A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

Indefinite determiners are used when the addressee is not supposed to know who or what is being talked about. LIS has a singular indefinite article realised with a G or S handshape. The fingertip is oriented upward and the palm usually has a slightly contralateral orientation.

            a.         one(indef)(G)

            b.         one(indef)(S)

It is usually produced in a steady position in an unmarked spatial location. Alternatively, it can be accompanied with a slightly tremoring motion. This articulation correlates with the degree of identifiability of the nominal expression: the more unidentifiable the referent, the broader the tremoring motion. The indefinite article usually co-occurs with facial expression denoting uncertainty, which consists in pulling the corners of the mouth down and slightly raising the eyebrows.

            In LIS, the indefinite article one(indef) is used to introduce a new referent in the discourse. An example is provided below.

            one(indef) deaf ix₁ meet

            ‘I met a deaf guy.’

Like the definite article, the indefinite article one(indef) is not obligatory in its contexts. Indeed, the example below is also acceptable without one(indef).

            deaf ix₁ meet

            ‘I met a deaf guy.’

It has been observed that the indefinite article is more frequently produced by the middle-aged and older population of LIS signers. On the other hands, young signers tend to omit the manual sign and express indefiniteness by means of non-manuals (see SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 4.4 and SYNTAX 4.1.1.4).