Natural Phonetic Processes Underlie Historical Change & Register Variation in American Sign Language

Abstract

Historical change in ASL is characterized by a variety of reduction phenomena that facilitate articulation and perception. We show that similar changes can be induced under laboratory conditions. Two experiments are reported. In the first serial transmission and speeded discourse were used in the laboratory to induce reductions in signs performed in their old forms. The changes were found to be similar to historical change; reductions occurred in both signs and non-linguistic pantomime and for both signers and non-signers, implying the work of natural phonetic processes. In the second experiment, similar reductions were exhibited in signs when they underwent register shift, from citation form to conversational form. The results of the two experiments suggest that synchronic variation and diachronic change stem from the same natural phonetic processes that favor ease of articulation and ease of perception.