4.2. Localization and distribution
Localization refers to signing a sign in a certain location in signing space, usually, not in central space where the citation form of the sign would be articulated but in the lateral space in order to express that the referent of the sign is in a certain location. For instance, the following example is interpreted as the house being at a certain location x. The signer then may point back to this location to express that the referent is “the house at location x”. This is a case of inflection because the form of the noun in this case is different from its form in its uninflected articulation, namely, the noun is inflected with a locus morpheme.
parka anext_tob grocery_storeb ixb there_is ixb chocolate buy
‘There is a grocery store next to the park. Buy chocolate there.’
Spatial distribution is a combination of localization and pluralization via reduplication to express multiplicity of entities at different locations. This is possible only with classifiers. See [Morphology – 5].
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.