A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

The core lexicon includes all the signs listed in the mental lexicon of signers.

            In general, signs belonging to this category display a lesser degree of iconicity, namely their meaning can be largely unrelated to form, and they are fixed, in that they do not display modifications of their phonological parameters, which are discrete and categorical. The only phonological modification they display is allophonic variation, referring to the possibility of employing two slightly different handshapes for the same sign, with no change in meaning. For instance, in some cases, handshape closed 5 with crossed thumb (a) might be used instead of closed 5 with adducted thumb (b).

 

            

            a.         Figure: Closed 5 with crossed thumb

 

            

            b.         Figure: Closed 5 with adducted thumb

 

Signs belonging to the core lexicon are the result of formational processes starting from real-word observations, visual perception and linguistic knowledge, which combine the sign language-specific formational parameters and results in signs that can eventually become conventionalised, or being abandoned. Conventionalised signs are those found in their citation form within the language dictionary, used by all the members of the linguistic community. Therefore, to the core lexicon of LIS belong those signs whose sublexical structure is made up of the phonological parameters defining LIS phonology, which are: handshape, place of articulation, orientation and movement (PHONOLOGY 1).

Signs belonging to the core lexicon can be one- or two-handed signs, which are further divided between symmetrical (a) and asymmetrical signs (b) (PHONOLOGY 1.4).

 

            

            a.         house

 

            

            b.         colour

 

Symmetrical signs respect the Symmetry Condition, which states that if both hands move independently, they have to display the same handshape and location, the same or symmetrical orientation and the same or alternating movement. Asymmetrical signs, instead, are regulated by the Dominance Constraint, which states that if the hands have different handshapes, then one hand articulates the movement while the other one is passive and displays a handshape that belongs to a restricted set. The handshapes selected for the non-dominant hand in asymmetrical signs in LIS are reported below (see PHONOLOGY 1.4.2 for further details).

 

            Table: Non-dominant handshapes found in asymmetrical two-handed signs in LIS

 

Core lexicon signs can also be classified considering their point of articulation: on the signer’s body (a) or in the neutral space (b). The two classes of nouns, invariable and inflectional respectively, display different morphosyntactic properties (see LEXICON 3.1 and MORPHOLOGY 4 for further details).

 

            

            a.         bird

 

             

            b.         shoe

           

The signs illustrated so far are simple signs. However, signs belonging to the core lexicon can also be compounds. We provide an illustrative example below (see MORPHOLOGY 1 for further details).

 

             

            sweet^SASS(curved open L): ‘round’

            ‘Cake’

 

Signs belonging to the core lexicon display specific morphophonological and semantic properties, which distinguish them from non-core lexicon signs (LEXICON 1.2).

            As already mentioned, core signs result from the combination of phonological units, i.e. the phonological parameters, which are discrete and categorical. In other words, each unit is used in an arbitrary and contrastive manner, as described in PHONOLOGY 1. It follows that a change in one feature leads to a change of meaning, thus creating a minimal pair. In minimal pairs, two signs share all the phonological parameters but one, resulting in two different signs with two different meanings. In the example below, the two signs differ only in their point of articulation: on the mouth for speak (a), on the upper face for be_familiar (b).

 

            

            a.          speak

 

            

            b.         be_familiar

 

Moreover, in core signs the use of space is arbitrary in that it does not represent the real space. In fact, movement and point of articulation are crucial for the realisation of nominal (MORPHOLOGY 4.1) and verbal agreement (MORPHOLOGY 3.1).

As far as meaning is concerned, in core lexicon signs are not directly understandable from their form in that meaning is non-compositional (i.e. the sublexical features forming the sign are discrete units and do not have a meaning on their own). Therefore, core lexicon signs are more arbitrary than non-core lexicon signs. In the majority of signs, there is no clear correspondence between the sign and the shape of the real entity.

            Nevertheless, some LIS signs belonging to the core lexicon display a higher degree of iconicity because the selection of the handshape is visually motivated. Unspread 5 usually refers to flat closed surfaces. F handshape represents small round entities or the grabbing of a very light and thin object. Closed 5 indicates the grabbing of a bag or suitcase (MORPHOLOGY 5). Another kind of iconicity is found in signs that display overt semantic relation with their point of articulation: signs articulated near the head generally denote objects that can be put on it (hat, degree), or refer to activities of the mind (think, understand, idea, remember), as we can see in the sign for idea.

 

            

            idea

 

Signs articulated near the eyes, ears, mouth and nose belong to the semantic spheres of sight, hearing, speaking or eating and smelling. For instance, in the example (a) below the sign for noise is articulated near the ear, whereas we see in (b) that the sign eat is articulated near the mouth.

 

              

            a.        noise

 

            

            b.          eat

 

The same holds true for signs articulated near the signer’s chest, which are usually connected with emotions and feelings.

 

             

            a.        love

 

            

            b.         satisfaction

 

Signs belonging to the core lexicon undergo specific processes of transformation for ease of articulation, fluidity or historical/cultural changes (for instance, the old sign for ‘telephone’ has been substituted with the one for ‘mobile phone’, see SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 4.4). To illustrate, centralisation is a phonological process which consists in moving the articulation of signs, which were previously articulated in the corners of the visual plane, towards the centre of the signing space (in front of the signer’s chest). The example in (a) shows the way in which the sign shoe was articulated some time ago; example (b) shows the sign for shoe as it is used today, displaying a different position for ease of articulation and perception. See PHONOLOGY 3 for further details.

 

 

 

            a.         shoe (old version)

 

 

 

            b.         shoe (centralised)

 

Moreover, sociolinguistic studies analysing LIS lexicon have attested that it is characterised by a very rich variation, mainly due to geographical and age reasons. Specifically, older signers show a tendency to use more local variants than younger signers, who use the more standardised form of LIS, namely the one used in Rome. The standard variety is also more used by signers coming from central Italy rather than signers living in the north or south. The semantic domains of colour or month names are the ones showing lexical variation to a greater extent. Below we report some variants of the sign for january. Example (a) shows the most common variant form, (b) shows the variant form used in Brescia, whereas (c) is the one used in Rome.

 

 

 

            a.         january (standard)

 

 

 

            b.          january (Brescia)

 

 

 

            c.         january (Rome)

 

As for colours, we report here some variants of the sign yellow: example (a) shows the one used in Brescia, example (b) is the variant form used in Rome, example (c) reports the variant which is common in Bologna, and (d) shows the sign commonly used in Sicily.

 

 

 

            a.         yellow (Brescia)

 

 

 

            b.         yellow (Rome)

 

 

 

            c.         yellow (Bologna)

 

 

 

            d.         yellow (Sicily)

 

However, an ongoing process of standardisation seems to suggest that the variety of LIS used in Rome is considered the prestige variety, thus leading signers to conform to that and to consider it as the standard one (SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 4.4). 

            Manual signs belonging to the core lexicon can be completed with the articulation of mouth gestures displaying lexical, adverbial and syntactic functions (PHONOLOGY 1.5.1) or mouthings (PHONOLOGY 1.5.2), which are mainly employed to disambiguate homonyms and define neologisms.