Acquisition of role shift and classifiers in narrative discourse of Catalan Sign Language (LSC) as L2: a pilot study
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Detalles
A growing interest in the study of sign language linguistics deals with how the differences between the visual-gestural modality and the vocal-auditory modality affect the acquisition of a sign language by adults whose first language is a spoken language. This paper presents a pilot study on the acquisition of two essential and, to a large extent, specific characteristics of signed languages used in reference control: the nonmanual markers in role shift structures and classifiers. The comparison between native discourse in Catalan Sign Language (LSC) and adult learners of LSC as L2 with different levels of competence provides a careful insight into how these two reference mechanisms are used in the acquisition process. The present study analyses reference control in L2 signed discourse in terms of reference accessibility and the discussion is placed at the syntax-discourse interface. The detailed analysis shows how nonmanuals of role shift and classifiers play an important role in reference control, which implies an important position in the accessibility scale of discourse referents.