3.1.1.1. Subject markers
As in other sign languages, persons in LIS correspond to specific points of the signing space called loci. Specifically, i) first person coincides with a point of articulation which is close to or on the signer’s body, ii) second person is marked by a locus in the direction of the interlocutor, whereas iii) third person corresponds to a point of the signing space which is distant from both the signer and the interlocutor. This point expresses the absolute position of the referent (if present in the extra-linguistic context) or the locus associated to the referent in previous discourse. Usually, non-present third person subjects are associated to a locus at the ipsilateral side of the signing space, but this is not obligatory.
Person markers can consist in manual signs such as pronouns, i.e. pointing signs towards dedicated loci (LEXICON 3.7.2.1), or they can be conveyed through modifications of some phonological features of the verb sign, which can be articulated in the locus associated to the argument and/or modify its path movement to show overt manual morphological agreement. The morphological strategies adopted by LIS verbs are illustrated below. For further information about argument realisation see SYNTAX 2.2.
Plain verbs (LEXICON 3.2.1) both transitive and intransitive, are articulated near or on the signer’s body in their citation form, thus they cannot be inflected in space to show overt agreement with their argument(s). Nevertheless, the subject position can optionally be marked non-manually by means of head tilt (ht) or a slight body lean (bl-left/right) occurring with the articulation of the verb sign, thus realising non-manual agreement (SYNTAX 2.1.2.3.2). In the example below, we see that the signer non-manually marks the position dedicated to the subject gianni through a slight body lean towards the position of the signing space in which the subject gianni was previously articulated.
bl-left: a
giannia pietro be_familiar
‘Gianni knows Pietro.’
Alternatively, plain verbs can be followed by an auxiliary aux which allows to show overt manual agreement between the subject and the object. See LEXICON 3.3.4 for details.
Differently from plain verbs, agreement verbs (LEXICON 3.2.2) can display overt manual morphological agreement with the arguments.
In transitive and ditransitive agreement verbs displaying two points of articulation in the neutral space connected by path movement, the subject argument is usually associated to the starting point of the movement, which can be on the signer’s body to mark first person (a) or dislocated in the signing space for second and third person (b).
a. 1donate2
‘I donate you this.’
b. giannia mariab ahelpb
‘Gianni helps Maria.’
The position of third person subjects is optionally non-manually marked by head tilt and a slight body lean towards the starting point of the movement, corresponding to the subject position. Notice that eye gaze (eg), instead, is directed towards the location of the object argument (SYNTAX 2.1.2.3.2). Non-manual markers are produced simultaneously to the articulation of the verbal sign.
ht: a
bl-left: a
eg: b
l-u-c-aa p-a-o-l-ob ahateb
‘Luca hates Paolo.’
Transitive and ditransitive agreement verbs whose starting point is on the signer’s body, like see and say, show overt manual morphological agreement with the subject when they select for a first person subject, since its locus corresponds to the starting point of the path movement of the verb. This is illustrated below.
ix1 address poss1 1say2
‘I told you my address.’
When they select for a second or third person subject, no manual morphological agreement is displayed by the verb due to articulatory reasons. The subject is localised in the signing space through a noun phrase or pronoun (see SYNTAX 2.1.2 for details), and the verb sign can optionally be marked by head tilt and a slight body lean towards the position in the signing space associated with the subject, as to realise non-manual subject agreement. This is illustrated below.
ht: a
bl-left: a
l-u-c-aa p-a-o-l-ob lie sayb
‘Luca tells a lie to Paolo.’
It is important to notice that the final location of the path movement of these verbs realises morphological manual agreement with the object argument (direct or indirect) (MORPHOLOGY 3.1.1.2).
Crucially, in transitive backward verbs (LEXICON 3.2.2) subject marking corresponds to the final location of the verb movement. Crucially, for first and second person subject, as in (a) below, the verbal sign retains its citation form. On the other hand, when the verb selects for a third person subject, the verb movement can be slightly modified as to spatially agree with the subject, as shown in (b).
a. ix2 t-shirt take
‘You take the t-shirt.’
b. l-u-c-a key take
‘Luca takes the keys.’
Intransitive agreement verbs displaying one point of articulation in the signing space optionally agree with the subject when it has the thematic role of agent (in unergative verbs, like play (a)), while they must show spatial agreement with the subject when it has the thematic role of theme (in unaccusative verbs, like grow_up (b)) (SYNTAX 2.1.1.2; SYNTAX 2.1.2.3.1).
a. childa playa
‘The child plays.’
b. childa grow_upa
‘The child grows.’
Unaccusative agreement verbs are usually articulated in their citation form, namely in front of the signer, for first person; for second or third person, they display overt morphological agreement with their only argument being articulated in the same locus of the signing space, as in (b) above. If the subject is an invariable nominal sign (i.e. it is articulated on the signer’s body), it is assigned a locus in the signing space through a pointing sign, and the verb shows spatial agreement with it, as illustrated below
woman^child ixa grow_upa
‘The girl grows.’
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.