A Phonological analysis of a deaf Parkinsonian signer

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Abstract
The study of deaf signers with distinct motor disorders can provide clues to the neural substrate underlying language as motor behaviour. Moreover, since the structure of intended limb movement targets can be so clearly specified in sign language, such studies provide as well an important new vehicle for illuminating the functional properties of the motor systems of the brain. This investigation brings to bear recent theoretical models of phonological representation of American Sign Language (ASL) on an analysis of the signing deficits of a deaf signer with Parkinson's disease. We provide a detailed analysis of this subject's particular profile of phonological and phonetic disturbances in ASL in order to (1) clarify the fine motor disruptions of the limbs during the production of sign language caused by Parkinson's disease, and (2) refine models of ASL phonology. The disturbances in the subject's signing can be characterised by reductions and timing disruptions that include distalisation of movement, prolonged handshape changes and a lowered default signing space. By relating the signing of both the control and Parkinsonian subjects to a syllable template, we conclude that the signing disturbances of the Parkinsonian signer are in the domain of phonetic execution rather than in the phonological grammar itself.