Chapter 2. Derivation
The present chapter illustrates the morphological processes that LIS employs to derive new lexemes from existing ones. As a word formation process, derivation differs from compounding (MORPHOLOGY 1) in that it consists of the combination of affixes (i.e. bound morphemes) with a stem, namely a free word or sign functioning as base. The peculiarity of derivational morphology in LIS, and in sign languages in general, is that affixes can be realised both manually (MORPHOLOGY 2.1) and non-manually (MORPHOLOGY 2.2), and their addition to the stem can be either sequential or simultaneous: i) sequential derivation consists of the concatenation of a base sign and an affix, whereas ii) simultaneous derivation is marked through the modification of one or more phonological parameters (PHONOLOGY 1) of the manual sign (stem modification), or through the addition of specific non-manual markers, simultaneously articulated with the manual sign. Nonetheless, derivational processes can also imply no modification at all, thus realising zero derivation or conversion.
As in other sign languages, simultaneous processes are the most common in LIS, though we find sequential operations as well. In the remainder of this chapter, we will describe and provide examples for each strategy.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.