Phonetische Aspekte einer Didaktik der Finnischen Gebärdensprache als Fremdsprache

Abstract

Suomalaista viittomakieltä opetetaan yhä enemmän kuuleville. Tämän seurauksena on syntynyt tarve kehittää viittomakielen opetuksen metodeja sekä kouluttaa viittomakielen opettajia. Bertold Fuchsin väitöstutkimus selvitti, miten viittomakielen kielitieteellistä tutkimusta voidaan hyödyntää viittomakielen opetuksen kehitettäessä. Tutkimus keskittyi viittomakielen taidon foneettiseen osa-alueeseen, toisin sanoen käsien, pään ja kehon liikkeiden muotoon.

The aim of this study is to develop the phonetic aspects of teaching Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) as a foreign language. Like pronunciation as a part of spoken language proficiency, articulation, i.e. the exact form of the movements of the parts of the body, is one part of sign language proficiency. The main question in this study is how to teach these articulation skills to learners of FinSL.A prerequisite for teaching articulation is a detailed phonetic description of the language to be taught. For this purpose, FinSL language teaching material was transcribed using a transcription method developed by the American Sign Language (ASL) phonologists Robert Johnson and Scott Liddell. Analysis of the transcription revealed many features of how the articulators behave when signs are produced within whole sentences. By using these phonological processes signers are able to attain fluency and an appropriate signing speed. Another result of the analysis was an exact description of the interaction between manual and non-manual articulators. Phonetic analysis provided an answer to the question of what should be taught in FinSL articulation instruction. As to the question of how to teach it, articulation instruction was compared to spoken language pronunciation instruction. The similarities and differences between learning spoken languages and sign languages were discussed, and the aims and principles of sign language articulation instruction were defined. These issues are based on recent research about constructivism and foreign language teaching.At the end of the study, some articulation lessons were developed by using the teaching material which had been analysed. These lessons are directed to different learner groups at different stages of language learning.As background information, the study contains a survey of the situation of signers in Finnish society and where and by whom FinSL is taught as a foreign language.