Cover not available
Article published In:
Impersonal human reference in Sign Languages
Edited by Gemma Barberà and Patricia Cabredo Hofherr
[Sign Language & Linguistics 21:2] 2018
► pp. 334–348
Special issue articles

Agent-backgrounding in Catalan Sign Language (LSC)

| Universitat Pompeu Fabra
| CNRS UMR 7023 | Université Paris 8 (UPL)
| Universitat Pompeu Fabra | ICREA

This paper examines backgrounding strategies for human agents in Catalan Sign Language, that is, constructions featuring human agents that are non-referential. We identify and analyze four types of agent-backgrounding strategies: subjectless constructions, indefinite pronouns, the impersonal axis, and general nouns. Extending on previous work, we offer a description and a semantico-pragmatic analysis of each construction.

Keywords: backgrounding, Catalan Sign Language (LSC), impersonal axis, indefinite pronoun, impersonal reference, R-impersonals, generic human nouns
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.Backgrounding strategies
    • 3.1No lexical subject
    • 3.2Indefinite pronouns
    • 3.3Impersonal axis
    • 3.4Lexical subjects
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives (CC BY-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 22 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00023.bar
References
Barberà, Gemma
2012 The meaning of space in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). Reference, specificity and structure in signed discourse. Barcelona: Pompeu Fabra University PhD dissertation [published as monograph in 2015, Berlin & Nijmegen: De Gruyter Mouton & Ishara Press].Google Scholar
2016 Indefiniteness and specificity marking in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). Sign Language & Linguistics 19(1). 1–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barberà, Gemma & Patricia Cabredo Hofherr
2017a Backgrounded agents in Catalan Sign Language (LSC): passives, middles, or impersonals? Language 93(4). 767–798. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017b Two indefinite pronouns in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 211. 89–105.Google Scholar
Barberà, Gemma & Brendan Costello
2017 ¿Cómo se expresa la referencia impersonal? Análisis contrastivo entre lengua de signos catalana (LSC) y lengua de signos española (LSE). Actas del Congreso CNLSE de la Lengua de Signos Española: Madrid, 24 y 25 de septiembre de 2015, 49–63. Madrid: Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad.Google Scholar
Barberà, Gemma & Josep Quer
2013 Impersonal reference in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). In Laurence Meurant, Aurélie Sinte, Mieke van Herreweghe & Myriam Vermeerbergen (eds.), Sign language research, uses and practices: Crossing views on theoretical and applied sign language linguistics, 237–258. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton & Ishara Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costello, Brendan
2015 How do you/we/they get impersonal in Spanish Sign Language (LSE)? A first look. Paper presented at the Workshop Langues des signes et R-Impersonnels . 6 February 2015, UMR7023 CNRS & Université Paris-8.
Farkas, Donka
2002 Specificity distinctions. Journal of Semantics 191. 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heusinger, Klaus von
2002 Specificity and definiteness in sentence and discourse structure. Journal of Semantics 191. 245–274. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kärde, Sven
1943 Quelques manières d’exprimer l’idée d’un sujet indéterminé ou général en espagnol. Uppsala: Appelbergs Boktryckeriaktiebolag.Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward & Matthew S. Dryer
2007 Passive in the world’s languages. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Clause structure, language typology and syntactic description, Vol. 11, 325–361. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelepir, Meltem, Aslı Özkul & Elvan Tamyürek Özparlak
This volume. Agent-backgrounding in Turkish Sign Language (TİD).
Mantovan, Lara
2017 Nominal modification in Italian Sign Language (LIS). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matthewson, Lisa
2004 On the methodology of semantic fieldwork. International Journal of American Linguistics 701. 369–415. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pesetsky, David
1995 Zero syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Pfau, Roland & Markus Steinbach
2013  personclimbing up a tree (and other adventures in sign language grammaticalization). Sign Language & Linguistics 16(2). 189–221. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Kirton, Fiona, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Culbertson & Marieke Schouwstra
2021. Constituent order in silent gesture reflects the perspective of the producer. Journal of Language Evolution 6:1 ► pp. 54 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.