A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

The manual signs encoding epistemic modality in LIS (LEXICON 3.3.3.2) can display different non-manual markers, yielding different semantics. In general, we can distinguish between epistemic certainty and epistemic possibility. Certainty is mainly associated to furrowed eyebrows (fe) and head nod (hn). On the other hand, possibility can either involve squinted eyes (sq) or raised eyebrows (re) and head nod, sometimes associated to mouth corners down (md), depending on the confidence the signer has about the truth of the utterance and/or the likelihood of the event. Non-manual markers are mainly produced in correspondence to the epistemic manual markers, though they can sometimes spread on nearby signs.

         Epistemic certainty is encoded through furrowed eyebrows and a strong head nod simultaneously articulated over the manual sign be_able. In so doing, the signer expresses his certainty about the likelihood of the event, since he knows that the external conditions allow its realisation. This is illustrated below.

 

 

 

                                                                                               fe

                                                                                   hn

ix₁ friend poss₁ ix₁ look_for ix₁ find be_able

         ‘I can find the friend I have been looking for.’

 

In order to emphasise the certainty about the ability of someone/something to perform an action, due to favourable external conditions, the sign be_able can be reduplicated and marked by repeated head nod, furrowed eyebrows and slightly puffed cheeks (pc). In the example below, we see that head nod and furrowed eyebrows are spread on the whole utterance, yielding the signer’s certainty that the friend is able to come because he already knows the way.

 

 

 

                                                     pc

                                          fe

                                         hn

friend come be_able++

         ‘I am sure my friend is able to come.’

 

Crucially, epistemic certainty can also be encoded by means of non-manual markers alone modifying the verb sign. In the example below, we see that the verb pass is marked by a strong head nod and furrowed eyebrows.

 

 

 

                                    fe

                        hn

         luca exam pass

         ‘Luca will surely pass the exam.’

 

On the other hand, epistemic possibility encoding the judgment or evaluation about the likelihood of the event is expressed through different clusters of non-manual markers, yielding different degrees of feasibility.

         Squinted eyes usually encode the doubts of the signer about the possible realisation of the event in the utterance. In the example below, these non-manuals spread on the entire sentence, conveying the signer’s uncertainty.

 

 

 

                                                                                   sq

friend ix₁ look_for find be_possible(1)

         ‘I (think) I can find the friend I am looking for.’

 

Raised eyebrows and mouth corners down, usually combined with a head tilt backwards (ht-b) are used to express that the event is possible but the signer is not sure about that due to lack of information. The non-manuals can occur with the epistemic markers be_possible(1) and be_possible(2) and spread on the whole sentence.

 

 

 

                                                                   ht-b

                                                                      re

                                                                    md

friend poss₁ come be_possible(1)

         ‘I think my friend can come.’

 

Head nod, sometimes associated to raised eyebrows, yields a higher degree of possibility of the event due to the circumstances. The head nod usually occurs with the epistemic marker, but it can also spread on the preceding or following signs, as in the examples below.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                          hn

                                                                                                                           re

a.         dom:    letter ix(dem)_a mother write be_possible(1)

            n-dom: letter_a--------------------------------------------

‘It is possible that my mother wrote this letter.’

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                              hn

         b.          date two^five december train ix place empty be_possible(2) palm_back

         ‘It is possible to find free seats on the train on December 25^th.’

 

Note that in (b) the signer articulates a final manual marker, glossed palm_back, encoding that the event is possible due to the circumstances, but the signer has no evidence for it at the time of the utterance.