scholarly journals Form and discourse function of the pointing toward the chest in Swedish Sign Language

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Nilsson
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
First Person ◽  
Reported Speech ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Person Reference ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun

The object of this study is a sign glossed index-c, a point toward the signer’s chest, and its use in Swedish Sign Language. The sign has often been referred to as the first person pronoun of Swedish Sign Language, and it has been claimed that index-c is only used for non-first person reference in reported speech (Wallin 1987; Ahlgren 1991; Simper-Allen 1999). In the analyzed material, however, index-c is also used for non-first person reference when the actions and thoughts of a referent are rendered. A closer look also made it clear that there are actually two different forms of index-c, with different distribution, and that there appears to be an indefinite pronoun in Swedish Sign Language. What is presented here is thus an analysis of the use and meaning of two forms of the sign that was initially glossed index-c.

Pronominal system in Croatian Sign Language

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 95-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Alibašić Ciciliani ◽  
Ronnie B. Wilbur
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
First Person ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Hand Orientation ◽  
Person Reference ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Pronominal System

In this article we present some fundamental properties of the Croatian Sign Language (Hrvatski Znakovni Jezik, HZJ) pronominal system. The most common functions of pointing in HZJ are pronominal, demonstrative, locative, possessive and reflexive. Examination of the first person pronoun shows that the signer uses nonmanuals to indicate that she has taken the role of another person. Thus, the signer points to herself, but the intended reference is to a character in the story and not to the signer. These findings are used to provide evidence for grammatical first person. Viewed from Berenz’s (2002) perspective, grammatical second and third person pronouns show some degree of consistency within each category and differences across categories. When reference to the second person is intended, the characteristics hand orientation, eyegaze and the head will usually line up. In contrast, when reference to third person is intended, disjunction of some of these features occurs. Thus, the distinction between second and third person pronoun is linguistically marked in HZJ. Therefore we argue against Liddell (1995, 2003), who treats pointing as deictic, gestural, hence nonlinguistic. Furthermore we argue with Berenz against Meier (1990), who claims that at least for ASL there is no distinction between second and third person reference. Our morphological analysis reveals no gender distinction in the pronoun system, but there are distinctions between singular, plural, inclusive and exclusive pronouns. No correlation between spoken Croatian case marking and either HZJ handshape choice or systematic mouthing was found.

Impersonal reference in Russian Sign Language (RSL)

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-231
Author(s):  
Vadim Kimmelman
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Plural Pronoun ◽  
Modality Effects ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun

Abstract This paper contains the first description of impersonal reference in Russian Sign Language (RSL). Impersonal reference has been investigated using a variety of elicitation techniques. It has been found that RSL uses a variety of strategies, namely pro-drop, an indefinite pronoun someone, a plural pronoun ix pl, and probably a second-person pronoun ix 2 in impersonal contexts. The impersonal strategies in RSL follow the general typological tendencies previously identified for spoken languages (Gast & Van der Auwera 2013), and do not show obvious modality effects (such as described by Barberà & Quer 2013). Some impersonal strategies show evidence of influence of spoken/written Russian in the form of borrowing and/or code-switching.

Direct and indirect speech in Mambila

1974 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Summer Institute ◽  
First Person ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Indirect Speech ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Summer Institute Of Linguistics ◽  
Person Reference ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Embedded Clause

The categories of DIRECT SPEECH and INDIRECT SPEECH may be distinguished by differing policies of pronoun reference. Direct speech takes its pronoun orientation from the clause in which it is immediately embedded: for example, in the following sentence: (I) John Said to Peter, ‘I Can see you’, the first person pronoun I refers to the participant who is identified as speaker in the preceding clause (John said to peter) and the seconf person you refers to the participant identified as addressee. Of the two clauses involved, the second or embedded clause (‘I can see you’) May conveniently be referred to as the quotation content. The first or main clause may be referred to as the Reporting Clause; this correspondes ti the use of the term Margin in recent studies from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (Lowe, 1969; Pike, 1966; Pike & Lowe, 1969) from which the inspiration for this paper has been taken. Any third person reference in the quotation content in direct speech must refer to a participant who is neither speaker nor addressee in the reporting clause.

Self-referring in Korean, with reference to Korean first-person markers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye-Kyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Role ◽  
Semantic Theory ◽  
Public Image ◽  
First Person ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Primary Function ◽  
Person Reference ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Dictionary Definitions

Lee’s chapter provides a corpus-based analysis of Korean first-person markers by examining the semantic and pragmatic features emerging from their dictionary definitions and their usages in discourse. Specifically, it is demonstrated that the use of the grammatical category of a pronoun does not quite fit the Korean data, because the exceptionally large number of the lexical items are highly specialized in their use. While the first-person markers have the primary function of referring to the speaker, self-referring via first-person markers in Korean is mediated by the speaker’s awareness of his perceived social role or public image, which is expected to conform to honorification norms. The author also argues that the situation with first-person reference in Korean supports the view that the indexical/non-indexical distinction standardly adopted in semantic theory ought to be reconsidered.

Expressing the Self

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
The Self ◽  
Epistemic Status ◽  
First Person ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Person Reference ◽  
De Se ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Cultural Pragmatics

This book addresses different linguistic and philosophical aspects of referring to the self in a wide range of languages from different language families, including Amharic, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Newari (Sino-Tibetan), Polish, Tariana (Arawak), and Thai. In the domain of speaking about oneself, languages use a myriad of expressions that cut across grammatical and semantic categories, as well as a wide variety of constructions. Languages of Southeast and East Asia famously employ a great number of terms for first-person reference to signal honorification. The number and mixed properties of these terms make them debatable candidates for pronounhood, with many grammar-driven classifications opting to classify them with nouns. Some languages make use of egophors or logophors, and many exhibit an interaction between expressing the self and expressing evidentiality qua the epistemic status of information held from the ego perspective. The volume’s focus on expressing the self, however, is not directly motivated by an interest in the grammar or lexicon, but instead stems from philosophical discussions of the special status of thoughts about oneself, known as de se thoughts. It is this interdisciplinary understanding of expressing the self that underlies this volume, comprising philosophy of mind at one end of the spectrum and cross-cultural pragmatics of self-expression at the other. This unprecedented juxtaposition results in a novel method of approaching de se and de se expressions, in which research methods from linguistics and philosophy inform each other. The importance of this interdisciplinary perspective on expressing the self cannot be overemphasized. Crucially, the volume also demonstrates that linguistic research on first-person reference makes a valuable contribution to research on the self tout court, by exploring the ways in which the self is expressed, and thereby adding to the insights gained through philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science.

The use of second person pronouns in a literary work

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen de Hoop ◽  
Lotte Hogeweg
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
First Person ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Person Pronoun

AbstractFor this study we investigated all occurrences of Dutch second person pronoun subjects in a literary novel, and determined their interpretation. We found two patterns that can both be argued to be functionally related to the de-velopment of the story. First, we found a decrease in the generic use of second person, a decrease which we believe goes hand in hand with an increased distancing of oneself as a reader from the narrator/main character. Second, we found an increase in the use of the descriptive second person. The increased descriptive use of second person pronouns towards the end of the novel is very useful for the reader, because the information provided by the first person narrator himself becomes less and less reliable. Thus, the reader depends more strongly on information provided by other characters and what these characters tell the narrator about himself.

Bodily Awareness and Self-Consciousness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Bermúdez
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Basic Form ◽  
Bodily Awareness ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Spatial Content

We are embodied, and we are aware of our bodies ‘from the inside’ through different forms of bodily awareness. But what is the relation between these two facts? Are these forms of bodily awareness types of self-consciousness, on a par, say, with introspection? In this paper I argue that bodily awareness is a basic form of self-consciousness, through which perceiving agents are directly conscious of the bodily self. The first two sections clarify the nature of bodily awareness. Sections III to V I explore how bodily awareness functions as a form of self-consciousness and how this is connected to the property of being immune to error through misidentification relative to the first person pronoun. In section IV I consider, and remain unconvinced by, an argument to the effect that bodily awareness cannot have first person content (and hence cannot count as a form of self-consciousness). Finally, section V sketches out an account of the spatial content of bodily awareness and explores the particular type of awareness of the bodily self that it provides.

The First-Person Pronoun

2004 ◽  
pp. 174-202
Author(s):  
Eros Corazza
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Person Pronoun
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