Opening up Corpus FinSL

Enriching Corpus Analysis With Linguistic Ethnography in a Study of Constructed Action

Bibliographic Data

ID3989431
AuthorsAnna Puupponen (0000-0003-1683-685X, University of Jyväskylä, corresponding author), Gabrielle Hodges (0000-0001-8677-6149, University of Jyväskylä), Gabrielle Hodge (University of Jyväskylä), Benjamin Anible (0000-0002-9755-8398, Department of Language and Literature , Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim , Norway), Juhana Salonen (University of Jyväskylä), Tuija Wainio (University of Jyväskylä), Jukka Keränen (0000-0003-1908-7102, University of Jyväskylä), Doris Hernandez (0000-0002-0600-3259, University of Jyväskylä), Tommi Jantunen (0000-0001-9736-5425, University of Jyväskylä)
Year2025
Volume63
Issue1
Pages277-316
Publication date2025-01-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling-2023-0196
OpenAlexW4399511256
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited75

Corpus methods are now established within the field of signed language linguistics. Empirical investigations of signed language corpora have challenged many early assumptions about the nature of deaf community signed languages, while making us more aware of the limitations of traditional corpus documentation methods. One limitation relates to insufficient documentation of ethnographic information that is often necessary for accurately understanding and interpreting corpus data. Linguistic ethnography offers unique possibilities for addressing this limitation. This article outlines a novel interview method developed to enrich the original Corpus of Finnish Sign Language (Corpus FinSL) with additional ethnographic information eight years after it was first documented and archived with standard IMDI corpus metadata. We interviewed 22 Corpus FinSL signers about their family and social networks, as well as their lifelong language, geographical, educational, and employment trajectories. Here we describe how this information illuminates the linguistic analysis and interpretation of constructed action - an enactment-based way to express meaning - in Corpus FinSL data. Our results reveal constructed action in FinSL discourse is influenced by factors like signer's educational background and age, but not exclusively by family networks or use of other sign languages. The interview materials demonstrate diversity and change in the communicative ecologies of FinSL, which is discussed in relation to the use of constructed action in FinSL. We argue that this kind of approach enables signed language corpus linguistics to "open up" more to signers' lived experiences, while still "tying down" empirical descriptions of FinSL. A major benefit is the enrichment of both machine-readable annotations and metadata, while supporting deeper engagement between deaf signing communities and signed language corpus projects

Action (physics) · Corpus linguistics · Linguistics · Meaning (existential) · Natural language processing · Sign language · Sociology · Text corpus · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology

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