Numeral incorporation is a moderately productive process in ASL which combines a numeral and a base to form a compounded fully formed sign. Numeral-incorporated signs involve some sort of simultaneity of the base and the numeral. I interviewed six individuals who use ASL as their primary language in order to gather examples of numeral-incorporated signs in ASL, thus getting a sampling of variation in the American deaf community.
Traditionally, numeral incorporation has been viewed as a process of combining a numeral sign with a noun, which I call a source sign. Instead, I found that the source signs are separate lexical items and are different than the bases used in numeral incorporation. While some of these source signs are homophonous with certain numeral-incorporated forms, others are different. Incorporation also occurs when the forms of the source and incorporated signs are different or when no source sign corresponds to the base.
Numeral-incorporated signs are formed from a numeral and a base. Some numeral-incorporated signs can be modified with additional derivational morphology while others cannot. Incorporated bases can be grouped into categories that have phonetic or semantic similarities. Also, the production of numeral-incorporated signs varies between signers and sometimes for one signer. The pronunciation of any one numeral-incorporated sign can vary in handshape, orientation, or movement. The numeral ranges for which numerals can incorporate into numeral-incorporated signs also vary according to signer and according to the base.
Numeral-incorporated signs can be represented autosegmentally using Sandler's hand-tier diagrams. The hand-tier diagrams show the features of the numeral and the base as well as the resulting compound. The hand-tier diagrams can also show signer variation.
","abstract_html":"<p>Numeral incorporation is a moderately productive process in ASL which combines a numeral and a base to form a compounded fully formed sign. Numeral-incorporated signs involve some sort of simultaneity of the base and the numeral. I interviewed six individuals who use ASL as their primary language in order to gather examples of numeral-incorporated signs in ASL, thus getting a sampling of variation in the American deaf community.</p> <p>Traditionally, numeral incorporation has been viewed as a process of combining a numeral sign with a noun, which I call a source sign. Instead, I found that the source signs are separate lexical items and are different than the bases used in numeral incorporation. While some of these source signs are homophonous with certain numeral-incorporated forms, others are different. Incorporation also occurs when the forms of the source and incorporated signs are different or when no source sign corresponds to the base.</p> <p>Numeral-incorporated signs are formed from a numeral and a base. Some numeral-incorporated signs can be modified with additional derivational morphology while others cannot. Incorporated bases can be grouped into categories that have phonetic or semantic similarities. Also, the production of numeral-incorporated signs varies between signers and sometimes for one signer. The pronunciation of any one numeral-incorporated sign can vary in handshape, orientation, or movement. The numeral ranges for which numerals can incorporate into numeral-incorporated signs also vary according to signer and according to the base.</p> <p>Numeral-incorporated signs can be represented autosegmentally using Sandler's hand-tier diagrams. The hand-tier diagrams show the features of the numeral and the base as well as the resulting compound. The hand-tier diagrams can also show signer variation.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Jones, Vanessa L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Linguistics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["J. Albert Bickford"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:26:30Z","subjects":["American Sign Language (ASL)","Autosegmental","Morphology","Numeral incorporation","Phonology","Sign Language","Linguistics","Sign Languages"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.und.edu/theses/1551","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["J. Albert Bickford"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Jones, Vanessa L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Linguistics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["American Sign Language (ASL)","Autosegmental","Morphology","Numeral incorporation","Phonology","Sign Language","Linguistics","Sign Languages"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.und.edu/theses/1551"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Numeral incorporation is a moderately productive process in ASL which combines a numeral and a base to form a compounded fully formed sign. Numeral-incorporated signs involve some sort of simultaneity of the base and the numeral. I interviewed six individuals who use ASL as their primary language in order to gather examples of numeral-incorporated signs in ASL, thus getting a sampling of variation in the American deaf community.
Traditionally, numeral incorporation has been viewed as a process of combining a numeral sign with a noun, which I call a source sign. Instead, I found that the source signs are separate lexical items and are different than the bases used in numeral incorporation. While some of these source signs are homophonous with certain numeral-incorporated forms, others are different. Incorporation also occurs when the forms of the source and incorporated signs are different or when no source sign corresponds to the base.
Numeral-incorporated signs are formed from a numeral and a base. Some numeral-incorporated signs can be modified with additional derivational morphology while others cannot. Incorporated bases can be grouped into categories that have phonetic or semantic similarities. Also, the production of numeral-incorporated signs varies between signers and sometimes for one signer. The pronunciation of any one numeral-incorporated sign can vary in handshape, orientation, or movement. The numeral ranges for which numerals can incorporate into numeral-incorporated signs also vary according to signer and according to the base.
Numeral-incorporated signs can be represented autosegmentally using Sandler's hand-tier diagrams. The hand-tier diagrams show the features of the numeral and the base as well as the resulting compound. The hand-tier diagrams can also show signer variation.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Numeral incorporation in American Sign Language"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["J. Albert Bickford"],"dc:creator":["Jones, Vanessa L."],"dc:description.abstract":["Numeral incorporation is a moderately productive process in ASL which combines a numeral and a base to form a compounded fully formed sign. Numeral-incorporated signs involve some sort of simultaneity of the base and the numeral. I interviewed six individuals who use ASL as their primary language in order to gather examples of numeral-incorporated signs in ASL, thus getting a sampling of variation in the American deaf community.
Traditionally, numeral incorporation has been viewed as a process of combining a numeral sign with a noun, which I call a source sign. Instead, I found that the source signs are separate lexical items and are different than the bases used in numeral incorporation. While some of these source signs are homophonous with certain numeral-incorporated forms, others are different. Incorporation also occurs when the forms of the source and incorporated signs are different or when no source sign corresponds to the base.
Numeral-incorporated signs are formed from a numeral and a base. Some numeral-incorporated signs can be modified with additional derivational morphology while others cannot. Incorporated bases can be grouped into categories that have phonetic or semantic similarities. Also, the production of numeral-incorporated signs varies between signers and sometimes for one signer. The pronunciation of any one numeral-incorporated sign can vary in handshape, orientation, or movement. The numeral ranges for which numerals can incorporate into numeral-incorporated signs also vary according to signer and according to the base.
Numeral-incorporated signs can be represented autosegmentally using Sandler's hand-tier diagrams. The hand-tier diagrams show the features of the numeral and the base as well as the resulting compound. The hand-tier diagrams can also show signer variation.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.und.edu/theses/1551"],"dc:subject":["American Sign Language (ASL)","Autosegmental","Morphology","Numeral incorporation","Phonology","Sign Language","Linguistics","Sign Languages"],"dc:title":["Numeral incorporation in American Sign Language"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Linguistics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:26:30Z"}