Introduction

Sign languages share a common inventory of properties that are used to mark prosodic constituents (e.g., nonmanuals of the face or properties of movement and rhythm; see Quer and Pfau, this volume). This chapter investigates whether there is crosslinguistic variation in the use of one prosodic cue – eye blinks – to mark prosodic constituents in sign languages. We will compare the prosodic use of blinks across four sign languages – Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL), Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS) and American Sign Language (ASL). In the last fifteen years there has been significant work done in sign language phonology with regard to prosodic structure. Miller (1996), Wilbur (1994a), Boyes Braem (1999), Wilbur and Patschke (1999), Nespor and Sandler (1999), Sandler (1999a, 1999b), Brentari and Crossley (2002), Sandler and Lillo-Martin (2006) and Eccarius and Brentari (2007) have worked on various prosodic constituents, including the Intonational Phrase, the Phonological Phrase and the Prosodic Word (also called “Phonological Word” in Nespor & Vogel 1986). The studies presented here are built upon these earlier analyses, expanding our knowledge of crosslinguistic variation of the blinks.

The following research questions are addressed in this chapter. First, how much variation exists among sign languages in their use of a prosodic cue, such as blinks? Second, if crosslinguistic variation exists, what factors condition it? Third, are blinks always associated with intonational phrases crosslinguistically?