Modal and Focus Particles in Sign Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Study (Sign Languages and Deaf Communities [SLDC], 2) - Hardcover

Herrmann, Annika

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 161451237X ISBN 13: 9781614512370

Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton, 2013

Synopsis

Bringing together the research fields of sign language linguistics and information structure, this book focuses on the realization of modal particles and focus particles in three European sign languages: German Sign Language, Sign Language of the Netherlands, and Irish Sign Language. As a cross-linguistic investigation based on a systematic methodological approach, the study analyzes the results particularly with regard to nonmanual features expressed by articulators such as the body, head, and face. The analyses of the data provide interesting insights into the syntax-prosody interface in sign languages and the interaction of syntax and prosody in general.

Modal and focus particles have not been thoroughly investigated in sign languages. This volume presents the first study on this phenomenon and is thus an innovative contribution to the field. From a methodological and theoretical perspective, it draws on up-to-date linguistic tools and provides professionally elicited and annotated data. The book accounts for the results within existing theoretical models. Given its specific focus on nonmanuals, the book contributes to recent debates on information structure and the syntax-prosody interface and will be of special interest to both sign and spoken language linguists.

About this title

About the Author

Annika Herrmann, Göttingen University, Germany.

Edition details

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 161451237X
• ISBN 13: 9781614512370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 419