A Grammar of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT)

The movement component of signs is described in terms of path movements and secondary movements (sometimes also called hand-internal or local movements). Path movements consist of a setting change (i.e., the hand moves from one location on the body or in the signing space to another) and will be discussed in PHONOLOGY 1.3.1. Secondary movements consist of changes in orientation and/or hand configuration, and are the subject of PHONOLOGY 1.3.2. Before we enter the discussion of movement types, however, we address some issues that are relevant for phonological movement in general.

Firstly, it is generally claimed that signs are only well-formed when they contain at least one movement component; this has led researchers to compare sign language movement to vowels in spoken language syllables (see PHONOLOGY 2.1.1).

Secondly, movements can have certain characteristics or features that make them phonologically distinct from each other. Some of these features are to some extent theoretically grounded, and it is outside the goal of this grammar cover them profoundly, but there are three manner features (i.e., specifying the manner of movement) worth mentioning because there are clear minimal pairs that show their distinguishing potential: tenseness, repetition and directionality. Repetition is relevant for both path and secondary movements, and will be described here, whereas tenseness and directionality (including alternation) only apply to path movements, and are therefore addressed in PHONOLOGY 1.3.1. A minimal pair that is distinguished by repetition are the signs dry (droog) (non-repeated, see Figure 2.18a) and homework (repeated, see Figure 2.18b). The characteristic [repetition] is thus a phonological movement feature.

Figure 2.18. The minimal pair dry (a) and homework (b), differing only in the specification for repetition: non-repeated vs. repeated.