LINGUIST List 17.3627
Thu Dec 07 2006
Diss: Lang Description/Ling Theories/Typology: Sapountzaki: 'Free F...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Galini
Sapountzaki,
Free Functional Elements of Tense, Aspect, Modality and Agreement as Possible Auxiliaries in Greek Sign Language
Message 1: Free Functional Elements of Tense, Aspect, Modality and Agreement as Possible Auxiliaries in Greek Sign Language
Date: 07-Dec-2006
From: Galini Sapountzaki <gsapountzuth.gr>
Subject: Free Functional Elements of Tense, Aspect, Modality and Agreement as Possible Auxiliaries in Greek Sign Language
Institution: University of Bristol
Program: Centre for Deaf Studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2005
Author: Galini Sapountzaki
Dissertation Title: Free Functional Elements of Tense, Aspect, Modality and Agreement as Possible Auxiliaries in Greek Sign Language
Linguistic Field(s):
Language Description
Linguistic Theories
Typology
Subject Language(s): Greek Sign Language (gss)
Language Family(ies): Deaf Sign Language
Dissertation Director:
Rachel Sutton-Spence
Dissertation Abstract:
This study investigates whether there is a consistent category ofauxiliaries for Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) marking or Agreement inGreek Sign Language (GSL). It deals only with unbound grammatical markers(as opposed to lexical) markers, although where it is necessary, boundmorphemes of TAM are also briefly discussed. These are described andcompared with their possible counterparts in other signed and spokenlanguages, and their characteristics are examined in the scope ofcross-linguistic tendencies. From the scope of sign language linguistics, astudy of free-signed elements provides additional insight into the linear(i.e. sequential) grammatical properties of GSL. Simultaneousconstructions, including the polysynthetic and non-concatenative nature ofsigned languages have been the focus of research (Stokoe, 1978; Kyle &Woll, 1985; Wallin, 1990; Webster, 1994) and some linear linguisticfeatures of signed languages might need further exploration.
Findings from the study indicate that GSL has signs that attach to theverb, similar to auxiliaries in spoken Greek or English. Characteristics ofauxiliaries such as systematic use, use across all groups of verbs, load ofsemantic content, as they are illustrated in classic studies oncross-linguistic tendencies (Greenberg, 1968; Steele, 1978) provide theframework needed to identify potential members of a category of auxiliariesin GSL. Findings from research in wide samples of languages test theinitial claim of a closed category AUX and imply that there is a broader,open-ended category of functional TAM and agreement markers, some membersof which are finally 'drawn' into a closed class of AUX, often just to movefurther into grammaticising as free or bound markers. Such are the semanticapproaches of Bybee (1985), Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca (1994), Dahl (1984),Heine (1994) among others; using this framework, I discuss items in GSLthat are at different stages in this continuum of grammaticisation, bymeans of examining the degree of desemanticisation, decategorisation,phonological reduction, and possible metaphorical shifts. Besides, GSL freefunctional TAM and agreement markers are compared to markers of languagesthat belong to different families: Chinese, a language typical for theabsence of functional words; Arabic, typical for its rich inflectionalmorphology; Modern Greek and English, languages with a long writtentradition; Creole languages, young and artificial to an extent; last butnot least, GSL is compared to a set of other signed languages, all showsimilar characteristics as to the semantic notions and processes forcontent words / signs that evolve into auxiliaries, or into functional TAMor Agreement markers. Indications of gestural roots of several GSL markersare examined along with processes of metaphor and force dynamics in signedand spoken languages, and metaphorical processes in GSL seem compatible tofindings from language universals. In this way, some apparent idiosyncraticprocesses of visual languages are found to comply to cross-linguistictendencies irrespectively of the differences in modality. Some Creolecharacteristics and language contact phenomena also seem to followcross-linguistic tendencies and their outcomes are more or less as expectedby the patterns of borrowing between languages in the areas of TAM andAgreement. The use made of Greek mouthings in the area of TAM and Agreementis an exceptional example of assimilated loans between a language in visualmodality and another in an oral/aural modality. Perhaps the only clearindication of modality-dependent features in the evolution of auxiliariesin the study is polysynthetic, non-concatenative evolution of GSL, andpossibly of other signed languages.
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