Mapping (In)authenticity: Folk Accounts of Sociolinguistic Variation in German Sign Language

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).

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