Verb Agreement as Alignment in Signed Languages
G. Mathur, 2000
This thesis provides a novel way of looking at verb agreement in signed languages by using an interaction of several processes within the Distributed Morphology framework. At the center of the model is a phonological re-adjustment rule, called "alignment", which handles various forms of agreement, including orientation change, path movement, relative position of the hands, and/or a combination of these. Further evidence is taken from cross-linguistic data from American Sign Language, German Sign Language, Australian Sign Language, and Japanese Sign Language, as well as from interaction with several other morphemes. It is shown that the output of the alignment process is filtered by various phonetic constraints and may be replaced by an alternative form that does not otherwise violate phonetic constraints.
The model outlined above leads to a new typology of signs: first there are spatial verbs, followed by plain verbs which do not have two animate arguments, followed by aligning verbs which by definition have two animate arguments. These aligning verbs contain a subset of verbs that are in theory capable of undergoing alignment without violating phonetic constraints. This subset in turn contains another subset of verbs that are listed as acutally undergoing alignment in a particular language.
The model rests on the assumption that the referential use of space lies outside of the grammar. Removing the referential scope from the grammar removes the modality difference between spoken and signed languages with respect to "agreement". The remaining differences will lie in how agreement is implemented. Both spoken and signed languages make use of different processes within the morphology component to generate the agreement system (e.g. impoverishment, vocabulary insertion, and phonological readjustment rules), but otherwise they draw on the same set of processes made available by the grammar.
Thesis supervisor: Kenneth Hale
Title: Professor of Linguistics
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 9
1.1 Phonological manifestations of verb agreement in signed
languages 11
1.1.1 Change in direction of movement 12
1.1.2 Change in orientation 13
1.1.3 Change in direction of movement & orientation 14
1.1.4 Change in direction of movement & orientation in
2-handed signs 15
1.1.5 Change in orientation in two-handed signs 16
1.1.6 Other changes 17
1.1.7 Summary 21
1.2 Research questions 22
1.2.1 Rule of implementation for verb agreement in SLs 23
1.2.2 The nature of the implementation rule 24
1.2.3 Interaction with other rules 25
1.3 Previous analyses 25
1.3.1 Janis (1992) 25
1.3.2 Brentari (1998) 28
1.3.3 Meir (1998) 33
1.4 Proposal 35
1.4.1 Alignment 37
1.4.2 Phonological re-adjustment rule 38
1.4.3 Interactions with verb stem and phonetic constraints 39
1.5 Overview of thesis 39
Chapter 2 Background, assumptions, and methodology 41
2.1 Background 41
2.1.1 When do verbs agree: a typology of verbs 43
2.1.1.1 Padden (1983) 44
2.1.1.2 Janis (1992, 1995) 46
2.1.1.3 Meir (1998) 49
2.1.2 What do verbs agree in: features 51
2.1.2.1 Gender 52
2.1.2.2 Number 52
2.1.2.3 Person 53
2.1.3 Optionality of subject agreement 56
2.1.4 The case of "backwards" verbs 58
2.1.5 Summary 61
2.2 Assumptions 62
2.2.1 Animacy and (di-)transitivity 62
2.2.2 Distributed Morphology 65
2.2.3 Role of space in grammar 71
2.2.4 Assumptions about data discussed in the background 78
2.3 Methodology 86
2.3.1 Data collection 87
2.3.2 Data coding 89
Chapter 3 Alignment, a new way of looking at agreement in signed
languages at the phonological level 95
3.1 The status of movement 95
3.1.1 The different statuses of movement 96
3.1.1.1 Lexical movement 96
3.1.1.2 Conceptual movement 96
3.1.1.3 Transitional movement 99
3.1.2 The status of movement in agreeing verbs 100
3.1.3 The status of movement in backwards verbs 105
3.2 Alignment as the relevant conception of agreement 108
3.2.1 Concept of alignment 108
3.2.1.1 Linking the indices of subject & object with loci
in space 109
3.2.1.2 The stem as a sphere 110
3.2.1.3 The stem"s endpoints 111
3.2.1.4 Properties of the sphere 114
3.2.2 Alignment as a phonological process 115
3.3 ASL data in support of alignment 120
3.3.1 Change in orientation 121
3.3.2 Change in direction of movement 124
3.3.3 Change in direction of movement and orientation 128
3.3.4 Change in direction of movement, orient, relative position
of hands 131
3.3.5 Change in orientation and relative position of hands 133
3.3.6 Summary 136
3.4 Cross-linguistic data 137
Chapter 4 Interactions with other morphemes 143
4.1 "Multiple" morpheme 143
4.1.1 Insertion before alignment 144
4.1.2 Direction of arc 147
4.1.3 Combination of "multiple" and verb stem 148
4.1.4 "Multiple" and backwards verbs 150
4.2 "Exhaustive" morpheme 153
4.3 Other number morphemes 158
4.3.1 Dual form 158
4.3.2 Alternating two-handed form 159
4.3.3 Two-handed plural form 160
4.4 "Continuous" aspect 161
Chapter 5 Additional evidence for alignment 167
5.1 Some phonetic constraints in signed languages 168
5.1.1 *Shoulder rotation 169
5.1.2 *Shoulder abduction 169
5.1.3 *Radio-ulnar pronation 170
5.1.4 *Upper arm pronation 171
5.2 The linguistic status of phonetic constraints in signed languages 172
5.3 An inventory of options for aligned forms violating phonetic
constraints 175
5.3.1 Resolutions for any blocked alignment 176
5.3.2 Resolutions for blocked IPSI-to-ME and CONTRA-to-ME
forms 177
5.3.3 Resolutions for IPSI-to-CONTRA and CONTRA-to-IPSI
forms 180
5.3.4 Resolutions for blocked "multiple" forms 180
5.3.5 Resolutions for the non-dominant hand 182
5.4 Further remarks on phonetic constraints in signed languages 183
Chapter 6 Remaining issues 191
6.1 Verbs lacking first person object forms 192
6.2 Verbs with specialized movement 195
6.2.1 Phonetic constraints mask alignment 196
6.2.2 Properties of locationality vs. alignment 196
6.2.2.1 For contrastive purposes 197
6.2.2.2 Optionality 199
6.2.2.3 Indifference to the subject-object distinction 199
6.3 Verbs with initial contact on face 201
6.4 Summary 207
Chapter 7 Conclusion 211
References 217
Appendices
A Illustrations of the different verb forms 225
B American Sign Language (ASL) 227
C Deutsche Gebardensprache (DGS) 231
D Australian Sign Language (Auslan) 241
E Nihon Syuwa (NS) 257