A Grammar of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT)

Three frequently occurring types of path movement in NGT are straight, arched and circular. According to van der Kooij’s model, these forms are not phonologically specified. The default would be a straight movement, but the movement may be arched due to phonetic effects or semantic motivation. We describe the three phonetic forms here separately but will leave an investigation of their status in terms of phonology to further research.

The noun sentence (Figure 2.19a) is an example of a sign with an outward straight path movement, and the verb visit (Figure 2.19b) shows a directional arched path movement:

                                                                                   

a. sentence	b. visit

 

Figure 2.19. The signs sentence (a) and visit (b), with two different types of path movement: straight vs. arched (Crasborn et al. 2020, symbols added).

 

 

The noun train (Figure 2.20a) and the verb sign (Figure 2.20b) both employ a circular movement, and furthermore show that the feature ‘alternation’ is a distinguishing factor in NGT, since sign is specified for alternation, whereas train is not.

 

                                                                             

a. train	b. sign

 

Figure 2.20. The minimal pair train (a) and sign (b), both having a circular path movement but differing in specification of ‘alternation’: not-alternating vs. alternating.

 

Generally, the start and end location of the path movement are articulated in the same main area (see PHONOLOGY 1.2). A path movement can directly follow another path movement, which results in specific shapes such as a ‘plus-shape’ (i.e., in the form of a +). Van der Kooij also analyses the ‘z-shape’ (i.e., a zig zag movement downward) and the ‘7-shape’ (in the form of the numeral 7) as a combination of path movements. An example of a sign with a ‘z-shape’ movement is the sign lightning (Figure 2.21):

 

 

                                                                            

 

 

Figure 2.21. The sign lightning, which has a z-shaped path movement ).

 

All path movements can combine with all types of secondary movements; examples are provided in the next section. Note that the size of the path movement is not phonologically contrastive (but see PHONOLOGY, Chapter 3 for more information on larger and smaller signs and their functions).

As mentioned in the introduction to PHONOLOGY 1.3, there are three manner features that are phonologically distinctive. Apart from repetition, discussed earlier, van der Kooij describes tenseness and directionality. According to her, a path movement that is specified as ‘tensed’ looks straight, instead of slightly arched. A minimal pair of signs that differ only in this specification are the tensed sign jealous (jaloers) – therefore with a straight movement, see Figure 2.22a – and the non-tensed sign mad – with a slightly arched movement, see Figure 2.22b.

Directionality specifies whether a repeated path movement only goes in one direction (monodirectional), as in the sign for vegetables  (see Figure 2.23a), or from one side to the other and back (bidirectional), as in the sign for green  (see Figure 2.23b). Consequently, these signs constitute a minimal pair.

 

 

 

a. jealous	b. mad

 

Figure 2.22. The minimal pair jealous (a) and mad (b), differing only in the specification for tenseness: tensed vs. non-tensed.

                                                                                                             

 

a. vegetables	b. green

 

Figure 2.23. The minimal pair vegetables (a) and green (b), differing only in the specification for directionality: monodirectional vs. bidirectional.