1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Sign Language & Linguistics
  4. Volume 21, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 21, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1387-9316
  • E-ISSN: 1569-996X
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

German Sign Language (DGS) displays variation in the simple plural, the form of which is conditioned by classes of phonological features within the lexicon. As a consequence, the overt realization of the plural marker is restricted to a small set of nouns specified for the appropriate phonological features, while the rest are left bare (Pfau & Steinbach 20052006Steinbach 2012). Pfau & Steinbach (2005) report a number of ‘alternative pluralization strategies’ available as repairs for this underspecification, including classifier constructions, spatial localization, and number and quantifier phrases. I propose a previously undescribed mechanism for plural marking, the ‘classifier-based plural morpheme’ (CLP), grammaticalized from the classifier system into a morpheme in the grammars of individual DGS signers. Elicitation data show that this morpheme attaches only to nouns which are specified for phonological features that restrict the realization of the canonical plural marker, adding a new option to the range of pluralization strategies available.

© John Benjamins
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/sll.00012.her
2018-10-19
2020-04-07

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/sll.00012.her
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aronoff, Mark , Irit Meir & Wendy Sandler
    2005 The paradox of sign language morphology. Language81. 301–344.10.1353/lan.2005.0043
     https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2005.0043 [Google Scholar]
  2. Hopper, Paul & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
    2003 Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139165525
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139165525 [Google Scholar]
  3. Keller, Jörg
    1998 Aspekte der Raumnutzung in der Deutschen Gebärdensprache. Hamburg: Signum Verlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Kornfilt, Jaklin
    1997 Turkish. New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Nash, David
    1986 Topics in Warlpiri grammar. New York: Garland.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Perniss, Pamela
    2007 Space and iconicity in German Sign Language (DGS). Nijmegen: Radboud UniversiteitPhD dissertation.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Pfau, Roland & Markus Steinbach
    2005 Plural formation in German Sign Language: Constraints and strategies. In Helen Leuninger & Daniela Happ (eds.), Gebärdensprachen: Struktur, Erwerb, Verwendung, 569–594. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. 2006 Pluralization in sign and speech: A cross-modal typological study. Linguistic Typology10. 135–152.10.1515/LINGTY.2006.006
     https://doi.org/10.1515/LINGTY.2006.006 [Google Scholar]
  9. Steinbach, Markus
    2012 Plurality. In Roland Pfau , Markus Steinbach & Bencie Woll (eds.), Sign language – An international handbook, 112–135. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110261325.112
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110261325.112 [Google Scholar]
  10. Rathmann, Christian
    2000 The optionality of agreement phrase: Evidence from signed languages. Austin, TX: University of TexasMA thesis.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/sll.00012.her
Loading
A new classifier-based plural morpheme in German Sign Language (DGS)
Sign Language & Linguistics 21, 115 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00012.her
/content/journals/10.1075/sll.00012.her
/content/journals/10.1075/sll.00012.her
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: In Brief
Keyword(s): classifier predicates , German Sign Language , grammaticalization , plural marking and reduplication

Most Cited This Month

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error