Linguistic Study on the System of Personal Name Signs in Turkish Sign Language(TİD)

Abstract

Present study which is a preliminary one for the formation of personal name signs in Turkish Sign Language (TİD) aims at investigating the system of personal name signs and describing the naming behavior in TİD with reference to the categories and to the methods of forming personal name signs. To that end, twenty-five native Deaf signers of TİD have been selected as the participants of the study.The results of the study have shown that there are four categories of personal name signs in TİD: Descriptive, Arbitrary, Initialised-descriptive and Loan/borrowed name signs. These categories are the same or similar to those found in other sign languages such as ASL, BSL, ESL and NZSL. Thanks to the analysis of personal name signs according to the parameters of sign structure, results have also shown that the personal name signs in TİD observed in the study have rule-governed and systematic patterns.