Research seminar: Calle Börstell, University of Bergen

Title: Do non-signers perceive the two hands as plural?

Abstract

Signs in sign languages can broadly be categorized as using either one or two hands. While their distribution may seem arbitrary, a series of papers pointed out that many two-handed signs share an iconic motivation of plurality, with the two hands denoting multiple entities or parts of a whole (Lepic et al. 2016; Börstell et al. 2016; Östling et al. 2018). A follow-up study found that hearing non-signers also share this association between plurality and two hands, finding that two-handed silent gestures increase with plurality (Börstell & Lepic 2025).

With this presentation, I am wrapping up this line of work with a final piece of the puzzle, exploring the perception of one- and two-handed signs in relation to plurality among non-signers.

• In a first experiment, participants see either a one- or two-handed sign one at a time and are asked to match it to the best-fitting meaning from two words: one target (plural); one control.
• In a second experiment, participants see either a target (plural) or control word and are asked to match it to the best-fitting sign from a one- and two-handed minimal pair.

The findings point to the two-handed plurality mapping being present in non-signers’ perception of signs, but while plurality is generally associated with a higher preference for two-handed forms, not all two-handed forms are necessarily plural.