Constraints on two types of nonconcatenative morphology in signed languages
Temas
Detalles
Signed languages strongly favor nonconcatenative morphology (Aronoff, Meir and Sandler 2005, Fernald and Napoli 2000). This type of morphology includes processes that change at least one of the parameters of the stem, such as handshape, orientation, location or movement. It is argued that there are two types of nonconcatenative morphology in signed languages. In one type, exemplified by numeral incorporation, all the morphemes in a sign have a fixed realization. In the other type, exemplified by verb agreement, one of the morphemes in a sign does not have a fixed realization in the lexicon and requires interaction with gestural space. This type is modality specific. Using the framework of Optimality Theory, the paper argues for the distinctiveness of these two types on the basis of phonological constraints that apply to them in data from a cross-linguistic survey of German (DGS) and American (ASL) Sign Languages.
En: MATUR G. y NAPOLI, DJ. Deaf around the World (2011) pp. 54-66