Estudo diacrónico dos gestos da língua gestual portuguesa nos Açores

Abstract

The diachronic variation in emergent sign languages arouse great interest from the linguistic community, since this phenomenon provides with new data the characteristics of sign language emergence and allows further description of the structures and the rules of these visuospatial modality languages. This study aims to analyse the diachronic variation of the LGP variety in the Azores through a comparative analysis of the nowadays signs and attested signs from the book A Magia do Silêncio: Como Falar com as Mãos from Silva and Funk (1999). This analysis is carried out by collecting elicited productions of 333 signs by 10 deaf signers from Azores with proficiency in LGP and by phonetically and phonologically analysing the signs considering their phonological categories, phonological parameters and syllabic structures. This research also queries the perception of deaf signers’ community from Azores with the diachronic variation of their language. This was studied through a questionnaire developed for the purpose and answered by 25 deaf signers’ participants. The results show that the most analysed signs suffered total or partial change in their articulation, with great predominance in the changing of handshape phonological category, noting the critical role that this category has on the crystallization of signs. The deaf signers’ community of Azores seems to understand and follow this diachronic change, identifying it as a natural and typical transition of their languag

Date of Award	6 Jun 2016
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria da Conceição Medeiros (Supervisor) & Mara Moita (Co-Supervisor)