Embodiment of sexuality by Israeli Sign Language signers and hearing Hebrew speakers

Abstract

Language is a key resource for speakers and signers to index different aspects of their social identities, such as their ethnicities and sexualities. Yet, for users of sign language – who exploit movements of the hands, face, head and torso for linguistic purposes – it is often assumed that any communicative movement of the body is part of a sign language rather than a general feature of the body's potential to communicate social meaning, shared by hearing and deaf individuals. In this study, we test this claim by comparing the movement features produced by gay and straight Israeli Sign Language signers to the gestural movements produced by gay and straight Hebrew speakers. The findings reveal that deaf gay signers and hearing gay gesturers exploit similar movements of the body. By incorporating the notion of embodiment into sign language sociolinguistics, we can better conceptualize the relationship between sign language and social identities.