A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

Increased mobility and social interaction with Deaf people from other countries have created opportunities for LIS signers to get in contact with other sign languages. These circumstances have led to contact phenomena such as lexical borrowings. Borrowed signs from other sign languages typically belong to two categories: toponyms and name signs.

            Toponyms are geographical proper names used to denote countries, towns, rivers, mountains, etc. In LIS, the signs referring to geographical locations outside Italy are frequently borrowed from the sign language used in those locations. For example, the sign russia is borrowed from Russian Sign Language (RSL).

 

 

 

             russia

 

For some foreign locations, LIS used to have native toponyms that over the years have been substituted by the signs used by the signing community of those locations. This is the case for the sign america. In the past, LIS signers used the native sign shown below: the forward arched movement reflected the fact that this is an oversea country.

 

 

 

            america (native form)

            (recreated from Volterra et al., 2019: 174)

 

Although this sign is still used by some LIS signers, especially the older ones, nowadays signers prefer the sign borrowed from ASL. It is interesting to note that in the source language the sign is produced with a circular movement in the horizontal plane (a), whereas in LIS it is articulated with a circular movement in the vertical plane (b).

 

 

 

            a.         america (ASL)

            (recreated from Volterra et al., 2019: 174)

 

 

 

            b.         america (LIS)

            (recreated from Volterra et al., 2019: 174)

 

Other borrowings are name signs referring to internationally famous people (e.g. politicians, historical figures, athletes) and leading figures in the global Deaf community. The source language is the sign language in which the name sign was first used. For example, LIS signers adopt the respective name signs in ASL to refer to Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (a) and William C. Stokoe Jr. (b), two important American figures in Deaf history.

 

 

 

            a.         gallaudet

 

 

 

            b.         stokoe

           

Interestingly, in the LIS non-native lexicon we also find signs borrowed from other sign languages that entered the lexicon to introduce a new meaning, as in the case of workshop (a) or to replace already existing signs in the target language, as in the case of gay (b).

 

 

 

            a.         workshop

 

 

 

            b.         gay

           

An interesting phonological phenomenon that sometimes can be observed in borrowings is nativisation (PHONOLOGY 3.1.6), namely the adaptation to the phonological inventory and constraints of the target language. This phonological process can be observed in the borrowed sign workshop, shown above. Originally produced with handshape W in ASL, workshop is often articulated with handshape 4 by LIS signers. This adaptation is motivated by the absence of handshape W in the phonemic inventory of LIS.