Phonological Characterization of Interjective and Non-Interjective Signal-Expressions

Abstract

According to Xavier (2006), non-manual markers (NMMs) can have several functions, one of which is lexical. Lexically specified facial expressions are closely related to the semantics of a sign and can assume specific meanings. The studies by Pfau and Quer (2010), in turn, analyze and present the functions of NMMs in several sign languages, also demonstrating that linguistically significant NMMs should be distinguished from affective NMMs. In this research, our objective is to: 1) identify the use of NMMs as non-interjective signs, that is, as carriers of lexical content with word value; 2) then distinguish them from the uses of NMMs as interjections. To this end, we searched for videos produced spontaneously by deaf people on the YouTube platform. Ten signs were collected that do not have a manual mark in their execution and that, however, express meaning through NMMs. We categorized NM lexical items into two groups: Interjections, which convey emotions or states of thought of the speaker or signer (Klimsa, 2022); and Non-interjective Signs, or those in which we identified other categories (verb, nouns, etc.). We observed that interjections used the same amount of mouthings and mouth gestures, which may be related to emotions. In the case of non-interjective signs, there was a significant number of mouthings (28.6%) when compared to mouth gestures (4.8%). This is possibly due to the influence of the spoken language. However, future research should consider the signer's linguistic background and a more expressive number of signs to confirm our analysis.