Sociolinguistic variation in NZSL

This project (2005–2007) investigated how variable linguistic features of NZSL are related to the social characteristics of signers (region, age, gender, and ethnicity).  The project examined variation in lexical, phonological and grammatical features.

The quantitative research design was modelled on similar studies of sociolinguistic variation in other sign languages, enabling crosslinguistic comparison:

• American Sign Language (ASL) (Lucas, Bayley & Valli 2001)
• Australian Sign Language (Auslan) (Schembri & Johnston 2004)

NZSL data was collected from 150 Deaf people representing regions, age groups, genders, and Māori/European ethnicity. Data was transcribed in ELAN and Varbrul was used to measure correlation between linguistic and social variables.

Findings confirm that NZSL exhibits the kinds of socially patterned variation found in other languages. Variation in the lexicon is related to age and to some extent, region. Phonological and syntactic variation was mainly related to internal linguistic factors, rather than social factors.

Results have been applied to the development of teaching resources, to interpreter training, and to the NZSL online dictionary.

Funding

This study was supported by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Reports, presentations and publications

McKee, Rachel and David McKee. 2011. "Old Signs, New Signs, Whose Signs? Sociolinguistic Variation in the New Zealand Sign Language Lexicon." Sign Language Studies 11(4) 485-527. http://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2011.0012

McKee, Rachel, Adam Schembri, David McKee , and  Trevor Johnston. 2011. "Variable Subject Presence in Australian Sign Language and New Zealand Sign Language". Language Variation and Change 23 (3). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394511000123

McKee, David, Rachel McKee and George Major. 2011. "Numeral variation in New Zealand Sign Language." Sign Language Studies 12 (1). http://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2011.0015

Schembri, Adam, David McKee, Rachel McKee, Sara Pivac, Trevor Johnston, and Della Goswell. 2009. "Phonological Variation and Change in Australian and New Zealand Sign Languages: The Location Variable." Language Variation and Change 21( 2). 193-231. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394509990081

McKee, Rachel, Josefina Safar, and Sara Pivac Alexander. 2021. "Form, Frequency and Sociolinguistic Variation in Depicting Signs in New Zealand Sign Language." Language and Communication 79 (July). 95-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2021.04.003

• pdf408.3KBSociolinguistic Variation in NZSL Final report - plain English