A non-hybrid approach to sign language agreement
Temas
Detalles
Sign language (SL) agreement has intrigued scholars for quite some time because it seems to display properties clearly distinct from spoken language agreement (e.g. Fischer & Gough 1978; Padden 1988; Janis 1995; Bahan 1996; Meir 1998ab, 2002; Mathur 2000; Keller 2001; Rathmann & Mathur 2002, 2005, 2008; Hong 2009); even applicability of the term “agreement” is debated (Liddell 2000, 2003). Across SLs, only a subgroup of verbs (agreement verbs, AVs) agree with their subject and object while other verbs (plain verbs) cannot be modified to express agreement. It has been argued that group membership (plain vs. agreement) is determined by (i) the Lexical-Conceptual Structure (LCS) of a verb, i.e. whether it expresses transfer, and (ii) by phonological factors, which may block the realization of agreement. In this talk, we will maintain that phonological factors play a role, but we shall argue against proposals which seek to explain SL agreement in terms of LCS, i.e. thematic properties, and propose that sign language agreement is consistently syntactic. Crucial empirical evidence will come from the role of auxiliaries.