3.7.2. Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are used to refer to the participants in the conversation (speaker and addressee) and to other present and non-presents referents. In LSE, personal pronouns are spatially modified in order to identify the entity they refer to. If the referent is physically present, the pointing is directed towards its location. If the referent is not physically present, the pronoun is directed towards a location within the signing space previously associated with that referent.
The index-finger handshape is used as the non-marked configuration to refer to the speaker, the addressee and both animate and inanimate non-participants. Apart from the index handshape, LSE allows the use of the 2 -configuration when referring to a non-present discourse referent (i.e., third person singulars). Besides, the flat w- handshape can be used to refer to present referents in a polite register. The following subsections discuss the grammatical distinctions encoded in the LSE pronominal system, namely person, number, and clusivity.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.