A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

The borrowed gestures that have entered the LIS lexicon to fulfil grammatical functions are articulated either manually or non-manually.

            As for manual forms, consider again deictic pointing gestures. Some have been grammaticalized and are used with different pronominal functions: as personal pronouns (a), demonstrative pronouns (b), and locative pronouns (c).

 

            

            a.         ix₂

            ‘You’

 

            

            b.         ix(dem)_[proximal]

            ‘This (one)’

           

            

            c.         ix(loc)_[proximal]

            ‘Here’

 

For more details on these pronominal forms, see the relevant description in LEXICON 3.7.

            One of the most popular Italian gestures is articulated in front of the signer’s body with flat closed 5 handshape. It may be static or articulated with repeated wrist nodding (from palm to back). This gesture is typically used to express lack of understanding (if accompanied by neutral facial expressions) or disapproval (if accompanied by furrowed eyebrows). In the former interpretation, it may accompany interrogative pronouns such as cosa, ‘what’. In the latter interpretation, it may accompany Italian sentences such as cosa vuoi?!, ‘what do you want?!’ or cosa stai dicendo?!, ‘what are you talking about?!’. This gesture has been grammaticalized to the point that it is now used by LIS signers as a regular wh- sign, commonly glossed as q_artichoke (LEXICON 3.7.5).

 

            

            q_artichoke

            ‘Who/what/where/how/why/when/which’

 

In LIS, this sign is used as a generic interrogative pronoun in that it can replace any wh- sign (who, what, where, how, why, when, which).

            Moreover, there are gestures that have entered the LIS lexicon as negative forms. This is the case with the signs not and exist.not, both derived from well-established Italian gestures.

 

 

 

                           hs

            a.         not

 

 

 

                                     hs

            b.         exist.not

            ‘There is not/do not exist/do not have’

 

Note that the two signs shown above are obligatorily accompanied by side-to-side headshake. This feature derives from a popular non-manual gesture, which can occur either in isolation (without speech) or with negative Italian words/expressions. As a gesture, this kind of headshake is used to express or reinforce negation but, crucially, it is not obligatorily required by negative words or sentences in Italian. Conversely, in LIS, it is compulsory in negative clauses, and its distribution is grammatically constrained in that it commonly co-occurs with the negative sign only (SYNTAX 1.5.2). For these reasons, we can say that side-to-side headshake behaves as a grammatical element.