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research-article

The Influence of Chinese Characters on Chinese Sign Language

Published: 15 January 2024 Publication History

Abstract

Chinese Sign Language (CSL) and Chinese are languages used in the Chinese mainland. As a dominant language, Chinese has great influence on all levels of CSL. CSL, as a visual sign language, is fundamentally different from Chinese in linguistic structure. Unlike English, Chinese, as a pictograph, has influence on Chinese and CSL. This study explains in detail the influence of Chinese characters on CSL at the lexical level, including many elements from Chinese, such as “仿字 fangzi” (form imitating Chinese characters), “书空 shukong” (writing in the air with the index finger), loan translation, finger spelling, and mouthing patterns. This influence is not a simple borrowing of Chinese characters, but a creative imitation and adaptation according to the needs of sign language to express meaning. After a long period of evolution, the characteristics of Chinese characters are naturally integrated into CSL loanwords, which makes the relationship between sign language and Chinese characters closer. CSL borrows a large number of Chinese words, most of which are signs to express non-core concepts. These borrowed signs are an indispensable part of the CSL sign language family, enrich sign language vocabulary, improve the accuracy of sign language expression, and play a positive role in promoting the learning, work, and lives of deaf people.

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    Published In

    cover image ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing
    ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing  Volume 23, Issue 1
    January 2024
    385 pages
    EISSN:2375-4702
    DOI:10.1145/3613498
    Issue’s Table of Contents

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 15 January 2024
    Online AM: 08 April 2023
    Accepted: 24 March 2023
    Revised: 03 January 2023
    Received: 13 October 2022
    Published in TALLIP Volume 23, Issue 1

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    Author Tags

    1. Chinese Sign Language
    2. Chinese characters
    3. fangzi
    4. shukong

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    • ‘Research on Word Formation Motivation and Cognitive Neuromechanism of New signs in Chinese Sign Language' of the National Social Science Foundation of China

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