A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

Passivisation is considered to be a sub-type of clausal change, as the theme/patient argument of a transitive or ditransitive verb is promoted to the subject position, the agent argument is absent or optionally expressed, and the verb undergoes some modification. The sentence ‘the woman brushes the horse’ is an English active sentence, while ‘the horse is brushed (by the woman)’ is a passive construction.

         When using a passive sentence, the speaker/signer foregrounds the patient argument of the predication that occupies the subject position.

         The functional equivalent of a passive sentence in LIS takes on different features according to the verb class of the sentence predicate.

         With transitive agreement verbs with two points of articulation (LEXICON 3.2.2), the theme is produced in subject position, the verb starts being articulated in a point of the neutral space not previously associated with an (agent) argument to end on the signer’s body. Role shift (SYNTAX 3.3.3), whereby the signer adopts the perspective of a referent, here the theme, is realised. The following sentences are functionally equivalent to passives.

 

 

 

                                                   rs: 1a

         a.            woman_{a 3b}slap_1a

         ‘The girl is slapped.’

 

 

 

                                               rs: 1a

         b.            cat_{a 3b}punch_1a

         ‘The cat is punched.’

 

Optionally, the agent argument is produced after the theme subject, as shown in the example below.

 

 

 

            bl: a eg: b        rs: 1a

         cat dog _3bpunch_1a

          ‘The cat is punched by the dog.’

 

The active counterparts of the previous sentences are reported in (a) and (b) below.

 

 

 

                             bl: a       bl: b

         a.            man woman _3aslap++_3b

         ‘The man slapped the girl.’

 

 

 

                             bl: a  ht: b

         b.            dog cat _3apunch_3b

         ‘The dog punched the cat.’

 

Backward verbs (LEXICON 3.2.2) fall into this verb class. To express a passive meaning, a backward verb starts being articulated from the position of the theme to a position in the neutral space not associated with a previously introduced referent. A peculiarity of these types of sentences seems to be the lack of role shift, as shown in the following example.

 

 

 

         a.            giulia_a party_b ainvite_b

         ‘Giulia has been invited to the party.’

 

 

 

         b.            computer_a atake_b

         ‘The computer has been taken.’

 

If the sentence contains a classifier predicate (MORPHOLOGY 5.1), the strategy to express a passive meaning is similar to the one observed with agreement verbs with two points of articulation: the theme argument is produced in subject position, the agent argument is often absent and role shift is observed only with animate theme arguments. The classifier predicate starts in a position of the neutral space not associated with a previously introduced agent argument and it ends on the signer’s body. A final remark is the morphological reduction of the verb that is produced with a shorter movement.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                  rs: 1a

         a.            duck_a 3bCL(unspread curved open 5): ‘strangle’_1a

         ‘The duck is strangled.’

 

 

 

                                                                                                           rs: 1a

         b.            cat_a 3bCL(closed G): ‘hit_with_hammer’++_1a

         ‘The cat is hit with the hammer repeatedly.’

 

Again, the agent argument may be optionally expressed. When it is, it follows the theme subject:

 

 

 

           ht: a                                                                                      rs: 1a

         cat_a mouse_b 3bCL(closed G): ‘hit_with_hammer’++_1a

         ‘The cat is hit with the hammer by the mouse repeatedly.’

 

The active counterparts of the above sentences are provided below.

 

 

 

                             bl: a   bl: b

         a.            man duck CL(closed 5): ‘strangle’_3b

         ‘The man strangles the duck.’

 

 

 

                                  bl: a  bl: b

         b.            mouse_a cat _3aCL(closed G): ‘hit_with_hammer’++_3b

         ‘The mouse hits the cat with the hammer repeatedly.’

 

If the sentence contains an agreement verb with one point of articulation (LEXICON 3.2.2), the passive meaning cannot be expressed via role shift, regardless of the animate/ inanimate feature of the theme argument.

         Within this verb class, the predicate spatially agrees with the theme argument occupying the subject position. No explicit nor impersonal (PRAGMATICS 1.5) agent argument is present.

 

 

 

         a.            house_a sell_a done

         ‘The house has been sold.’

 

 

 

         b.            thief_a ix_a arrest_a

         ‘The thief has been arrested.’

 

The following examples displaying agreement verbs with one point of articulation show the signer’s answer to the question: ‘what happened to the house?’ (a) and ‘what happened to the chocolate cream?’ (b).

 

 

 

         a.            house_a wind collapse_a

          ‘The house has been destroyed by the wind.’

 

 

 

         b.            chocolate CL(unspread V): ‘scoop_out’ CL(unspread V): ‘spread’

         ‘The chocolate cream has been scooped out and spread (on bread).’

 

Passive constructions with plain verbs have not been observed. This might be due to the fact that plain verbs are produced on the signer’s body, therefore, the spatial strategies used to express the meaning of a passive sentence cannot be adopted.