sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

, mouthing is the production of visual

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

s with the mouth while signing. That is, signers sometimes say or mouth a word in a spoken language at the same time as producing the sign for it. Mouthing is one of the many ways in which the face and mouth is used while signing. Although not present in all sign languages, and not in all signers, where it does occur it may be an essential (that is,

phonemic A phoneme () is any set of similar speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word from another. All languages con ...

) element of a sign, distinguishing signs which would otherwise be

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...

s; in other cases a sign may seem to be flat and incomplete without mouthing even if it is unambiguous. Other signs use a combination of mouth movements and hand movements to indicate the sign; for example, the ASL sign for includes a mouth gesture where the mouth is slightly open. Mouthing often originates from

oralist Oralism is the education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech.Through Deaf Eyes. Diane Garey, Lawrence R. Hott. DVD, PBS (Direct), 2007. Oralism ca ...

education, where sign and speech are used together. Thus mouthing may preserve an often abbreviated rendition of the spoken translation of a sign. In educated

Ugandan Sign Language Ugandan Sign Language (USL) is the deaf sign language of Uganda. History Uganda has had schools for deaf children since 1959. In 1973, the Uganda National Association of the Deaf (UNAD) was created. The first generation of students in deaf sch ...

, for example, where both English and Ganda are influential, the word for , Av", is accompanied by the mouthed syllable ''nyo'', from Ganda ''nnyo'' 'very', and , jO* ", is accompanied by ''vu'', from Ganda ''onvuma''. Similarly, the USL sign , t55bf, is mouthed ''fsh'', an abbreviation of English ''finish'', and , }HxU, is mouthed ''df''. However, mouthing may also be iconic, as in the word for (of food or drink) in ASL, UtCbf", where the mouthing suggests something hot in the mouth and does not correspond to the English word "hot". Mouthing is an essential element of cued speech and simultaneous sign and speech, both for the direct instruction of oral language and to disambiguate cases where there is not a one-to-one correspondence between sign and speech. However, mouthing does not always reflect the corresponding spoken word; when signing 'thick' in

Auslan Auslan (; an abbreviation of Australian Sign Language) is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended f ...

(Australian Sign Language), for example, the mouthing is equivalent to spoken ''fahth''. In a 2008 edition of ''Sign Language & Linguistics'', there is a study that discusses similarities and differences in mouthing between three different European sign languages. It goes into detail about mouthings, adverbial mouth gestures, semantically empty mouth gestures, enacting mouth gestures, and whole face gestures. Linguists do not agree on how to best analyze mouthing. It is an open question as to whether they form a part of the phonological system or whether they are a product of simultaneous code-blending. Another question is whether mouthings are an inherent part of the lexicon or not.Racz-Engelhardt, Szilard. ''Morphological Properties of Mouthings in Hungarian Sign Language (MJNY): A Corpus-based Study''. Diss. Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky, 2016.

References

*Dorothy Lule and Lars Wallin, 2010, "Transmission of sign languages in Africa". In Brentari, ed, ''Sign Languages''. Cambridge University Press.

References

See also