Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Project MUSE  

<p lang="en"> Abstract: Through an analysis of a database of roughly 900 Japanese Sign Language (JSL) toponyms, this study undertakes an examination of social and structural factors that potentially shape JSL sign language toponym outputs. The two structural factors examined are the tendency for toponyms to index semantically transparent source morphemes, and the possible production of output constraints based on the phonological complexity of the output. The two social factors examined are the influence of proximity to deaf schools and population density. The investigation finds the tests for social influences inconclusive pending further qualitative evidence; however, an investigation of the current ethnographic literature shows, for the most part, that literacy acts as an essential, although perhaps insufficient condition for spreading exonyms, signs that index the written or spoken source name. One of the tests for structural factors provides quantitative evidence for the tendency of JSL toponyms to favor indexation to semantically transparent segments. This work contributes significantly to the etiological understanding of toponym production across sign languages.</p>

DOI： 10.1353/sls.2025.a963488

researchmap

Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.5195/names.2023.2563

Scopus

researchmap

Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.1353/SLS.2022.0011

Scopus

researchmap

Publishing type：Doctoral thesis   Publisher：UC Berkeley UMI ProQuest Dissertations & Theses  

This dissertation shows how signers mark polite register in JSL and uncovers a number of features salient to the linguistic encoding of politeness. My investigation of JSL politeness considers the relationship between Japanese sign and speech and how users of these languages adapt their communicative style based on the social context. This work examines: the Deaf Japanese community as minority language users and the concomitant effects on the development of JSL; politeness in JSL independently and in relation to spoken Japanese, along with the subsequent implications for characterizing polite Japanese communicative interaction; and the results of two studies that provide descriptions of the ways in which JSL users linguistically encode polite register. The studies show that JSL displays social indexical features with potential typological salience across sign languages.

The elaborate system of overt encoding of polite expression in Japanese speech is commonly conceived of as indicating and reinforcing the special significance of polite behavior or practice in Japanese society. Nevertheless, sign language users as members of an overlapping society use a different language, which either marks politeness contrastively or fails to signify certain aspects of politeness signaled by spoken Japanese. The structural contrasts between JSL and spoken Japanese show that a language must receive consideration in light of actual communicative practice in order to determine its relation to social norms. Additionally, the reliance of JSL on dependent segments, or nonmanuals, to mark polite expression indicates that any linguistic analysis of politeness is impoverished as long as such kinds of dependent segments, analogous to features such as prosody in spoken languages, do not receive consideration.

Since JSL and spoken Japanese represent, in a sense, two languages sharing one society, they represent a novel language contact context in which two languages segregate primarily via language modality rather than physical geography, as in the case of spoken contact languages. Using contact signed and spoken language pairs, researchers can uniquely tease apart the relation between language use and social context as a sign language is cultivated in a closely related society or ground of material relations of a preexisting spoken language.

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (international conference proceedings)  

researchmap

Responsible for pages：43-60  

researchmap

DOI： 10.1007/978-3-319-07686-7_6

researchmap

Event date： 2025.6

Language：English   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2025.1

Language：English   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

File： JGeorge revision JSL EGM poster TISLR 15 portrait 36x48 91_44x121_92cm .pdf

researchmap

Event date： 2024.10 - 2024.11

Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2021.6 - 2021.7

Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2019.9

Presentation type：Poster presentation  

Country/Region：Germany  

researchmap

The article which came in second place is entitled “Using the ANPS Typology to Unearth the Relationship Between Japanese Sign Language(JSL) Endonymic Toponym Distribution and Regional Identity”. This outstanding piece of research was authored by Dr. Johnny George, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Economics at Meiji University, in Tokyo, Japan(volume 71, no. 3:1–19). This article was roundly praised as being an exceptionally innovative piece of onomastic research which promises to make a lasting and significant scientific contribution to the study of namesin sign language.1However, as one Board member explained, it was not the subjectmatter alone which made this a stand-out piece of research.

"It is highly original in investigating and identifying multiple onomastic layers in the comparison between toponyms in Japanese and their analogs in JSL, thus in the cross-referencing between sources of toponyms (locational, eponymous, etc.) and their expression in the two languages. In addition to the clear, direct style of composition and organization, the use of charts and visuals engages the reader and helps advance the argument. Because of its combination of languages and areas of study, as well as the way it addresses regional and national adaptations, it has the potential to advance the field of onomastics on several fronts."

researchmap