Plains Indian Sign Language - Phonology

Phonology

There are four basic parameters of PISL sign: the location of the hand, its movement, shape, and orientation:

• Location—this involves the spacial placement of a sign. Signs may change meaning when placed in a different location, for example, in front of the face as opposed to in front of the torso.
• Movement—this involves, as implied, the way the hands move when forming the sign. For example, in PISL, the signs AFTERNOON and MID-DAY form minimal pairs as they are both formed exactly the same, the only difference being that MID-DAY is stationary and AFTERNOON moves from above the head to the side in an arching motion.
• Handshape—as implied, each sign takes on a certain shape in the hand, called a handshape. The handshapes of signs are a very key parameter. For example, the signs YES and I-KNOW are the same in all parameters except for the handshape; in YES the hand makes the PISL J shape, and in I-KNOW the hand takes the L shape.
• Orientation—this refers to the orientation of the palm. This is clearly seen in the PISL signs ABOVE and ADD. Both involve having the left hand act as a base from which the right hand rises, and both have the same location, movement, and handshapes; however, in ABOVE, the non-dominant hand is palm down, and in ADD the non-dominant hand is palm up.

There may be other parameters, such as facial features. However, these function like suprasegmentals, and the four parameters listed above are the more crucial.

Although the parameters of sign are listed separately below, in actuality they co-occur with the other parameters to make a single sign. It is not clear how many of the differences were distinctive (phonemic).