This paper addresses the question of whether the person category is grammaticalized insign language personal pronouns. Building on Berenz’s (1996) Body Coordinates Model,I argue that Catalan Sign Language (LSC) encodes the distinction between first, secondand third person. To formalize the analysis, a set of three binary spatial features ([proximal], [central], [mid]) is assumed. The opposition between positive and negative values in this featural system is claimed to be grammatically relevant in ...
This paper addresses the question of whether the person category is grammaticalized insign language personal pronouns. Building on Berenz’s (1996) Body Coordinates Model,I argue that Catalan Sign Language (LSC) encodes the distinction between first, secondand third person. To formalize the analysis, a set of three binary spatial features ([proximal], [central], [mid]) is assumed. The opposition between positive and negative values in this featural system is claimed to be grammatically relevant in the expression ofperson distinctions, proving that spatial locations are incorporated into the pronominalsystem, just like they are into other aspects of sign language grammars. The main contribution of this study is that it provides a unified account of person marking that makesit possible to straightforwardly capture person distinctions in the three number valuesunder scrutiny in this investigation (singular, dual and multiple plural).
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