Mothers, Mountain Devils, and Pointing to Eternity

The "Horns" Handshape in Australian Indigenous Sign Languages

Bibliographic Data

ID5845650
AuthorsJennifer Green (0000-0002-3541-4989, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume22
Issue1
Pages5-41
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSign language studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0302-1475 • E-ISSN: 1533-6263
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/sls.2021.0013
OpenAlexW4205687142
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited21

Australian Indigenous sign languages are predominantly used by hearing people as a replacement for speech in certain cultural contexts. In some circumstances sign is used alongside speech, and in others it may replace speech altogether. This article provides a window on some of the articulatory dimensions of these sign languages by examining the distribution of the "horns" handshape in repertoires of sign from a range of communities in Central and Northern Australia. The horns handshape is notable as it is one of the more common handshapes found, at least in some of the sign languages used in Australian Indigenous communities. This contrasts with the apparent infrequency of this handshape in some other sign languages of the world. By implementing a methodology that takes the interconnections between sign and speech into account, the article explores loose networks of semantic association in signs that employ this handshape and assesses evidence of semantic motivation for its use in sets of related signs

Hand Gesture Recognition Systems · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition

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