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Article: Gesture and the Nature of Semantic Phonology
- Article from:
- Sign Language Studies
- Article date:
- July 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright American Annals of the Deaf Summer 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Stokoe begins his seminal article on semantic phonology with the following complaint about the complexities of the sign phonologies that were emerging at the time (1991):
Sign phonology can be as complicated as anyone wants to make it; in this respect it differs not at all from phonology generally. As evidence for this I cite a review in the international newsletter Signpost of a book that gets to the bottom, says its reviewer, "of autosegmental, metrical, and also lexical phonology." Once highly regarded (by philosophers at least) as a safeguard against unnecessary over-elaboration, Ockham's Razor and even the computer programmers' vernacular KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid) seem to have ...