手语音节与语素结构的类型学考察

A typological study of syllable and morpheme structures in sign languages

手语是以视觉和手势为通道的自然语言,具有与有声语言平等的地位,除了表现形式不同外,二者没有本质差别。长期以来,人们对语言的研究局限于有声语言,手语语言学发展起步较晚。20世纪60年代,手语作为自然语言的地位开始得到语言学家的认可。此后,越来越多的学者开始从不同的语言层面探讨手语,手语语言学逐步发展起来。本文结合有声语言的音系学原理,对手语音节研究进行回顾,并对构成手势的四个音系参数(Phonological Parameter)、手语音节组成单位、音节结构、特性以及制约手语从音系底层表征到表层手势的规则或条件进行讨论,以期得到广大语言学家对这一领域的关注。

As a natural language in the visual-gestural modality, sign language has an equal status with spoken language. There is no essential difference between the two except for the way of saying things. For a long time, research on language has been limited to spoken languages, sign linguistics started late. Sign language gained recognition as a natural language and secured its place in linguistics in the 1960 s. Since then, sign linguistics has gradually been developing with a deeper exploration of different linguistic levels. This paper aims to make an overview of the syllable of sign language to clarify its four phonological parameters, structure, characteristics and constraints to attract more attention to this new branch of linguistics.