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.