A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

Social deixis, which corresponds to social relations or roles in the society, is realized through locations in the frontal or horizontal plane of the signing space. Social status of a person is determined by the group of people present in the actual speech context or through social norms, physical requirements and hierarchies of a particular society. One instance of these realizations is the difference between unfamiliar and familiar second person pronoun, marked by backward body lean (for details see [Lexicon 3.7.2.6]).

In its socio-deictic usage, the locus of a referent is produced on a certain height relative to the signer or another locus. In case a person belongs to a socially high status, being an administrator/boss or a head of the state, the locus associated with this referent is articulated on the higher area in the frontal space. On the other hand, if a referent has the same social level as the signer being an adult or a colleague, this referent is articulated at the level of the chest in front of the torso. In case of a lower status (child, inferior), the referents are articulated below the chest level. Examples (a-b) show the usages of upper-lower space in DGS for expression of social deixis. Semantic groups which share the same status (man/woman, hearing/deaf, colleagues/customers) are organized on the same height but on contrastive lateral regions (e. in the horizontal space). This is illustrated in the example (c).

a.          every evening adult _{[ipsi_up]}children_{[ipsi_down]} read_aloud

            ‘Every evening adults read (something) aloud to the children.’

   (based on Mehling, 2010: 127)



 

b.         king ix_{a[ipsi_up]} servant ix_{b[contra_down]} be-silent _aorder_b

            ‘The king ordered his servant to be quite.’

  (based on Mehling, 2010: 126)


 

c.         poss₁ company ix(loc)_a deaf coworker_a hearing coworker_b together work

            ‘Deaf coworkers are working together with hearing coworkers at my company.’