Abstract:Focusing on notions of inauthentic versus authentic signing, this article is a contribution to the question of how social variation is conceptualized within the German Sign Language community. The qualitative data analysis is based on metalinguistic perceptions that were generated in ten different focus groups conducted with thirty-one Deaf sign language users. Drawing on lay-linguistic conceptualizations of the social distribution of articulatory features, the research employs theoretical concepts that are well-established in perceptual dialectology, yet hitherto underrepresented in sociolinguistic studies of sign languages. The research presented paves new ground by providing first insights into the apparent prominence of specific sign linguistic features that are perceived as crucial markers of authentic signing. Embracing emic perceptions of (in) authenticity1 as socially significant diastratic dimensions within the German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache [DGS]) community, the study further offers an extension from traditional applications of perceptual dialectology (i.e., areal mapping) to social dialectology (i.e., diastratic distribution of articulatory features).

中文翻译：

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映射（In）真实性：德国手语社会语言变异的民间描述

摘要：本文着眼于非真实手语与真实手语的概念，对德国手语社区内如何概念化社会变异的问题做出了贡献。定性数据分析基于由 31 名聋人手语用户进行的十个不同焦点小组中产生的元语言感知。该研究借鉴了发音特征的社会分布的非专业语言概念化，采用了在知觉方言学中已经确立的理论概念，但迄今为止在手语的社会语言学研究中代表性不足。该研究提供了对特定手语语言特征的明显突出的初步见解，这些特征被认为是真实手语的关键标记，从而开辟了新的领域。