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

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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.