THE EXPRESSION OF MODALITY IN IRANIAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ZEI)

This dissertation uses data from Zaban Eshareh Irani, Iranian Sign Language, to investigate the linguistic strategies for the expression of modality in this language. Manual and facial markers of modality are recognized and analyzed based on their form and the semantic domain each covers. Vander Auwera and Plungian (1998) offered a semantic map for categorization of different modals across languages. According to their framework, modality can be classified into two vast domains of possibility and necessity. Based on the source of the modal force then, each modality domain is categorized into three groups of participant-external, participant-internal and epistemic. In this dissertation, ZEI modal markers are discussed based on different discursive contexts in which they appear, and then categorized within Van der Auwera and Plungian (1998) framework. Apart from a discursive semantic analysis of ZEI modals, I try to develop a cognitive approach towards understanding facial channel in signed languages as opposed to the manual one. Facial markers have always been analyzed as important parts of signed languages\u27 grammar. Three distinct facial markers are explained as markers of modality, both with and without accompanying a manual marker. Applying a cognitive grammar approach to modality (Langacker 1991, 2008, 2013), I show that facial markers are the main indicators of epistemic modality in ZEI. Facial markers are also involved in non-epistemic (effective) modality, for example by marking the degree of modality force

Facial grammar in ZEI (Iranian Sign Language)

Sign linguistics explores the grammar and characteristics of sign languages. The number of documented and studied sign languages is small, yet they have much to teach us about the full range of diversity within human language. This study is one of the first to analyze the grammar of Iranian Sign Language (ZEI). One area of study in grammar of any language, spoken or signed, is modality, which has to do with expressing obligation, permission, and possibility. In English, modality is expressed mainly by auxiliary verbs such as could, should, must. Based on video conversations from ZEI signers living in Iran, this study examines different signs and structures that are used for the expressing modality in ZEI. My findings show that in addition to manual signs, facial markers are important grammatical markers of modal meaning. The study also shows that some facial grammatical markers in ZEI have developed from facial muscle movements that occur during cognitive activities such as problem solving or trying to remember something, or physical activities, and consequently also appear in co-speech gestures

Advances in the study of signed languages within a cognitive perspective

In this paper we describe a cognitive grammar approach to the study of signed language grammar. Using data from different signed languages, we explore three broad topics. First, we examine pointing, Place, and placing. We analyze pointing as a construction consisting of a pointing device, a symbolic structure which directs the interlocutor’s conceptual attention, and a Place, a symbolic structure consisting of a spatial location and a meaning, the focus of attention. Placing is a construction in which non-body anchored signs are placed at a location in space, thereby creating or recruiting a Place structure which can be used in subsequent discourse. We examine how these structures work in nominal grounding and in extended discourse. Second, we examine a cognitive grammar approach to grammatical modality. Our analysis is based on the cognitive model called the control cycle, which posits two types of control: effective, which describes our striving to influence what happens in the world, and epistemic, which concerns how we make sense of the world. We explore how effective and epistemic modality are expressed in facial displays, focusing on the brow furrow and a display with down- turned corners of the mouth we call the horseshoe mouth. Finally, we offer a brief account of a cognitive grammar approach to the relation between sign and gesture.In this paper we describe a cognitive grammar approach to the study of signed language grammar. Using data from different signed languages, we explore three broad topics. First, we examine pointing, Place, and placing. We analyze pointing as a construction consisting of a pointing device, a symbolic structure which directs the interlocutor’s conceptual attention, and a Place, a symbolic structure consisting of a spatial location and a meaning, the focus of attention. Placing is a construction in which non-body anchored signs are placed at a location in space, thereby creating or recruiting a Place structure which can be used in subsequent discourse. We examine how these structures work in nominal grounding and in extended discourse. Second, we examine a cognitive grammar approach to grammatical modality. Our analysis is based on the cognitive model called the control cycle, which posits two types of control: effective, which describes our striving to influence what happens in the world, and epistemic, which concerns how we make sense of the world. We explore how effective and epistemic modality are expressed in facial displays, focusing on the brow furrow and a display with down- turned corners of the mouth we call the horseshoe mouth. Finally, we offer a brief account of a cognitive grammar approach to the relation between sign and gesture

Advances in the study of signed languages within a cognitive perspective

In this paper we describe a cognitive grammar approach to the study of signed language grammar. Using data from different signed languages, we explore three broad topics. First, we examine pointing, Place, and placing. We analyze pointing as a construction consisting of a pointing device, a symbolic structure which directs the interlocutor?s conceptual attention, and a Place, a symbolic structure consisting of a spatial location and a meaning, the focus of attention. Placing is a construction in which non-body anchored signs are placed at a location in space, thereby creating or recruiting a Place structure which can be used in subsequent discourse. We examine how these structures work in nominal grounding and in extended discourse. Second, we examine a cognitive grammar approach to grammatical modality. Our analysis is based on the cognitive model called the control cycle, which posits two types of control: effective, which describes our striving to influence what happens in the world, and epistemic, which concerns how we make sense of the world. We explore how effective and epistemic modality are expressed in facial displays, focusing on the brow furrow and a display with down-turned corners of the mouth we call the horseshoe mouth. Finally, we offer a brief account of a cognitive grammar approach to the relation between sign and gesture.Fil: Martínez, Rocío Anabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Siyavoshi, Sara. University of New Mexico; Estados UnidosFil: Wilcox, Sherman. University of New Mexico; Estados Unido