Cherology, AlloSures, Cherological Processes, and Language Variation Notes

Administrative Logistics & Assessment Guidelines

Cloud Recording Access & Troubleshooting:
- Lecture recordings are stored on the CCM (Course Management System) portal.
- To access recordings, log into the CCM page, navigate to the Lecture Room section, and click on the Cloud Recording link situated next to the scheduled Zoom meeting links.
- If encountering an "expired session" or authentication error across devices (laptop, iPad, or mobile phone), copy the password text string displayed on the link interface page directly and paste it manually into the passcode prompt.
Receptive Skills Test Details (Test $1$ ):
- Tentative Date: October $16$ during the scheduled lecture time slot (falling within the final week of the mid-semester examination window).
- Material Covered: Content, vocabulary, and signs taught across Tutorials $1$ through $5$ .
- Revision Schedule: The week of October $12$ does not contain new tutorial material (no Tutorial $6$ list); the class will conduct a structured revision session prior to the test on Friday, October $16$ .
- Test Format: An online visual comprehension examination administered via the CCM portal. Students view a video recording of a tutor signing a narrative and answer short-answer comprehension questions based on the visual narrative.
- Duration: Approximately $40$ to $45$ \text{ minutes}, adjusted according to narrative length.\n * **Access Window & Batch Scheduling**:\n * The portal remains open for a total window of 3 $\text{ hours}$ , commencing at $4:00$ \text{ PM} $Jamaica Time ($ 5:00 $\text{ PM}$ Eastern Standard Time).
  - Testing is conducted in sequential batches, with each batch assigned a $1$ \text{ hour} testing slot.\n * Students with scheduling conflicts (such as regular 7:00 $\text{ PM}$ classes) must notify the course administrator via email prior to the test to be scheduled in the earliest batch.
- Campus Link Allocation:
  - Mona Campus and SVGCC (St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College) students access their assessment using a shared, unified portal link.
  - Other student groups (such as KVL) access a separate link featuring their campus-specific tutor signing the story.
  - Taking the incorrect campus test link results in a grade of $0$ .
- Proctoring Rules & Testing Protocols:
  - Students must log into the designated Zoom lecture room with webcams turned on for live invigilation throughout the test.
  - If testing on a tablet or laptop, a secondary device may be used to maintain the Zoom video feed.
  - Students are permitted to rewatch the signed narrative video multiple times during the session.
  - No paper, note-taking, or external physical reference materials are permitted in the testing area.
  - Recommended strategy: Read all comprehension questions first, then watch the video and type answers directly into the designated blank text response boxes.
Course Assessment Structure Overview:
- The course does not utilize traditional mid-semester or end-of-semester written examinations on the main university timetable.
- Evaluations consist of four specific tests:
  1. Receptive Skills Test (administered mid-course).
  2. Theory Test (administered at the end of the course following teaching completion).
  3. Expressive Skills Test (administered at the end of the course following teaching completion).
  4. Capstone Test (administered at the end of the course following teaching completion).

Cherology Foundations & AlloSures

Cheremic Framework:
- Cherology (Phonology): The study of the formal structural units of sign language.
- Cheremes (Sharings): The minimal, non-meaningful contrastive structural components that constitute a sign.
- The five primary parameters of a sign are:
  1. Handshape
  2. Location
  3. Movement
  4. Palm Orientation
  5. Non-Manual Signals / Markers (NMS)
- Minimal Pairs: Pairs of signs that differ in only one structural parameter (chereme) while maintaining identical forms in all other parameters, yielding distinct semantic meanings.
AlloSures (Allochires):
- Definition: An AlloSure (or Allochir) is a non-contrastive phonetic variant of a specific chereme (sharing) that does not alter the underlying semantic meaning of the sign.
- Spoken Language Analogy: AlloSures are directly equivalent to allophones in spoken languages (such as the varied phonetic realizations of the consonant sound $/t/$ in the word "butter" across Jamaican, British, and North American accents, which change phonetic execution without altering word identity).
- Signed Example:
  - The sign SORRY conventionally uses an S handshape moving in a circular motion on the chest.
  - Executing SORRY using an open A handshape represents an AlloSure. Modifying the handshape parameter from S to A preserves complete semantic equivalency.
Generation of AlloSures:
- AlloSures are not arbitrarily invented; they are rule-governed, natural language occurrences that develop subconsciously.
- Driven primarily by the Principle of Least Effort (ease of physical articulation), allowing signers to maximize physical fluidity while ensuring perceptual clarity for the observer.

Cherological Processes

Definition: Systematic structural processes in which neighboring signs or surrounding environments influence articulatory parameters, transforming citation forms into contextual variants.
Metathesis:
- Definition: A cherological process involving a reversal or change in the sequential order of structural segments within a sign (or spoken word).
- Mechanism: The initial location/orientation switches places with the final location/orientation.
- Spoken Language Analogy: Pronouncing "film" as "flim".
- Sign Language Examples:
  - DEAF: Citation form contacts the cheek/chin first and terminates at the ear. Under metathesis, the sequence flips to initiate at the ear and terminate at the chin/cheek.
  - HOME: Citation form moves from the ipsilateral cheek to the temple. Metathesis reverses this path, starting at the temple and ending at the cheek.
  - LAW: Vertical contact sequence along the palm can invert from top-to-bottom to bottom-to-top.
Deletion:
- Definition: The complete omission or removal of a structural segment from a sign.
- Weak Hand Deletion: Omitting the non-dominant (passive) hand during the production of a two-handed sign, yielding a one-handed variant.
  - Condition 1: Occurs when both hands perform identical shapes and movements (e.g., HAPPY, HAVE).
  - Condition 2: Occurs when the non-dominant hand functions purely as a stationary, non-moving base (e.g., WEEK).
- Hold Deletion (Pause Deletion):
  - The elimination of the structural pause or hold segment that normally separates individual root signs when they are joined to form compound signs.
Movement Epenthesis:
- Definition: The insertion or addition of a transitional movement segment between signs.
- Compounding Dynamics: Hold deletion and movement epenthesis occur simultaneously during sign compounding.
- Examples:
  - HUSBAND: Compounded from BOY + MARRY. The hold between BOY and MARRY is deleted, and a transitional movement segment is inserted to yield a unified compound.
  - SISTER: Compounded from GIRL + SAME. Omission of the inter-sign pause combined with movement epenthesis creates a single continuous fluid movement.
Assimilation:
- Definition: A process wherein a sign adopts structural features (handshape, location, movement, or orientation) from an adjacent sign in its immediate articulatory environment.
- Handshape Assimilation Example:
  - In the signed sequence GIRL SORRY, the sign SORRY assimilates to the preceding sign GIRL by retaining GIRL's open A handshape rather than shifting to the citation S handshape.
- Location Assimilation Examples:
  - BELIEVE: Compounded from THINK + MARRY. The contact location for THINK shifts from the temple toward the central forehead/midline location to assimilate with the midline position of MARRY.
  - WIFE: Compounded from FEMALE/WOMAN + MARRY. The initial contact location shifts down from the cheek toward the chin, assimilating toward the midline signing space of MARRY.
Reduction:
- Definition: The structural simplification of a sign's internal features or signing space envelope to streamline physical production.
- Segmental Reduction (Deletion): Omitting internal fingerspelled letters in calendar/temporal terms.
  - FEBRUARY: Simplified from F-E-B to F-B.
  - OCTOBER: Simplified from O-C-T to O-C.
- Spatial Reduction: Contracting the physical physical signing space or excursion boundary (e.g., executing the sign GO with a localized wrist gesture rather than full arm movement).

Language Variation & Sociolinguistic Dynamics

Definition of Language Variation:
- Systemic structural modifications across phonological, syntactic, lexical, or semantic levels that occur within a speech/sign community beyond citation forms.
Causal Factors of Variation:
- Geographical Isolation: Physical separation across territories (e.g., distinct island communities in the Caribbean) leading to localized linguistic conventions.
- Place of Origin: Regional background imparting persistent accents or signing styles despite geographical relocation.
- Family of Origin & Micro-Social Networks: Primary linguistic modeling from family members and immediate social circles, producing shared voice or signing characteristics.
- Social Identifiers: Age, gender, socioeconomic status, and peer group networks.
Structural Levels of Variation:
- Phonological / Accent Variation: Divergent phonetic/cheremic realizations of identical words or signs (e.g., regional pronunciations of "butter" as $\text{butter}$ , $\text{budder}$ , or glottalized $\text{bu'er}$ ; dropping initial $/h/$ in "hush").
- Syntactic / Grammatical Variation: Divergent grammatical rule sets across regional varieties.
  - Possessive Marking Example: Jamaican Creole utilizes object personal pronouns ( $\text{him book}$ ), whereas Trinidadian Creole utilizes subject personal pronouns ( $\text{he book}$ ).
  - Word Order Variations: Modifier-head ordering shifts (e.g., "curry chicken" versus "chicken curry").
- Lexical Variation: The use of entirely distinct words or signs to represent an identical concept.
  - Botanical Naming: The fruit designated as "guinep" in Jamaica is termed "ackee" in St. Vincent, "chennette" in Trinidad, and "kinep" in other Caribbean islands.
  - Semantic Divergence: The word "hush" functions as an empathetic expression of comfort in Jamaican Creole, whereas in Trinidadian context, it is interpreted as an abrupt command to be silent.
Analytical Framework: Variable vs. Variant:
- Variable: The underlying structural feature under investigation that exhibits potential for variation (e.g., possessive marking structure, consonant $/t/$ sound, sign contact location).
- Variant: The specific realized form produced in speech or sign (e.g., $\text{he book}$ vs. $\text{him book}$ , A handshape vs. S handshape).
Mutual Intelligibility:
- Definition: The degree to which speakers or signers of different language varieties or dialects can understand one another without specialized instruction.
- High Mutual Intelligibility: Present when structural and lexical overlap allows clear cross-comprehension (e.g., communication across regional parishes in Jamaica; interactions between Jamaican Creole and Trinidadian English Creole speakers).
- Low / Absent Mutual Intelligibility: Present when structural divergence prevents cross-comprehension (e.g., interactions between English Creole speakers and French-lexified Creole speakers; non-matching signed or spoken natural languages such as English and French).

Questions & Discussion

Recording Access & Passcode Resolution:
- Question: Why do cloud recording links display an expired status on personal tablets or mobile phones?
- Response: Access must be launched directly through the CCM portal's lecture link page. If auto-filled passcodes fail, copy the passcode displayed directly above the recording link and paste it into the password field.
Scope of Assessment Coverage:
- Question: Which tutorial modules are included in the Receptive Skills Test?
- Response: The assessment covers all signs, vocabulary, and visual comprehension structures taught in Tutorials $1$ through $5$ .