My name is Maria Kopf and I would like to present my master's thesis below. The master's thesis was written in the field of sign language at the Institute of German Sign Language and Deaf Communication (IDGS) at the University of Hamburg in 2020. It was supervised by Prof. Dr. Annika Herrmann and Dr. phil. Verena Krausneker. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at maria.kopf@uni-hamburg.de. I am also happy to communicate in DGS video format.
What did I investigate?
In my master's thesis, I examined how gender-sensitive formulations appear in German Sign Language (DGS). I use the term gender as an umbrella term for biological sex and social gender (in German often also referred to as Gender). In German spoken language, genders can be emphasized, for example, the female gender by the suffix -in (e.g., Arbeiterin). However, gender can also be abstracted, for example, by including all genders, as with the gender star (e.g., Student*innen). I wondered whether there are similar strategies in DGS. During my research, other questions also arose: for example, whether there are sexist signs and gender (=grammatical gender) in DGS.
What did I do?
First, I researched various topics. Among other things, I looked for literature on previous research. I learned how to refer to and describe people in DGS. I looked at gender in spoken languages and read a lot about language guides on gender-sensitive language in spoken German. In addition, I looked for information on how gender can be expressed in different sign languages. After this intensive literature review, I met with deaf and hearing experts and talked to them about the topic. This resulted in seven expert interviews in DGS, German spoken language, and German written language with six deaf and one hearing person. I then transcribed the interviews. To do this, I had to translate them into written German. I would like to emphasize here that I am not a trained interpreter, so the transcripts are probably not error-free. However, I discussed difficult passages with an interpreter. I analyzed the transcripts using coding, which means that I highlighted frequently occurring topics in color, then compared the content and tried to draw conclusions from it. This is how I arrived at my results.
What did I find out?
Designations of persons
• Waldemar Schwager wrote back in 2012 that there is no gender in DGS. This is also confirmed by the interviews I conducted. • At the semantic level (=the meaning of words), however, there are gender categories. For example, there is not only the sign for PARENTS, but also a sign for female parents (MOTHER) and male parents (FATHER).
•The interviews also revealed that there are discriminatory signs in DGS. For example, some variants of the sign for WOMAN refer to physical sexual characteristics or stereotypical appearances and behaviors. Some experts believed that these signs convey a negative assessment. Mouth movements and facial expressions can also be discriminatory.
• There are various options for gender-sensitive formulations in DGS. Genders can be emphasized and thus made visible through lexical marking. To do this, appellatives (= names for groups of people) such as WOMAN, INTER, FLUID, MAN, and other signs are combined with personal designations. The signs are usually signed after the personal designation, sometimes with the signs INDEX or SELBST (self) in front of them:
ARBEIT+FRAU / WORK+WOMAN
ARBEIT+INDEX+FLUID / WORK+INDEX+FLUID
ARBEIT+SELBST+MANN / WORK+SELF+MAN
• Marking with a suffix (= appended word part, e.g., -in) is also possible, but I could only find suffixes for the gender categories female and non-binary:
ARBEIT+IN (weiblich) / WORK+IN (female))
ARBEIT+X (nicht-binär) / WORK+X (non-binary)
ARBEIT+STERN+IN (nicht-binär) / WORK+STAR+IN (non-binary)
• Similarly, mouth shapes can be used for specification and abstraction. To specify gender, mouth shapes such as "woman" and "man" are clearly articulated; to abstract it, mouth shapes are shortened, for example, to "ma" for painter (Maler).
• To abstract gender, the gesture PERSON can also be used:
ARBEIT+PERSON / WORK+PERSON
• For a group of people, the gender star can also be used for abstraction:
ARBEIT+STERN+PERSON / WORK+STAR+PERSON
• Pronouns are expressed in DGS using an INDEX. The INDEX is gender-neutral and can be used equally for all genders.
The suffix -IN
• Experts reported that the suffix probably originated in northern Germany and was already in use in the 1980s.
• The suffix can be added to names of persons, but it remains to be seen exactly which ones. However, it seems to be used most frequently with job titles.
• Semantically, the -IN refers to a single female person and can therefore be classified as part of the strategy of making women visible.
• According to experts, the -IN ending is used particularly by interpreters and teachers. In addition, hearing people seem to use it more than deaf people. The -IN ending is primarily observed in Hamburg and Berlin.
• Whether or not the -IN suffix is used by individuals can be due to a variety of reasons, including political views, attitudes toward gender identity, and habit. Another influencing factor is the image that comes to mind when seeing signs such as PROFESSOR.
Discriminatory gestures
• Why a sign is discriminatory could not be fully clarified. Possible reasons include the images associated with the signs, facial expressions, and mouth shapes. To ensure non-discriminatory language use, experts recommend paying attention to how a group wants to be referred to and how it does not want to be referred to. This topic is the subject of intense debate within the sign language community, both online and offline.
Role assumption
• I identified two ways of expressing a person's gender in role-playing (constructed action). Either the information about the person's gender can be provided before the role-playing begins, or socially learned behavior can be copied during the role-playing. However, the idea of two genders (male and female) still seems to be very strong, especially in role-playing. In addition, typical stereotypical gender images are often used for this purpose.
Why is this interesting?
The way we sign and talk about people can influence how we think about them, or even whether we think about them at all. If we only ever sign about men, we don't think about other genders. By collecting different formulations, people can freely decide how they want to express themselves. If there is no information about what phrases are available, they cannot be used. These phrases are also important for interpreters so that they can convey gender-sensitive language clearly and correctly between languages. This raises exciting questions for research, for example about linguistic categories such as gender, or different ways of forming words.
Literature: Schwager, Waldemar (2012). Morphologie: Bildung und Modifikation von Gebärden. In H. Eichmann, M. Hansen & J. Heßmann (Hrsg.), Handbuch deutsche Gebärdensprache. Sprachwissenschaftliche und anwendungsbezogene Perspektiven (Internationale Arbeiten zur Gebärdensprache und Kommunikation Gehörloser, Band 50, 61-110). Seedorf: Signum.
A big thank you to everyone involved!
