Sign language linguistics: left hand signers non-inversion of some signs as an argument in favour of a breaking perspective based on iconicity

Abstract

According to Fusellier-Souza (2004), researchers in the field of sign language linguistics can be organized in two large groups: (i) those who believe that sign languages must be identical to spoken languages and, thus, base their research on the phenomena and categories previously described for the latter; and (ii) those who believe that sign languages, being visual-spatial communication systems, may involve mechanisms and phenomena different from those found in spoken languages. In this article I present some arguments in favor of the second view, and identify some problems that arise from the traditional perspective (based on equivalence), which can easily be solved if we adopt a proposal which acknowledges the complexity, richness and difference of sign languages as communication systems.

Keywords

• lengua de señas
• lingüística
• iconicidad
• stokoe
• cuxac