Verb Agreement as Alignment in Signed Languages

G. Mathur, 2000

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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