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Abstract: In sign languages, signers habitually encode the relations between locative arguments with a complex predicate consisting of several independent morphemes, as shown by Pfau and Aboh (2012) for Sign Language of the Netherlands. In this study, I examine perseverations and movements of the non-dominant hand (H2) in Slovenian Sign Language (SZJ) locative constructions. In SZJ, the H2may be persevered after producing the two-handed Ground in locative constructions. This is shown by the data collected from seven first language SZJ informants, using a Picture Description Task. The referential location as well as the orientation and the handshape of this perseveration may change at the sign-boundary when the one-handed Figure has just been articulated and the one-handed predicate is about to be signed. Before this sign-boundary, the handshape of the persevered H2 refers to the Ground – and is therefore a Ground classifier. After that boundary, the handshape of the persevered H2 refers to the part of the Ground that is relevant for localizing the Figure – and is therefore an axial part classifier that projects aMeasure Phrase.
Keywords: locative construction, non-dominant hand perseveration, measure phrase, Slovenian Sign Language
Published in RUNG: 20.03.2018; Views: 5648; Downloads: 175
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Abstract: In both sign and spoken languages, locative relations tend to be encoded within constructions that display the non-basic word/sign order. In addition, in such an environment, sign languages habitually use a distinct predicate type – a classifier predicate – which may independently affect the order of constituents in the sentence. In this paper, I present Slovenian Sign Language (SZJ) locative constructions, in which (i) the argument that enables spatial anchoring (“ground”) precedes both the argument that requires spatial anchoring (“figure”) and the predicate. At the same time, (ii) the relative order of the figure with respect to the predicate depends on the type of predicate employed: a non-classifier predicate precedes the figure, while a classifier predicate only comes after the figure.
Keywords: locative construction, locative adposition, figure and ground, classifier predicate, Slovenian Sign Language
Published in RUNG: 06.11.2017; Views: 5750; Downloads: 0
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