Thematic structure and verb agreement in Israeli Sign Language

................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Overview Introduction............................................................................ 5 1.1. Properties of agreement..................................................... 8 1.2. Agreement in Sign Language research.................................. 11 1.3. The analysis of verb agreement in ISL: Overview.................... 16 1.3.1. Agreement verbs as complex verbs................................ 17 1.4. General theoretical framework............................................. 22 1.4.1. The structure of the Lexicon....................................... 22 1.4.2. Lexical-semantic theory: Jackendoff (1990a).................... .27 1.4.3. Predicate Argument Structure...................................... 33 1.4.4. The phonology of signs............................................. 36 1.5. The structure of the thesis................................................. 43 Chapter 2: Reference and agreement in ISL Introduction............................................................................ 48 2.1. The referential system of ISL................................................50 2.1.1. Establishing reference points.......................................51 2.1.2. The referential morpheme.......................................... 56 2.1.3. Agreement as a copying procedure................................ 57 2.1.4. Pronominal vs. locative use of the referential system........... 62 2.1.4.1. The differences between locative and personal pronouns........................................................... 63 2.1.4.2. Problems with the distinction............................. 66 2.1.5. Summary...............................................................70 2.2. Verb agreement in ISL..................................................... 70 2.2.1. Verb classes in ISL: plain, agreement and spatial.................71 2.2.1.1. Plain verbs......................................................72 2.2.1.2. Agreement verbs and spatial verbs..........................73 Irit Meir, Dissertation, 1998 viii 2.2.2. The physical realization of agreement...............................84 2.2.2.1. Orientation vs. facing..........................................84 2.2.2.2. Non-manual agreement markers............................89 2.2.3. ‘Single argument agreement’. ........................................92 2.2.3.1. Verbs marked for initial body contact.......................93 2.2.3.2. Plain verbs articulated in different loci in space............94 2.2.4. Summary................................................................103 Chapter 3: Agreement mechanisms: Direction of Path and Facing of the Hands Introduction...............................................................................105 3.1. Agreement verbs: regular vs. backwards verbs..............................107 3.1.1. General description.....................................................107 3.1.2. The syntactic and semantic structure of agreement verbs.........110 3.2. Previous analyses...............................................................113 3.3. Proposed analysis: Two agreement mechanisms in a verb................121 3.4. Spatial thematic roles and agreement.........................................129 3.5. Facing an agreement marker or a Case marker?........................... 135 3.6. Consequences and implications................................................137 3.6.1. The double marking of the arguments.................................138 3.6.2. The problems of thematic agreement.................................140 3.7. Summary..........................................................................143 Chapter 4: The analysis of verbs agreement in ISL Introduction.................................................................................146 4.1. The Thematic Structure Agreement Analysis................................151 4.1.1. The derivation of agreement verbs.....................................151 4.1.2. Thematic Structure Agreement Analysis and the agreement puzzles in ISL............................................................157 4.2. The basic predicates of agreement verbs....................................163 4.2.1. PATH...................................................................163 4.2.2. TRANSFER............................................................171 4.2.2.1. Motivation for positing a TRANSFER predicate........171 4.2.2.2. The properties of TRANSFER.............................177 Irit Meir, Dissertation, 1998 ix 4.3. The TRANSFER+PATH merger............................................180 4.3.1. Argument structure merger...........................................181 4.3.2. A syntactic movement analysis (Larson 1988)....................191 4.3.3. A phonological merger...............................................196 4.4. The advantages of the analysis...............................................199 4.4.1. Explaining thematic agreement......................................199 4.4.2. Predicting the agreement pattern of ISL verbs.....................201 4.4.2.1. Properties of verbs of transfer..............................206 4.4.2.2. Agreement in spatial verbs vs. agreement verbs..........218 4.5. Summary........................................................................223 Chapter 5: Where do all the different agreement verbs come from? Introduction..............................................................................225 5.1. The derivation of monotransitive agreement verbs........................226 5.1.1. The LCS and PAS of monotransitive agreement verbs...........227 5.1.2. Monotransitive agreement verbs as Noun Incorporation ........230 5.2. The derivation of di-transitive agreement verbs...........................236 5.3. The phonological properties of agreement verbs..........................240 5.3.1. The phonological representation of agreement verbs.............242 5.3.2. Various phonological manifestations, as a result of phonological clashes.....................................................................246 5.4. Summary........................................................................253 Chapter 6: Predictions Introduction.............................................................................254 6.1. What might constitute counterexamples for the analysis?..............254 6.2. ‘Frighten’-type Psych Verbs...............................................260 Chapter 7: Comparison with other approaches Introduction.............................................................................263 7.1. The Locative Approach (Gee and Kegl 1982, Shepard-Kegl 1985)... 266 7.2. The Direction Approach (Brentari 1988, forthcoming).................273 7.3. The Controller Feature Analysis (Janis 1992)...........................279 Irit Meir, Dissertation, 1998 x 7.4. Summary: The Thematic Structure Agreement Theory vs. other approaches.................................................286 Chapter 8: Agreement in Broader Context: Sign Languages vs. Spoken Languages Reconsidered Introduction.............................................................................288 8.1. In what ways do sign languages differ from spoken languages?........292 8.1.1. The nature of the agreeing element.................................292 8.1.2. The relative ordering of the agreement process in the morphology....................................................295 8.2. The modality impact: Iconicity of spatial predicates....................298 8.2.1. Iconicity and arbitrariness in language: spoken vs. sign languages...............................................299 8.2.2. Iconicity in verb agreement..........................................304 8.2.2.1. Iconicity and modality: iconicity as the preferred strategy.......................................305 8.2.2.2. ‘Conceptual onomatopoeia’: semantic perspicuity in sign language verb morphology........................311 8.3. Methodology for future research: the facing of the hands...............313 8.4. Conclusions.....................................................................316 References..............................................................................321 Appendix A: A list of agreement verbs in ISL.......................................333 Appendix B: A list of plain verbs in ISL.............................................337 Appendix C: Subject-Object asymmetry in ISL.....................................339 Transcription conventions .............................................................341 Abbreviations............................................................................342 Irit Meir, Dissertation, 1998 xi Irit Meir, Dissertation, 1998 1 Thematic Structure and Verb Agreement In Israeli Sign Language