The Syntax of American Sign Language: Functional Categories and Hierarchical Structure (Language, Speech, and Communication) - Hardcover

Kegl, Judy; Maclaughlin, Dawn; Bahan, Benjamin; Lee, Robert G.; Neidle, Carol Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262140675 ISBN 13: 9780262140676

Verlag: MIT Press, 2000

Inhaltsangabe

Recent research on the syntax of signed languages has revealed that, apart from some modality-specific differences, signed languages are organized according to the same underlying principles as spoken languages. This book addresses the organization and distribution of functional categories in American Sign Language (ASL), focusing on tense, agreement, and wh-constructions.

Signed languages provide illuminating evidence about functional projections of a kind unavailable in the study of spoken languages. Along with manual signing, crucial information is expressed by specific movements of the face and upper body. The authors argue that such nonmanual markings are often direct expressions of abstract syntactic features. The distribution and intensity of these markings provide information about the location of functional heads and the boundaries of functional projections. The authors show how evidence from ASL is useful for evaluating a number of recent theoretical proposals on, among other things, the status of syntactic agreement projections and constraints on phrase structure and the directionality of movement.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: MIT Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2000
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0262140675
• ISBN 13: 9780262140676
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 229
• Herausgeber: Neidle Carol Jan
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar