Ronnie Β Wilbur
Biographic Data
| ID | 3456754 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ronnie Β Wilbur |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ronnie Β |
| FAMILY NAME | Wilbur |
| SIGNATURE | WILBUR R Β |
| AFFILIATIONS | Purdue University West Lafayette |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7081-9351 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Content interrogatives in a young sign language
We examined content interrogatives, i.e., wh-questions, in a young family sign language, Sadat Tawaher Sign Language (STSL), which began to emerge sixty years ago in a single household in southwestern Iran following a man’s sudden, complete hearing loss. We show that the wh-sign in STSL remains in situ and that it is sometimes doubled. Furthermore, we offer a formal account of content interrogative formation and wh-doubling in STSL. Our analysis …
Testing the Event Visibility Hypothesis in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
In sign languages, aspects of event structure have been shown to be systematically reflected in the phonological structure of verb signs, as proposed by the Event Visibility Hypothesis (EVH). This study investigates the relationship between verb semantics and phonology in 119 verbs from Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS). Four Deaf signers evaluated the usability of these verbs in specific contexts to assess event structure, and then their responses we…
Basic clause negator in Sadat Tawaher Sign Language
Sign languages (SLs) generally have several manual signs to negate sentences, usually with one sign serving as the basic clause negator and with its function being only to reverse the polarity of a clause without adding any additional semantic content. We identify the basic clause negator in Sadat Tawaher Sign Language (STSL), a SL that emerged in a single household in a small Iranian village around sixty years ago. While STSL has several manual …
Grammatical control of sign language production
Introduction The manuscript presents an experimental investigation into the linguistic and motor control mechanisms underlying grammatical marker production in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS). It focuses on the cross-linguistically attested phonological parameter of hand articulator tension and its role as a grammatical marker for adjective intensification. Method By combining advanced methods, including motion capture and electromyography (EMG), th…
The interaction of syntax, non-manuals, and prosodic cues as potential topic markers in Austrian Sign Language
Topic is often marked only by prosody across languages. In sign languages, prosody is expressed by features similar to those in speech: i.e., sign duration, velocity and amplitude of movement (cf. slope and range of pitch). Topicalized signs usually occur sentence-initially, are followed by a pause, and may show longer duration than nontopics. We used pausing and duration characteristics to resolve a puzzle concerning the status of OSV sentences …
The simultaneous production of two grammars
A debated issue in psycholinguistics is whether both languages are active in the bilingual mind that hosts them. We examined this issue in bimodal bilinguals, i.e., individuals competent in one spoken language and one sign language. Signed productions and story-telling data pertaining to declaratives, wh-questions, and negatives from Iranian bilingual speakers of Khuzestani Arabic and Sadat Tawaher Sign Language confirm that they produce two diff…
Word order in the context of extensional and intensional events in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
This study examines the impact of the semantics of events and their participants on syntax (word order) in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS), replicating and extending findings on other sign languages (Napoli et al. 2017). We tested the hypothesis that in the visual modality, intensional and extensional events are preferentially expressed by different word orders: verbs expressing an intensional event are preferred before the object and verbs expressi…
Marking various aspects in Turkish Sign Language
Sign languages have been reported to have manual signs that function as perfective morphemes ( Fischer & Gough 1999 ; Meir 1999 ; Rathmann 2005 ; Duffy 2007 ; Zucchi et al. 2010 ). Turkish Sign Language (TİD) has also been claimed to have such morphemes ( Zeshan 2003 ; Kubuş & Rathmann 2009 ; Dikyuva 2011 ; Gökgöz 2011 ; Karabüklü 2016 ) as well as a nonmanual completive marker (‘bn’) ( Dikyuva 2011 ). This study shows that the nonmanual ‘bn’ is …
Age of sign language acquisition has lifelong effect on syntactic preferences in sign language users
Acquisition of natural language has been shown to fundamentally impact both one’s ability to use the first language and the ability to learn subsequent languages later in life. Sign languages offer a unique perspective on this issue because Deaf signers receive access to signed input at varying ages. The majority acquires sign language in (early) childhood, but some learn sign language later—a situation that is drastically different from that of …
ALL versus ALL in American Sign Language (ASL)
This paper extends a visible pattern (‘iconicity’) that has been observed in sign language verbs and adjectives to quantification in American Sign Language (ASL). The Event Visibility Hypothesis (EVH) states that boundedness is morphophonologically encoded in articulation of a rapid deceleration of movement at the end of a sign (aka end-marking). Here the EVH is applied to the two ASL quantifiers glossed #ALL and ALL. Doing so accounts for the se…
Age of acquisition effects differ across linguistic domains in sign language
Distributional properties of an agreement marker in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
This study focuses on the distribution ofagrm-bc, one of two agreement markers used in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS; Krebs, Julia, Ronnie B. Wilbur & Dietmar Roehm. 2017. Two agreement markers in ÖGS.Sign Language and Linguistics20(1). 27-54), with respect to different "verb types". Using an online questionnaire, ÖGS signers rated ÖGS sentences involving different verb types that varied in whether they show agreement with their arguments ("agreein…
The Impact of Transitional Movements and Non-Manual Markings on the Disambiguation of Locally Ambiguous Argument Structures in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
Previous studies of Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) word-order variations have demonstrated the human processing system’s tendency to interpret a sentence-initial (case-) ambiguous argument as the subject of the clause (“subject preference”). The electroencephalogram study motivating the current report revealed earlier reanalysis effects for object-subject compared to subject-object sentences, in particular, before the start of the movement of the a…
Information Transfer Capacity of Articulators in American Sign Language
The ability to convey information is a fundamental property of communicative signals. For sign languages, which are overtly produced with multiple, completely visible articulators, the question arises as to how the various channels co-ordinate and interact with each other. We analyze motion capture data of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives, and show that the capacity of information throughput, mathematically defined, is highest on the domin…
Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program
There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing students. Two subgroups, differing in ASL proficiency, were compared on the Northwest Evaluation Associat…
Morphology and the Rule Ordering Controversy
Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (1975), pp. 460-474
Kinematic Signatures of Telic and Atelic Events in ASL Predicates
This article presents an experimental investigation of kinematics of verb sign production in American Sign Language (ASL) using motion capture data. The results confirm that event structure differences in the meaning of the verbs are reflected in the kinematic formation: for example, in the telic verbs (THROW, HIT), the end-point of the event is marked in the verb sign movement by significantly greater deceleration, as compared to atelic verbs (S…
Effects of Verbal Event Structure on Online Thematic Role Assignment
Sensitivity to Visual Prosodic Cues in Signers and Nonsigners
Three studies are presented in this paper that address how nonsigners perceive the visual prosodic cues in a sign language. In Study 1, adult American nonsigners and users of American Sign Language (ASL) were compared on their sensitivity to the visual cues in ASL Intonational Phrases. In Study 2, hearing, nonsigning American infants were tested using the same stimuli used in Study 1 to see whether maturity, exposure to gesture, or exposure to si…
Sign languages
Effects of Varying Rate of Signing on ASL Manual Signs and Nonmanual Markers
Spoken languages are characterized by flexible, multivariate prosodic systems. As a natural language, American Sign Language (ASL), and other sign languages (SLs), are also expected to be characterized in the same way. Artificially created signing systems for classroom use, such as signed English, serve as a contrast to natural sign languages. The present article explores the effects of changes in signing rate on signs, pauses, and, unlike previo…
Productive reduplication in a fundamentally monosyllabic language
Events and telicity in classifier predicates
Phonological parameters in Croatian Sign Language
We present an initial description of the sign parameters in Croatian Sign Language. We show that HZJ has a comparable phonological structure to other known sign languages, including basic sign parts, such as location, handshape, movement, orientation, and nonmanual characteristics. Our discussion follows the Prosodic Model (Brentari 1998), in which sign structure is separated into those characteristics which do not change during sign formation ( …
The Use of ASL to Support the Development of English and Literacy
The purpose of this article is to review research dealing with the use of ASL in teaching English and literacy. I review some of the literature (and direct readers to additional sources) that indicates that early learning of ASL need not create concerns for future development of English structure, speech, or other cognitive skills. I also suggest ways in which ASL can contribute directly to developing more of the highlevel skills needed for fluen…
Body leans and the marking of contrast in American sign language
Stress in A SL
The study of signed languages provides an opportunity to identify those characteristics of language that are universal and to investigate the effect of production modality (signed vs. spoken) on the grammar. Over time, American Sign Language (ASL) has accommodated itself to the production and perception requirements of the manual/visual modality, resulting in a prosodic system that is comparable in function to spoken languages but different in me…
The Effects of Linguistic Stress on ASL Signs
Target ASL signs were elicited in stressed and unstressed contexts for ten different types of sign movement. Previous reports that stressed signs tended to change the size and intensity of their movements were only partially confirmed. No single cue emerged as the primary indicator of stress. Qualitative analysis of the modifications revealed that there were some features commonly associated with stress which occurred across the ten movement cate…
Foregrounding structures in American sign language
The Duration of Syllables in American Sign Language
Data are presented for the duration of syllables in American Sign Language and for movement and hold components of those syllables. Measurements from 3072 syllables taken from four different samples of signing resulted in a grand mean of 293.7 msec. The different signing samples reflected different degrees of naturalness, and the means for each sample varied accordingly. The most natural situation, conversational signing, had a mean of 249.7 msec…
Effects of Varying Rate of Signing on ASL Manual Signs and Nonmanual Markers
Spoken languages are characterized by flexible, multivariate prosodic systems. As a natural language, American Sign Language (ASL), and other sign languages (SLs), are also expected to be characterized in the same way. Artificially created signing systems for classroom use, such as signed English, serve as a contrast to natural sign languages. The present article explores the effects of changes in signing rate on signs, pauses, and, unlike previo…
Productive reduplication in a fundamentally monosyllabic language
Kinematic Signatures of Telic and Atelic Events in ASL Predicates
This article presents an experimental investigation of kinematics of verb sign production in American Sign Language (ASL) using motion capture data. The results confirm that event structure differences in the meaning of the verbs are reflected in the kinematic formation: for example, in the telic verbs (THROW, HIT), the end-point of the event is marked in the verb sign movement by significantly greater deceleration, as compared to atelic verbs (S…
Events and telicity in classifier predicates
Backwards Signing and ASL Syllable Structure
A recurrent question raised by the study of signed languages concerns the linguistic effect of the modality in which the language is produced. Is the modality difference between speech and sign reflected merely in the nature of the phonetic features that map into production and perception, or is it the case that there might. be higher level organizational differences between the two linguistic modalities? The present study addresses the nature of…
Perceptual Evidence Against Internal Structure in American Sign Language Syllables
Syllables in spoken languages have been argued to have an internal structure which may cluster the consonants and vowels into subgroups. The most commonly used subgroups are the Onset (initial consonants) and Rhyme (vowel and remaining consonants), with the further possibility of dividing the Rhyme into Nucleus (the vowel and any on- or off-glides) and the Coda (the final consonants). Although linguistic debate continues about the exact formulati…
Discourse structure in American sign language conversations (or, how to know a conversation when you see one)
(1983). Discourse structure in American sign language conversations (or, how to know a conversation when you see one) Discourse Processes: Vol. 6, American Sign Language, pp. 225-228
Sign languages
The Impact of Transitional Movements and Non-Manual Markings on the Disambiguation of Locally Ambiguous Argument Structures in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
Previous studies of Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) word-order variations have demonstrated the human processing system’s tendency to interpret a sentence-initial (case-) ambiguous argument as the subject of the clause (“subject preference”). The electroencephalogram study motivating the current report revealed earlier reanalysis effects for object-subject compared to subject-object sentences, in particular, before the start of the movement of the a…
Sensitivity to Visual Prosodic Cues in Signers and Nonsigners
Three studies are presented in this paper that address how nonsigners perceive the visual prosodic cues in a sign language. In Study 1, adult American nonsigners and users of American Sign Language (ASL) were compared on their sensitivity to the visual cues in ASL Intonational Phrases. In Study 2, hearing, nonsigning American infants were tested using the same stimuli used in Study 1 to see whether maturity, exposure to gesture, or exposure to si…
The deaf child as a linguistic minority
But there is another way of viewing deaf children: as a linguistic minority, like MexicanAmericans, or Chinese-Americans, or other nonnative English speakers. Prelingually deaf children, after all, are really aware of this handicap, since they do know what is. It is only when they were required to look, perform, behave and achieve like hearing children that they begin to see themselves as not normal-as opposed to merely deaf. For all intents and …
Distributional properties of an agreement marker in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
This study focuses on the distribution ofagrm-bc, one of two agreement markers used in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS; Krebs, Julia, Ronnie B. Wilbur & Dietmar Roehm. 2017. Two agreement markers in ÖGS.Sign Language and Linguistics20(1). 27-54), with respect to different "verb types". Using an online questionnaire, ÖGS signers rated ÖGS sentences involving different verb types that varied in whether they show agreement with their arguments ("agreein…
Information Transfer Capacity of Articulators in American Sign Language
The ability to convey information is a fundamental property of communicative signals. For sign languages, which are overtly produced with multiple, completely visible articulators, the question arises as to how the various channels co-ordinate and interact with each other. We analyze motion capture data of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives, and show that the capacity of information throughput, mathematically defined, is highest on the domin…
Effects of Verbal Event Structure on Online Thematic Role Assignment
Phonological parameters in Croatian Sign Language
We present an initial description of the sign parameters in Croatian Sign Language. We show that HZJ has a comparable phonological structure to other known sign languages, including basic sign parts, such as location, handshape, movement, orientation, and nonmanual characteristics. Our discussion follows the Prosodic Model (Brentari 1998), in which sign structure is separated into those characteristics which do not change during sign formation ( …
The deaf child as a linguistic minority
But there is another way of viewing deaf children: as a linguistic minority, like MexicanAmericans, or Chinese-Americans, or other nonnative English speakers. Prelingually deaf children, after all, are really aware of this handicap, since they do know what is. It is only when they were required to look, perform, behave and achieve like hearing children that they begin to see themselves as not normal-as opposed to merely deaf. For all intents and …
Description linguistique de la langue des signes
Wilbur Ronnie. Description linguistique de la langue des signes. In: Langages, 13e année, n°56, 1979. La langue des signes, sous la direction de François Grosjean et Harlan Lane. pp. 13-34
Discourse structure in American sign language conversations (or, how to know a conversation when you see one)
(1983). Discourse structure in American sign language conversations (or, how to know a conversation when you see one) Discourse Processes: Vol. 6, American Sign Language, pp. 225-228
The Duration of Syllables in American Sign Language
Data are presented for the duration of syllables in American Sign Language and for movement and hold components of those syllables. Measurements from 3072 syllables taken from four different samples of signing resulted in a grand mean of 293.7 msec. The different signing samples reflected different degrees of naturalness, and the means for each sample varied accordingly. The most natural situation, conversational signing, had a mean of 249.7 msec…
The Effects of Linguistic Stress on ASL Signs
Target ASL signs were elicited in stressed and unstressed contexts for ten different types of sign movement. Previous reports that stressed signs tended to change the size and intensity of their movements were only partially confirmed. No single cue emerged as the primary indicator of stress. Qualitative analysis of the modifications revealed that there were some features commonly associated with stress which occurred across the ten movement cate…
Marketing and Semiotics
Perceptual Evidence Against Internal Structure in American Sign Language Syllables
Syllables in spoken languages have been argued to have an internal structure which may cluster the consonants and vowels into subgroups. The most commonly used subgroups are the Onset (initial consonants) and Rhyme (vowel and remaining consonants), with the further possibility of dividing the Rhyme into Nucleus (the vowel and any on- or off-glides) and the Coda (the final consonants). Although linguistic debate continues about the exact formulati…
Foregrounding structures in American sign language
Backwards Signing and ASL Syllable Structure
A recurrent question raised by the study of signed languages concerns the linguistic effect of the modality in which the language is produced. Is the modality difference between speech and sign reflected merely in the nature of the phonetic features that map into production and perception, or is it the case that there might. be higher level organizational differences between the two linguistic modalities? The present study addresses the nature of…
Body leans and the marking of contrast in American sign language
A Prosodic/Pragmatic Explanation for Word Order Variation in ASL with Typological Implications
Stress in A SL
The study of signed languages provides an opportunity to identify those characteristics of language that are universal and to investigate the effect of production modality (signed vs. spoken) on the grammar. Over time, American Sign Language (ASL) has accommodated itself to the production and perception requirements of the manual/visual modality, resulting in a prosodic system that is comparable in function to spoken languages but different in me…
The Use of ASL to Support the Development of English and Literacy
The purpose of this article is to review research dealing with the use of ASL in teaching English and literacy. I review some of the literature (and direct readers to additional sources) that indicates that early learning of ASL need not create concerns for future development of English structure, speech, or other cognitive skills. I also suggest ways in which ASL can contribute directly to developing more of the highlevel skills needed for fluen…
Phonological parameters in Croatian Sign Language
We present an initial description of the sign parameters in Croatian Sign Language. We show that HZJ has a comparable phonological structure to other known sign languages, including basic sign parts, such as location, handshape, movement, orientation, and nonmanual characteristics. Our discussion follows the Prosodic Model (Brentari 1998), in which sign structure is separated into those characteristics which do not change during sign formation ( …
Events and telicity in classifier predicates
Effects of Varying Rate of Signing on ASL Manual Signs and Nonmanual Markers
Spoken languages are characterized by flexible, multivariate prosodic systems. As a natural language, American Sign Language (ASL), and other sign languages (SLs), are also expected to be characterized in the same way. Artificially created signing systems for classroom use, such as signed English, serve as a contrast to natural sign languages. The present article explores the effects of changes in signing rate on signs, pauses, and, unlike previo…
Productive reduplication in a fundamentally monosyllabic language
Sign languages
Sensitivity to Visual Prosodic Cues in Signers and Nonsigners
Three studies are presented in this paper that address how nonsigners perceive the visual prosodic cues in a sign language. In Study 1, adult American nonsigners and users of American Sign Language (ASL) were compared on their sensitivity to the visual cues in ASL Intonational Phrases. In Study 2, hearing, nonsigning American infants were tested using the same stimuli used in Study 1 to see whether maturity, exposure to gesture, or exposure to si…
Kinematic Signatures of Telic and Atelic Events in ASL Predicates
This article presents an experimental investigation of kinematics of verb sign production in American Sign Language (ASL) using motion capture data. The results confirm that event structure differences in the meaning of the verbs are reflected in the kinematic formation: for example, in the telic verbs (THROW, HIT), the end-point of the event is marked in the verb sign movement by significantly greater deceleration, as compared to atelic verbs (S…
Effects of Verbal Event Structure on Online Thematic Role Assignment
Morphology and the Rule Ordering Controversy
Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (1975), pp. 460-474
Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program
There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing students. Two subgroups, differing in ASL proficiency, were compared on the Northwest Evaluation Associat…
Information Transfer Capacity of Articulators in American Sign Language
The ability to convey information is a fundamental property of communicative signals. For sign languages, which are overtly produced with multiple, completely visible articulators, the question arises as to how the various channels co-ordinate and interact with each other. We analyze motion capture data of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives, and show that the capacity of information throughput, mathematically defined, is highest on the domin…
The Impact of Transitional Movements and Non-Manual Markings on the Disambiguation of Locally Ambiguous Argument Structures in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
Previous studies of Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) word-order variations have demonstrated the human processing system’s tendency to interpret a sentence-initial (case-) ambiguous argument as the subject of the clause (“subject preference”). The electroencephalogram study motivating the current report revealed earlier reanalysis effects for object-subject compared to subject-object sentences, in particular, before the start of the movement of the a…
Linguistics (31 works) · Hearing Impairment and Communication (28 works) · Psychology (23 works) · Sign language (23 works) · Computer Science (20 works) · Philosophy (18 works) · American Sign Language (17 works) · Hand Gesture Recognition Systems (16 works) · Mathematics (13 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (12 works)