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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
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Kathryn Davidson (Harvard University)
Answering negative questions
(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)
Goals of today’s talk
➢ How does ASL fit into the typological picture? (No previous work.)
➢ Compare the answering of negative polar questions
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.’
(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.
(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.’)
(`I do not like salad.’)
➢ Negative answers are more restricted.