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From: dr@tovna.co.il (Daniel Radzinski)
Subject: Re: Definiton for NL & NLP
Message-ID: <D23374.Czs@tovna.co.il>
Organization: Tovna Translation Machines Ltd.
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Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 11:13:51 GMT
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Michael Covington (mcovingt@ai.uga.edu) wrote:
: Daniel Radzinski (dr@tovna.co.il) wrote:
: : Michael Covington (mcovingt@ai.uga.edu) wrote:

: : : Important properties of human language include:
: ...
: : :   (2) spoken (with the human articulatory apparatus);
: ...

: : Now (2) above is clearly inaccurate, though perhaps statistically salient.
: : There is a wide consensus that sign languages, e.g. American Sign Language
: : (ASL), are full NLs. They have all the properties you mention, with the
: : exception of (2). A human language may thus be spoken or signed.

: Where I come from, the consensus is that ASL is closely related to spoken
: language and is of interest to linguists (of course), but is not quite the
: same thing.  The "phonology," for instance, is totally different.  This is
                                                 ~~~~~~~

The more people study sign language phonology (yes, that's what it's called in
spite of there being no sounds in these languages; there is no need to double-
quote), the more they see the same abstract phonological principles which apply
in spoken languages apply to sign languages as well. The medium may differ,
i.e. hands and other organs are used instead of the articulatory system, but
notions of mentally controlled length, position, movement and reduplication,
to name a few, (and constraints thereupon) play very important roles in both
cases.
--
Daniel Radzinski
Tovna Translation Machines
Jerusalem, Israel
dr@tovna.co.il
