LIN 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Handshape, Sign Language, Iconicity
2 Mar 2020
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Document Summary
Sign language has a strictly more expressive semantics than spoken language, or: The semantics of spoken language should be studied multi-modally. Physical locations of referents present in the discourse can be used for reference. Referents can be associated with areas of signing space, loci; loci are established via pointing, signing a sign in a particular area, and/or eyegaze. Both can be indexed by pronouns, pointing signs with various handshapes. In isl: handshape is pointer finger up. Rsl: handshape is body anchored; it does not agree with the locus in a manual way; it doesn"t move toward the locus; instead, it is a pointer finger pointed toward the signer. Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, etc. Isl: okay sign with pointer and thumb together. In natural language, pronouns can be bound. Whenever the pronoun doesn"t refer to a specific individual but depends on some other expression for reference. When we were leaving the house, i didn"t turn off the stove.
