Functions of Head and Body Movements in Austrian Sign Language

Zusatztext

<p>Research on nonmanual elements or nonmanuals in sign languages has focused on both the possible functions and the occurrence (frequency and form) of these elements in recent years. As a matter of fact, research on nonmanuals is still a quite uncharted territory in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) today, which has also initiated the study given.</p><p>In order to identify head and body movements in ÖGS, these nonmanuals were determined and analyzed functionally via a new user-oriented methodology. Getting feedback of multiple native signers was a main part of this method. Accordingly, you will find the findings of this study in this volume: various functions such as negation, assertion, interrogativity, conditionality, and many more can be expressed nonmanually. Brand new insights into sign language research are given, as well as astonishing results: even (epistemic) modality can be expressed by particular head and body movements.</p>

Autorenportrait

<strong>Andrea Lackner</strong>, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria

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