Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Insight into Negative Questions in ASL: Semantics, Syntax, and Pragmatics, Lecture notes of Sign Language

The answering of negative polar questions in American Sign Language (ASL) at both the discourse and clause levels. The researchers compare ASL to Polarity-based and Truth-based systems and discuss new insights into the semantics, syntax, and pragmatics interface in sign languages. The proposal introduces the structure of Question-Answer clauses (QACs) in ASL and the availability of double negation readings.

Typology: Lecture notes

2021/2022

Uploaded on 09/27/2022

skips
skips 🇺🇸

4.4

(11)

222 documents

1 / 47

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
Answering negative questions in
American Sign Language
Aurore Gonzalez, Kate Henninger and
Kathryn Davidson (Harvard University)
NELS 49 [Cornell University] October 5-7, 2018
pf3
pf4
pf5
pf8
pf9
pfa
pfd
pfe
pff
pf12
pf13
pf14
pf15
pf16
pf17
pf18
pf19
pf1a
pf1b
pf1c
pf1d
pf1e
pf1f
pf20
pf21
pf22
pf23
pf24
pf25
pf26
pf27
pf28
pf29
pf2a
pf2b
pf2c
pf2d
pf2e
pf2f

Partial preview of the text

Download Insight into Negative Questions in ASL: Semantics, Syntax, and Pragmatics and more Lecture notes Sign Language in PDF only on Docsity!

Answering negative questions in

American Sign Language

Aurore Gonzalez, Kate Henninger and

Kathryn Davidson (Harvard University)

NELS 49 [Cornell University] October 5-7, 2018

Answering negative questions

Yes/no expresses Yes/no ( dis)confirms the truth of

positive/negative polarity. the negative proposition.

(1) Amy : Är du inte trött? (2) Amy : an himtule? ‘Are you not tired?’ ‘Are you not tired?’

a. Zoe : Nej (jag är inte trött). a. Zoe : ung (an himtule). (Lit.) ‘No, (I am not).’ (Lit.) ‘Yes, (I am not tired).’ b. Zoe : Jo. b. Zoe : ani (himtul-e). (Lit.) ‘Yes, (I am).’ (Lit.) ‘No, (I am tired).’

(Pope 1972, Holmberg 2015)

Polarity-based System

(e.g. Swedish)

Truth-based System

(e.g. Korean, Japanese)

Goals of today’s talk

➢ How does ASL fit into the typological picture? (No previous work.)

➢ Compare the answering of negative polar questions

◆ At the discourse level

◆ Within the same clause

Roadmap

➢ Background on ASL

➢ Answering negative questions in ASL

➢ New Insights on the semantics/syntax/pragmatic interface in sign languages

➢ The proposal

ASL polar questions

Same word order but different non-manual marking.

(5) a. ZOE PLAY VIDEO GAME. ‘Zoe plays video games.’

b. ZOE PLAY VIDEO GAME brow-raise^? ‘Does Zoe play video games?’

Negation in ASL

Two components : Manual signs & Non-manual markers

(6) a. JOHN NOT headshake^ BUY HOUSE (Neidle et al. 2000) ‘John is not buying a house.’

b. JOHN NOT BUY HOUSE headshake ‘John is not buying a house.’

Non-manual negation alone can negate a sentence.

(7) a. *JOHN NOT BUY HOUSE (Neidle et al. 2000)

b. JOHN BUY HOUSE headshake ‘John is not buying a house.’

Discourse Level

Amy : ZOE PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER headshake^ Ben (to Zoe) : IX (^) Zoe NEVER brow-raise^? ‘Zoe never plays video games.’ ‘You never play video games?’

✓ NO hs^ can agree with the polarity of the question.

(8) Zoe : NO headshake^ , IX (^) Zoe NEVER headshake ‘No, I never play video games.’

✓ NO hs^ can disconfirm the truth of the negative proposition.

(9) Zoe : NO headshake^ , IX (^) Zoe ONCE-IN-A-WHILE ‘No, I play video games once in a while.’

At the level of the discourse

Answering negative questions in QACs

Amy: ZOE PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER headshake

‘Zoe never plays video games.’

  • NO hs^ cannot agree with the polarity of the question.

(12) Zoe: *[IX (^) Zoe PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER brow-raise], [NO NEVER headshake] (‘I never play video games.’)

✓ NO hs^ can disconfirm the truth of the negative proposition.

(13) Zoe: [IX (^) Zoe PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER brow-raise], [NO headshake^ ONCE-IN-A-WHILE] ‘I do play video games once in a while.’

Answering negative questions in QACs

Positive answers

Amy : ZOE PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER headshake^ Ben (to Zoe) : IX (^) Zoe NEVER brow-raise^? ‘Zoe never plays video games.’ ‘You never play video games?’

Variation at the level of the discourse

(14) a. Zoe : %^ YES head nod, IX (^) Zoe NEVER headshake^ b. Zoe : %^ YES head nod, IX (^) Zoe ONCE-IN-A-WHILE ‘Yes, I never play video games.’ ‘Yes, I play video games once in a while.’

➢ In QACs , YES hn^ cannot confirm the truth of the negative proposition.

(15) a. Zoe : *[IX (^) Zoe PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER br], [YES hn^ NEVER hs] (‘I never play video games.’) b. Zoe: %^ [IX (^) Zoe PLAY VIDEO GAME NEVER br], [YES hn^ ONCE-IN-A-WHILE] ‘I do play video games once in a while.’

Roadmap

➢ Background on ASL

➢ Answering negative questions in ASL

➢ New Insights on the semantics/syntax/pragmatic interface in sign languages

➢ The proposal

Q-constituent is not a discourse level question

No doubling of the wh -word, as in embedded questions.

(Petronio & Lillo-Martin 1997, Wilbur 1994)

(16) JOHN BUY WHAT YESTERDAY WHAT? (17) a. *HE ASK JOHN BUY WHAT YESTERDAY WHAT. ‘What did John buy yesterday.’ (‘He asked what John bought yesterday.’) b. *[JOHN BUY WHAT YESTERDAY WHAT], [BOOK]. (‘What John bought yesterday was a book.’)

Different non-manual marking of the Q-constituent. (Wilbur 1994)

Matrix Constituent Interrogative Q-constituent of a QAC

Brow furrowing Brow raising

Polar QACs also differ from discourse level pairs

No doubling of the verb, as in embedded questions.

(18) a YOU LIKE SALAD LIKE? ‘Do you like salad ?’ b. *MOM WONDER BROTHER LIKE SALAD LIKE. (Davidson & Caponigro 2016) (`Mom wonders whether her brother likes salad.’)

(19) *[IX 1 LIKE SALAD LIKE], [NO HATE]

(`I do not like salad.’)

Negative answers are more restricted.