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 markers. Sign l ...

, mouthing is the production of visual

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

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 In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...

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

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

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 American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

sign for includes a mouth gesture where the mouth is slightly open. Mouthing often originates from

oralist Oralism is the Education of the deaf, education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the Articulatory phonetics, mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech.Through Deaf Eyes. Diane Garey, Lawrence ...

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. Uganda was the second country in the world to recognize sign language in its constitution, in 1995. A ''Ugandan Sign Language Dictionary'' has been published. However, knowledge o ...

, for example, where both English and

Ganda Ganda may refer to: Places * Ganda, Angola * Ganda, Tibet, China * Ganda, the ancient Latin name of Ghent, a city in Belgium Other uses * Baganda or Ganda, a people of Uganda ** Luganda or Ganda language, a language of Uganda * ''Ganda'' and "Ga ...

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

, 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 Cued speech is a visual system of communication used with and among deaf or deafness, hard-of-hearing people. It is a phonemic-based system which makes traditionally spoken languages accessible by using a small number of handshapes, known as cue ...

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 () is the majority sign language of the Australian Deaf community. The term ''Auslan'' is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is relate ...

(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