Nonmanual markings for topic constructions in Hong Kong Sign Language
Felix Sze | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Across sign languages, topic constructions are marked by nonmanual features such as a brow raise and head tilt. This study investigates whether a topic constituent is marked nonmanually in Hong Kong Sign Language. Spontaneous and elicited data show that the majority of ‘scene-setting’ topics, which provide a temporal, spatial or individual framework for the proposition in the sentence, are accompanied with a brow raise and a specific head/body position different from the rest of the sentence. In contrast, ‘aboutness’ topics that represent what a sentence is about are neither marked by nonmanuals consistently nor separated intonationally from the rest of the sentence. Grammatical objects fronted to the sentence-initial position are not marked nonmanually, either. The findings suggest that there are cross-linguistic differences with respect to the functions of nonmanuals in the information structuring of sign languages.
video
15. hanging topic
16. left dislocation
17. fronted topic object
18. conventional temporal adverbial
19. NP temporal domain
20. subordinate clause
21. locative
22. fronted non-topic obj contrastive
23. negative verb
24. non-manual
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Napoli, Donna Jo & Rachel Sutton-Spence
Tyrone, Martha E. & Claude E. Mauk
2016.
The Phonetics of Head and Body Movement in the Realization of American Sign Language Signs.
Phonetica 73:2
► pp. 120 ff.
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