Testing the Event Visibility Hypothesis in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)

Bibliographic Data

ID17811489
AuthorsJ Krebs (0000-0003-4990-4142, University of Salzburg, corresponding author), Ronnie Β Wilbur (0000-0001-7081-9351, Purdue University West Lafayette), Evie A Malaia (University of Alabama)
Year2026
Volume18
Publication date2026-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage and Cognition (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1866-9808 • E-ISSN: 1866-9859
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/langcog.2026.10061
OpenAlexW7128780032
LanguageEN
References cited43

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 were correlated with the phonological structure of the signs. For the majority of signs (N = 109), the semantics of event structure was reflected in their phonological form, mapping to end-state semantics as expected. For a few signs (with inchoativity), phonological forms correlated instead with event onset. Additionally, some signs allowed for argument structure alternations, which have been previously only rarely reported for sign languages. The findings support the claim that event structure is systematically mapped to verb sign phonology using physical properties of articulator motion, and further indicate the need to extend the taxonomy of event/argument structures inventory to encompass the variability across (sign) languages

Event structure · Phonology · Sign language · Verb · Categorization, perception, and language · Hand Gesture Recognition Systems · Hearing Impairment and Communication

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