Ronnie B Wilbur

Biographic Data

ID747781
NAMERonnie B Wilbur
GIVEN NAMESRonnie B
FAMILY NAMEWilbur
SIGNATUREWILBUR R B
AFFILIATIONSPurdue University
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS28
TOTAL CITATIONS116
AUTHOR COUNT28
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1975
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX6

  • Content interrogatives in a young sign language

    Open AccessSeyyed Hatam Tamimi Sa'd, Richard Pfau et al.ARTICLEProceedings of the Linguistic…2026

    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 …

  • Basic clause negator in Sadat Tawaher Sign Language

    Open AccessSeyyed Hatam Tamimi Sa'd, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLEProceedings of the Linguistic…2025

    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

    Open AccessJ Krebs, Eric Harbour et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Language Sciences2025

    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 simultaneous production of two grammars

    Open AccessSeyyed Hatam Tamimi Sa'd, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLEProceedings of the Linguistic…2024

    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…

  • Marking various aspects in Turkish Sign Language

    Open AccessSerpil Karabüklü, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLESign Language & Linguistics2021

    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

    Open AccessJ Krebs, Dietmar Roehm et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of…2021

    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 …

  • Age of acquisition effects differ across linguistic domains in sign language

    Open AccessEvie Malaia, Evie A Malaia et al.ARTICLEBrain and Language2020

  • Distributional properties of an agreement marker in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)

    Open AccessJ Krebs, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLELinguistics2020Cited by: 1References: 23

    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)

    Open AccessJ Krebs, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLELanguage and Speech2019Cited by: 2References: 49

    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

    Open AccessEvie Malaia, Joshua D Borneman et al.ARTICLELanguage and Speech2018Cited by: 1References: 33

    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

    Iva Hrastinski, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLEThe Journal of Deaf Studies and…2016

    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…

  • Kinematic Signatures of Telic and Atelic Events in ASL Predicates

    Open AccessEvie Malaia, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLELanguage and Speech2012Cited by: 4References: 26

    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

    Open AccessEvie Malaia, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLEJournal of Psycholinguistic…2012Cited by: 1References: 46

  • Effects of Varying Rate of Signing on ASL Manual Signs and Nonmanual Markers

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β WilburARTICLELanguage and Speech2009Cited by: 7References: 43

    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

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β WilburARTICLELanguage Sciences2009Cited by: 5References: 3

  • Events and telicity in classifier predicates

    Open AccessDonovan Grose, Ronnie B Wilbur et al.ARTICLELingua2007Cited by: 4References: 3

  • A Prosodic/Pragmatic Explanation for Word Order Variation in ASL with Typological Implications

    Ronnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β WilburCHAPTERLexical and syntactical…1999

  • Stress in A SL

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β WilburARTICLELanguage and Speech1999Cited by: 18References: 34

    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…

  • Body leans and the marking of contrast in American sign language

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β Wilbur et al.ARTICLEJournal of Pragmatics1998Cited by: 21References: 19

  • Backwards Signing and ASL Syllable Structure

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β Wilbur et al.ARTICLELanguage and Speech1997Cited by: 4References: 6

    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…

  • Foregrounding structures in American sign language

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β WilburARTICLEJournal of Pragmatics1994Cited by: 13References: 13

  • Perceptual Evidence Against Internal Structure in American Sign Language Syllables

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β Wilbur et al.ARTICLELanguage and Speech1991Cited by: 4References: 14

    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…

  • Marketing and Semiotics

    Ronnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β Wilbur et al.ARTICLELanguage1989

  • American Sign Language

    D Brentari, Ronnie B WilburARTICLELanguage1988

  • The Effects of Linguistic Stress on ASL Signs

    Open AccessRonnie B Wilbur, Ronnie Β Wilbur et al.ARTICLELanguage and Speech1987Cited by: 17References: 10

    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…