A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

A calque consists in a part-by-part translation of a complex form. Calques represent a peculiar contact phenomenon in that they make use of linguistic elements of the target language while imitating structures or functional properties of the source language.

            In LIS, we find calques in the lexicon as well as in idiomatic expressions. To illustrate, examples of lexical calques are the toponyms treviso and campobasso. Both words Treviso and Campobasso can be split into two parts: tre + viso (‘three’ + ‘face’) and campo + basso (‘field’ + ‘low’). The meaning of both parts is somehow reflected in the articulation of these toponyms: the sign treviso is articulated with handshape 3 in front of the signer’s face (a), while the sign campobasso results from the sequential combination of a flat surface followed by the sign low (b).

            a.         treviso

            b.         campobasso

The LIS equivalents of Italian idiomatic expressions sometimes result in phraseological calques, which means that the expressions of the source language are literally translated word by word. For example, the Italian idiom lavarsene le mani (‘to wash one’s hands’, meaning taking no responsibility for something) is literally translated into LIS as the predicate wash_hand.

            wash_hand

‘(To) wash one’s hands’

The LIS idiom take_nose^around is an interesting case of complex phraseological calque, since it derives from two different Italian idiomatic expressions with similar meaning: prendere per il naso (‘lead somebody by the nose’, lit. ‘take by the nose’) and prendere in giro (‘make fun of somebody’, lit. ‘take in around’).

            take_nose^around

            ‘(To) lead somebody by the nose/make fun of somebody’