University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs Education ETDs 6-25-2010 EXPLORING THE ANCESTRAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: LEXICAL BORROWING FROM CISTERCIAN SIGN LANGUAGE AND FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE Keith Martin Cagle Follow this and additional works at:https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds Recommended Citation Cagle, Keith Martin. "EXPLORING THE ANCESTRAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: LEXICAL BORROWING FROM CISTERCIAN SIGN LANGUAGE AND FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE." (2010).https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ educ_llss_etds/7 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EXPLORING THE ANCESTRAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: LEXICAL BORROWING FROM CISTERCIAN SIGN LANGUAGE AND FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE BY KEITH MARTIN CAGLE B.A., Social Work, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1982 M.A., Educational Administration, California State University at Northridge, 1991 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Educational Linguistics The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May 2010 ©2010, Keith Martin Cagle iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe my deepest gratitude to my grandmother Olive E. Brown, my mother LaVerne J. Cagle, and my brother Robert L. Cagle, Jr. for their constant encouragement throughout my education and in my efforts to attain a doctorate degree. With a loving heart, this document is dedicated to them. It is with pleasure that I thank the Supalla Family: Clarence Supalla, Dr. Ted Supalla and Dr. Samuel Supalla of Oregon for planting in me the seeds of interest in American Sign Language (ASL), and in activism, which have grown since my childhood. I am grateful for Dr. Susan Fischer and Dr. Tane Akamatsu for encouraging my interest in ASL linguistics during my years at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, New York. I would like to thank Dr. Frank Caccamise at NTID for teaching me about technical signs; the collection, surveying and tallying of data; and the development of video and book materials that have subsequently been valuable to my M.A. and Ph.D. studies. I am also thankful to Dr. William Newell, my supervisor at NTID‘s Sign Communication Department, for his advice and wisdom, and for inspiring me to work in the field of American Sign Language. He ignited in me a strong interest in ASL curriculum development, evaluation and assessment, and the professionalization of our language of ASL. I want to express my gratitude to the late Sharon Carter at the California State University of Northridge for her steady support and leadership as she advised me during my work to obtain my Master‘s degree in Educational Administration. I also am grateful for Dr. Barbara Boyd, an outstanding professor at the California State University of Northridge, for guiding me in educational research. I wish to acknowledge both Emily Haynes, a student at the University of New Mexico, and Jason Zinza, author of Master ASL! Level One, who assisted me with French-English translations through their knowledge of and proficiency in French. In addition, Olivier iv Robin of Paris, France, was instrumental in coordinating both the Gardner-Webb (2001) and the University of New Mexico (2003) field trips abroad that ultimately yielded substantial data for my research. From Robin, and his deaf French faculty members, I learned so much about cross-linguistic and cross-cultural analysis. I wish to acknowledge Natusko Shimatoni, a certified Japanese Sign Language (JSL) interpreter, and Kazumi Maegawa, a deaf Japanese Sign Language teacher, both of Japan, for their assistance with the comparison of ASL lexical signs with JSL lexical signs. Furthermore, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Pamela King, an RID certified interpreter of Wilson, North Carolina, for her assistance in editing my Ph.D. dissertation. She was instrumental in assisting with English in the writing of this dissertation. This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of Dr. Melissa Alexrod and Dr. Caroline Smith at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and my close friends Adrian Archuleta, Dr. Brenda Nicodemus, Dr. Karen Naughton, Bonnie Ruby, James McFarlane and Robert Moore for their encouragement and support. It is imperative that I recognize my Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Dr. Phyllis Perrin Wilcox (Dissertation Director), Dr. Sherman Wilcox and Dr. Barbara Shaffer of the University of the New Mexico in Albuquerque, and Dr. Mary High of Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, for their encouragement and support which has enabled me to achieve my goal of completing this dissertation. They also assisted in the editing of this document. In addition, I wish to acknowledge many Deaf and hearing teachers, professionals, colleagues, peers and friends at the Washington School for the Deaf, Oregon School for the Deaf, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Rochester, California State University of Northridge, Western Maryland College, Gallaudet University, Gardner-Webb University in North v Carolina, Central Piedmont Community College in North Carolina and the University of Northern Colorado; and in the states of Washington, Oregon, New York, California, New Mexico, Colorado, and North Carolina; and through many organizations and agencies including the national American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA), the Lilac Chapter of ASLTA in Rochester, New York, the North Carolina ASLTA, the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction (DPI), New York State Department of Education, and the North Carolina Division of Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I wish to thank all for their contributions and influence in leading me to become the person I am today. vi EXPLORING THE ANCESTRAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: LEXICAL BORROWING FROM CISTERCIAN SIGN LANGUAGE AND FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE BY KEITH MARTIN CAGLE ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Educational Linguistics The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2010 EXPLORING THE ANCESTRAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: LEXICAL BORROWING FROM CISTERCIAN SIGN LANGUAGE AND FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE by KEITH MARTIN CAGLE B.A., Social Work, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1982 M.A., Educational Administration, California State University at Northridge, 1991 Ph.D., Educational Linguistics, The University of New Mexico, 2010 ABSTRACT American Sign Language (ASL) is the natural and preferred language of the Deaf community in both the United States and Canada. Woodward (1978) estimated that approximately 60% of the ASL lexicon is derived from early 19th century French Sign Language, which is known as langue des signes française (LSF). The lexicon of LSF and ASL may be derived from several sources such as gestures, home signs created by deaf individuals living with their hearing families, North American Indian sign languages, Martha Vineyard sign language, and new signs added to LSF and ASL through the generations. Before the emergence of LSF in the 18th century and ASL in the 19th century, Cistercian Sign Language (CSL) had been used extensively by monks for centuries in Europe. This dissertation explores the plausible roots of ASL prior to LSF. These ancestral roots were researched: (A) to determine, from a limited corpus of CSL, if similar phonologically and semantically related lexical items are found in LSF and ASL; (B) to determine if any of the CSL, LSF and ASL phonologically and semantically related lexical items are related simply because they are iconic forms; and (C) to determine if any of the CSL, LSF and ASL phonologically and semantically related lexical items are initialized. Analysis of the data revealed that there are numerous identical and similar signs between CSL and Early LSF, and among CSL, LSF, and ASL, indicating that lexical borrowing from CSL was a factor in the development of LSF and ASL. There is a strong viii likelihood that iconicity accounts for many of the identical and similar lexical signs that are shared among these three signed languages. There is limited evidence of the employment of initialization in the lexical borrowing that took place from CSL to LSF, and then to ASL. This analysis of lexical borrowing provides new information about the historical roots of LSF and ASL and their origins in CSL. Information about the development of ASL, and how CSL and LSF have had an impact on the present-day ASL lexicon, is a significant aspect of ASL literature and is important to include in Deaf Studies and ASL teaching curricula. ix