Language Change in Filipino Sign Language Cardinal Numerals

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School of Arts & Sciences::Department of Linguistics::University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics
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Linguistics
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linguistics
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2025-11-14
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Notarte Balanquit, Liberty
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Filipino Sign Language (FSL), the community sign language across the Philippine islands, clearly demonstrates borrowing from American Sign Language (ASL) due to their history of contact dating back to early 1900s. A linguistic domain in which direct borrowing from ASL is evident is the cardinal numeral system. Over time, borrowed forms have undergone phonological changes that led to change in the morphological strategy of the numeral sign – from sequential to simultaneous. Specifically, for the numeral concepts of one hundred and one thousand and their multiples, as well as the additive series 16 to 19, FSL shows evidence of assimilation, leading to the reduction of lexical signs to mere movement patterns bound to an atom. To analyze the extent to which the ongoing change is predicted by social factors, a binomial logistic regression model was fitted to determine the effects of ASL exposure (in years), age, region, and gender on the odds of using simultaneous (reduced) forms. The model revealed that higher odds of using simultaneous forms are associated with Mindanao (odds ratio (OR)=2.97, p=0.0496) and the Visayas (OR=21.54, p=0.0002) in contrast to Luzon. Additionally, signers from the Visayas have the highest odds of using simultaneous forms (OR=7.24, p=0.0044) when compared to Mindanao and Luzon. As for the predictors of gender, ASL exposure, and age, we cannot conclude based on the current model whether the odds of using simultaneous forms (compared to sequential forms) are indeed lower in females than in males (OR=0.39, p=0.0560), among signers with longer ASL exposure (OR=0.93, p=0.1531), or among older signers (OR=0.98, p=0.4940). What is clear, in light of the present analysis, is the fact that an alternative direction of language change is also occurring, reflecting a general tendency of signers in the regions to reduce the signs for easier and faster articulation.

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2025-11-14
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Penn Working Papers in Linguistics
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Department of Linguistics
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