An Explanation to why Auslan is a Real Language Sarah Candusso Latrobe University

Australian deaf communities use an Australian sign language known as Auslan. Auslan is a visual/spatial language that uses the hands, arms, face and the body to communicate effectively. Some people seem to believe that Auslan is transparent and miming. However, Auslan follows its own phonology, morphology and syntactic organisation, thus making it a real language. Phonology exists in a language meaning that words can be broken up into smaller parts (Hockett, 1960), which in Auslan can be found with the parameters that exist. Morphology is the study of the structure of words (Thorpe, 1997), in Auslan this includes how the signs are made up from fingerspelling or mouth patterns. Syntactic organisation is the structure of sentences (Taunt, De Laps, Doherty, Sinclair, & Waddell, 2007), and there are also certain rules in Auslan about the structure of sentences. Auslan has the same subsystems as other languages and therefore, must also be recognised as a real language. Phonology is a subsystem of a language that exists in Auslan in the form of Parameters. In speaking languages phonology includes phonemes, which are certain sounds, however Auslan is a sign language therefore parts that make up this language are non-verbal characteristics. Auslans parameters include handshape, orientation, location, movement and facial expression. In English only a certain number of sounds are possible to create words, therefore only a certain number of phonemes exist. This is much like Auslan; only a certain number of handshapes are possible to make words. In Auslan a handshape with just the ring finger up is not a handshape and cannot form any word, just like the combination of fg cannot make a word in English. Orientation is also very important in Auslan, a certain handshape can be oriented in many different ways in relation to the signers body (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). Location is another parameter that is of great importance to Auslan; for example, both

dog and cat use the same handshape yet to sign these this same handshape is used in different locations on the body, thigh for dog and hand for cat. Movement of certain handshapes is significant in Auslan, both water and funny use the same hook handshape and the same location however, their movements differ, with water the hook sweeps down the cheek whereas for funny the hook shape taps the cheek. The last phonological parameter of Auslan is non-manual features and without it Auslan could be very confusing to understand. Non-manual features include facial expression, mouth gestures and movement of both the head and the body. If all of these parameters were not used in the correct way then certain words would not make sense, much like if phonemes in English are not used correctly. English is a language that has phonemes; Auslan is also a real language that has specific parameters that form each word. Morphology is an important part of real languages and it is an important part of Auslan. In English, morphology includes prefixes and suffixes adding to words and when certain prefixes and suffixes are not used for the right word then these words do not make sense, for example, dis+happy does not make sense whereas un+happy does, even though dis can still be a negative prefix. This is the same with morphology in Auslan. Morphology in Auslan includes compounding and lexical borrowing. An example of compounding in Auslan is the sign for tomato, which is made up of the signs for RED+BALL, it would not make sense if someone signed RED+CIRCLE for tomato even though tomatoes are circular. Lexical borrowing occurs in all languages including Auslan. English borrows from Latin, Greek, Spanish and Arabic whereas Auslan borrows lexicon from other signed languages such as ASL and BSL. All languages have some kind of morphology associated with them, including real language Auslan.

Syntactic organisation includes the structure of sentences. The syntactic organisation of English varies to Auslan syntax. In Auslan there are no signs for the words is, am, are, was, were. Without these words certain sentences translated between English and Auslan would contain different syntax. For example, in Auslan Are you deaf? is signed as YOU DEAF _YOU? The difference in the way that the sentence is formed is due to different syntax rules. When asking questions in Auslan the subject is signed at the start of the question whereas in English the subject is mainly found at the end of a question. Another example is Do you have a brother? where the subject is at the end of the sentence, whereas the syntax of this sentence in Auslan is BROTHER/ (YOU) HAVE? Syntax is very important in all languages to make sense of what is being said and Auslan also has a particular syntax that must be stuck to. Auslan is a visual/spatial language that uses the hands, arms, face and the body to communicate effectively and this leads people to believe that Auslan is transparent and miming. However, Auslan follows its own phonology, morphology and syntactic organisation, thus making it a real language. Auslan is a real language as it has its on parameters, it borrows lexicon from other similar languages and it has a particular syntax unlike any other language. Auslan has similar subsystems as other languages and therefore, must also be recognised as a real language.

References Hockett, C. F. (1960). The Origin of Speech. Scientific American, 203, 89-97. Johnston, T., & Schembri, A. (2007). Australian sign language (Auslan):An Introduction to sign language linguistics, 10. Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. Sutton-Spence, R., & Woll, B. (1999). The linguistics of British Sign Language: an introduction. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press. Taunt, L., De Laps, D., Doherty, J., Sinclair, R., & Waddell, S. (2007). English Language: VCE Units 3 and 4. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Heinemann. Thorne, S. (1997). Mastering Advanced English Language. New York, New York: Palgrave.