This article investigates the articulation of the thumb in flat handshapes (B handshapes) in Sign Language of the Netherlands. On the basis of phonological models of handshape, the hypothesis was generated that the thumb state is variable and will undergo coarticulatory influences of neighboring signs. This hypothesis was tested by investigating thumb articulation in signs with B handshapes that occur frequently in the Corpus NGT. Manual transcriptions were made of the thumb state in two dimensions and of the spreading of the fingers in a total of 728 tokens of 14 sign types, and likewise for the signs on the left and right of these targets, as produced by 61 signers. Linear mixed-effects regression (LME4) analyses showed a significant prediction of the thumb state in the target sign based on the thumb state in the preceding as well as following neighboring sign. Moreover, the degree of spreading of the other fingers in the target sign also influenced the position of the thumb. We conclude that there is evidence for phonological models of handshapes in sign languages that argue that not all fingers are relevant in all signs. Phonological feature specifications can single out specific fingers as the articulators, leaving other fingers unspecified. We thus argue that the standard term ‘handshape’ is in fact a misnomer, as it is typically not the shape of the whole hand that is specified in the lexicon.

中文翻译：

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荷兰手语中手形的共同发音：语料库研究

本文研究了荷兰手语中扁平手形（B 手形）中拇指的发音。在手形语音模型的基础上，假设拇指状态是可变的，并且会受到相邻符号的共同发音影响。这个假设是通过调查在 Corpus NGT 中经常出现的 B 手形标志中的拇指关节来测试的。手动转录是由二维的拇指状态和手指在 14 种符号类型的总共 728 个标记中的伸展进行的，同样对于这些目标左侧和右侧的符号，由 61 个签名者生成。线性混合效应回归 (LME4) 分析表明，基于前后相邻标志中的拇指状态，可以显着预测目标标志中的拇指状态。此外，目标标志中其他手指的张开程度也会影响拇指的位置。我们得出结论，手语中的手形语音模型有证据表明，并非所有手指都与所有手势相关。语音特征规范可以将特定的手指挑出作为咬合架，而不指定其他手指。因此，我们认为标准术语“手形”实际上是用词不当，因为它通常不是词典中指定的整只手的形状。其他手指在目标标志中的伸展程度也影响了拇指的位置。我们得出结论，手语中的手形语音模型有证据表明，并非所有手指都与所有手势相关。语音特征规范可以将特定的手指挑出作为咬合架，而不指定其他手指。因此，我们认为标准术语“手形”实际上是用词不当，因为它通常不是词典中指定的整只手的形状。其他手指在目标标志中的伸展程度也影响了拇指的位置。我们得出结论，手语中的手形语音模型有证据表明，并非所有手指都与所有手势相关。语音特征规范可以将特定的手指挑出来作为咬合架，而不指定其他手指。因此，我们认为标准术语“手形”实际上是用词不当，因为它通常不是词典中指定的整只手的形状。