, D. and Parrill, F. 2015. Signers and Co-Speech Gesturers Adopt Similar Strategies for Portraying Viewpoint in Narratives. Topics in Cognitive Science 7(1): 12–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rabatel, A. 2010. Pour une approche intégrée des reformulations pluri-sémiotiques en contexte de formation : apprendre en reformulant et en resémiotisant documents iconiques, gestes et actions. In Les reformulations pluri-sémiotiques en contexte de formation, A. Rabatel (ed.), 7–24. Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sandler, W. and Lillo-Martin, D. 2006. Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schembri, A. 2003. Rethinking ‘classifiers’ in Signed Languages. In Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages, K. Emmorey (ed.), 3–34. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shaw, E. 2018. Gesture in Multiparty Interaction. Washington: Gallaudet University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sloetjes, H. and Wittenburg, P. 2008. Annotation by Category-ELAN and ISO DCR. Proceedings of the Sixth international Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2008). Marrakech, Morocco, 28–30 May 2008. European Language Resources Association. 816–820.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Streeck, J. 2002. Grammars, Words, and Embodied Meanings: On the Uses and Evolution of so and like. Journal of communication 521: 581–596. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stokoe, W. C. 1960. Sign Language Structure: An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf. Studies in Linguistics: Occasional Papers: 81.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tannen, D. 1995. Waiting for the Mouse: Constructed Dialogue in Conversation. In The Dialogic Emergence of Culture, D. Tedlock and B. Mannheim (eds), 198–217. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tervoort, B. 1953. Structurele Analyze van Visueel Taalgebruik binnen een Groep Dove Kinderen [Structural analysis of visual language use within a group of deaf children]. Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thuilier, J. 2013. Syntaxe du français parlé vs. écrit : le cas de la position de l’adjectif épithète par rapport au nom. TIPA. Travaux interdisciplinaires sur la parole et le langage 291:1–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Hulst, H. to appear. The (Early) History of Sign Language Phonology. In The Oxford Handbook of the History of Phonology, E. Dresher and H. van der Hulst (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vermeerbergen, M. 2006. Past and Current Trends in Sign Language Research. Language & Communication 261: 168–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vermeerbergen, M. and Demey, E. 2007. Sign + Gesture = Speech + Gesture. In Simultaneity in Signed Languages: Form and Function, M. Vermeerbergen, L. Leeson and O. A. Crasborn (eds), 257–282. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vermeerbergen, M. and Nilsson, A. L. 2018. Introduction. In A Bibliography of Sign Languages, 2008–2017, A. Aarssen, R. Genis and E. van der Veken (eds). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
West, L. M. 1960. The Sign Language Analysis; vol. I and II. PhD Thesis, University of Indiana.
Woll, B. 2003. Modality, Universality, and the Similarities among Sign Languages: An Historical Perspective. In Cross-Linguistic Perspectives in Sign Language Research, A. Baker, B. van den Bogaerde and O. Crasborn, O. (eds), 17–27. Hamburg: Signum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xiao, R. and T. McEnery. 2010. Corpus-Based Contrastive Studies of English and Chinese. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeshan, U. 2004a. Hand, Head, and Face: Negative Constructions in Sign Languages. Linguistic Typology 81: 1–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004b. Interrogative Constructions in Sign Languages: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives. Language 801: 7–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Lepeut, Alysson, Clara Lombart, Sébastien Vandenitte & Laurence Meurant
2025. Make It a Double: The Building and Use of the LSFB and FRAPé Corpora to Study and Compare French Belgian Sign Language and Belgian French. In How to Do Things with Corpora [Linguistik in Empirie und Theorie/Empirical and Theoretical Linguistics, ], ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Lepeut, Alysson & Emily Shaw
2025. Interactive Functions of Palm-Up: Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Modal Insights from ASL, American English, LSFB and Belgian French. Languages 10:9 ► pp. 239 ff. DOI logo
Gabarró-López, Sílvia & Anna Kuder
2022. A corpus-based study of ‘Away gestures’ across four signed languages. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 36 ► pp. 73 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue