Vadim Kimmelman

We analyze argument structure of whole-entity and handling classifier predicates in four sign languages (Russian Sign Language, Sign Language of the Netherlands, German Sign Language, and Kata Kolok) using parallel datasets (retellings of the Canary Row cartoons). We find that all four languages display a systematic, or canonical, mapping between classifier type and argument structure, as previously established for several sign languages: whole-entity classifier predicates are mostly used intransitively, while handling classifier predicates are used transitively. However, our data sets also reveal several non-canonical mappings which we address in turn. First, it appears that whole-entity classifier predicates can be used unergatively, rather than unaccusatively, contrary to expectations. Second, our data contain some transitive uses of whole-entity classifier predicates. Finally, we find that handling classifier predicates can express various complex event structures. We discuss what these findings imply for existing theories of classifier predicates in sign languages.

We analyze classifier predicates in Russian Sign Language (RSL) using a combination of naturalistic corpus and elicited data in order to determine their argument structure, and to test the generalization, based on research on other sign languages , that there is a clear relation between argument structure and classifier type (Benedicto and Brentari 2004). We propose that whole-entity classifier predicates are intransitive unaccusative, and that body-part classifier predicates are optionally transitive. Contrary to previous research on other sign languages, we argue that handling classifier predicates in RSL describe complex events with two subevents: one of handling, and one of movement, which are not necessarily causally connected. We further suggest that the 'moving legs' classifier predicate in RSL also describes a complex event consisting of two subevents. To account for these facts, we develop a formal analysis of classifier predicates in RSL. Specifically, we argue that whole-entity and body-part classifier handshapes are agreement markers, while handling classifier handshapes as well as the 'moving legs' classifier handshape represent an argument in combination with a verbal root. This casts doubt on the observation made in the literature that classifiers straightforwardly determine the argument structure of classifier predicates, since different classifiers in RSL represent different grammatical phenomena. In addition, we show that event structures associated with some classi-fier predicates are more complex than those associated with monoclausal structures in spoken languages.

Using quantitative methods, we analyze naturalistic corpus data in two sign languages, German Sign Language and Russian Sign Language, to study subject-omission patterns. We find that, in both languages, the interpretation of null subjects depends on the type of the verb. With verbs signed on the signer's body (body-anchored verbs), null subjects are interpreted only as first person. With verbs signed in neutral space in front of the signer (neutral verbs), this restriction does not apply. We argue that this is an effect of iconicity: for body-anchored verbs, the signer's body is a part of the iconic representation of the verbal event, and by default the body is interpreted as referring to the signer, that is, as first person. We develop a formal analysis using a mechanism of mixed agreement, taking inspiration from Matushansky's (2013) account of mixed gender agreement in Russian. Specifically, we argue that body-anchored verbs bear an inherent feature that gives a first-person interpretation to null subjects. When a body-anchored verb is combined with an overt third-person subject, a feature mismatch occurs which is resolved in favor of the third person. Neutral verbs do not come with inherent feature-value specifications, thus allowing all person interpretations. We also explain how our analysis predicts the interpretation of null subjects in the context of role shift. With our account, we demonstrate that iconicity plays an active role in the grammar of sign languages, and we pin down the locus of the iconicity effect. While no iconic or modality-specific syntactic mechanisms are needed to account for the data, iconicity is argued to determine feature specification on a subset of sign language verbs.

This paper describes the basic properties of quotation in Russian Sign Language (RSL) using corpus and elicited data. Quotation constructions in RSL consist of source indication (optional), a predicate of speech (optional), and the quote itself. The quote as well as the other constituents of quotation constructions can be marked by non-manual markers (also known as role shift), namely by eye gaze change, head turns, and body turns; however, these markers are optional. Judging by the behavior of indexicals, quotation in naturalistic RSL narratives mostly involves direct speech. Mixed behavior of indexicals is also possible. Interestingly, non-manual marking does not correlate perfectly with the behavior of indexicals. We also find evidence that at least quotes with shifted indexicals are not syntactically embedded. The properties of RSL quotation constructions seem to present problems for some current accounts of role shift in other sign languages.

In this paper, basic verb classes and argument structure alternations in Russian Sign Language (RSL) are described, and the implications of these data for the theory of argument structure are discussed. The analysis is based on data elicited using a list of 80 verbal meanings from the Valency Classes in World's Languages project (Hartmann, Haspelmath & Taylor 2013) and on data collected from the corpus of RSL (Burkova 2015). The study shows that RSL has lexical verbs with different sets of arguments (from zero up to three arguments), and a number of argument structure alternations, such as causative-inchoative, impersonal, reflexive, and reciprocal. It is found that argument structure of lexical verbs and argument structure alternations that apply to them in RSL are typologically common. This implies that the semantic basis of argument structure is independent of modality. In addition, RSL uses classifier predicates whose argument structure is determined by the type of the classifier and by the context. Although such predicates in other sign languages have been used to argue for a syntactic approach to argument structure, RSL clas-sifier predicates do not provide a strong support for this approach.

This paper presents corpus-based research of quotation constructions in Russian Sign Language (RSL). Quotation constructions have been observed from different perspective in different signed and spoken languages [Brendel, Meibauer, Steinbach 2011]; [Litvinenko et al. 2009]. Based on the corpus of spontaneous narratives recorded from RSL signers [Burkova 2015], we conducted a quantitative analysis of these constructions. We analyzed constituents of quotation construction, such as the source (author of utterance) indication, the introducing matrix predicate, and the quote. Our investigation of non-manual markers in the corpus revealed that non-manual marking of quotation is optional for RSL quotations. We distinguished direct and indirect quotations in our data based on the reference of indexical elements, the use of subordinating conjunction, and the imperative mood. We found that in RSL non-manuals do not mark the direct/ indirect type of quotation. Our data show that RSL signers tend to use direct quotation much more frequently than indirect quotation. In addition, we compared our findings with the data on quotation constructions in some other sign languages and with the studies of quotation in natural discourse of spoken languages. This comparison showed that RSL quotations share core properties with quotations in spoken and signed languages [Litvinenko et al. 2009]. Corpus-based investigation of quotation in Russian Sign Language 295 В данной статье представлено корпусное исследование цитационных конструкций в русском жестовом языке (РЖЯ). Цитационные конструк-ции были изучены с разных точек зрения на материале как жестовых, так и звуковых языков [Brendel, Meibauer, Steinbach 2011; Litvenenko et al. 2009]. Для настоящего исследования мы использовали корпус спонтанных нарративов, записанных от носителей РЖЯ [Burkova 2015]. Анализ корпуса позволил количественно описать такие составляющие цитационных конструкций, как указание на автора высказывания, вво-дящую предикацию и собственно саму цитацию. В процессе анализа немануальных маркеров, представленных в корпусе, было обнару-жено, что немануальное маркирование цитаций не является обяза-тельным в РЖЯ. В нашем корпусе мы разделяли прямую и косвенную цитацию, основываясь на следующих критериях: сдвиг референции индексикалов, наличие подчинительного союза и показателей импе-ратива. Мы обнаружили, что различие между прямым и косвенным типом цитации не маркируется немануально. Мы отметили, что носи-тели РЖЯ используют прямую цитацию значительно чаще, чем косвен-ную. Сравнив наши результаты с данными исследований цитационных конструкций в других жестовых языках и в естественном дискурсе звуковых языков, мы пришли к выводу, что цитационные конструкции РЖЯ имеют много общего с цитацией в звучащих и жестовых языках [Litvinenko et al.2009].

We created the first large-scale database of signs annotated according to various parameters of iconicity. The signs represent concrete concepts in seven semantic fields in nineteen sign languages; 1542 signs in total. Each sign was annotated with respect to the type of form-image association, the presence of iconic location and movement, personification, and with respect to whether the sign depicts a salient part of the concept. We also created a website: https://sl-iconicity.shinyapps.io/iconicity patterns/ with several visualization tools to represent the data from the database. It is possible to visualize iconic properties of separate concepts or iconic properties of semantic fields on the map of the world, and to build graphs representing iconic patterns for selected semantic fields. A preliminary analysis of the data shows that iconicity patterns vary across semantic fields and across languages. The database and the website can be used to further study a variety of theoretical questions related to iconicity in sign languages.

Several sign languages of the world utilize a construction that consists
of a question followed by an answer, both of which are produced
by the same signer. For American Sign Language, this construction
has been analyzed as a discourse-level rhetorical question construction
(Hoza et al. 1997), as a single-sentence question-answer pair
(Caponigro and Davidson 2011), and as wh-clefts (Wilbur 1996). In
this article, we analyze this construction in Sign Language of the
Netherlands (NGT) based on corpus data. We demonstrate that its
properties show a great deal of variation, making it impossible to apply
any of the previous accounts to the NGT data. In particular, we
found both discourse-level combinations of questions and answers,
and single sentence structures resembling wh-clefts. We argue that
this variation is a reflex of grammaticalization of discourse-level
rhetorical strategy into a single-sentence construction functionally
similar to wh-clefts.

[Kimmelman, Vadim & Lianne Vink. 2017. Question-Answer Pairs in Sign Language of the Netherlands. Sign Language Studies 17(4). 417–449. doi:10.1353/sls.2017.0013.]  - This is a pre-publication version with a different formatting, but it is almost identical to the published version.

Russian Sign Language (RSL) makes use of constructions involving manual simultaneity, in particular, weak hand holds, where one hand is being held in the location and configuration of a sign, while the other simultaneously produces one sign or a sequence of several signs. In this paper, I argue that some weak hand holds can be analyzed using the formalism of External Remerge and Parenthetical Merge (de Vries 2008, 2009). I show that the syntactic structures that produce weak hand holds in RSL are also attested in spoken languages, but that the linearization rules are modality-specific due to the differences in articulators. I also demonstrate that RSL applies distinctive linearizations for External Remerge and Parenthetical Merge, thus overtly expressing the difference between these two operations.

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This is an extended version of the paper I published in the proceedings on CLS, with new data and some refinements to the analysis.

Open access until the end of October 2015

Full description: V. Kimmelman, Topics and topic prominence in two sign languages, Journal of Pragmatics, Volume 87, October 2015, Pages 156-170, ISSN 0378-2166, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.08.004.

In this paper we describe topic marking in Russian Sign Language (RSL) and Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) and discuss whether these languages should be considered topic prominent. The formal markers of topics in RSL are sentence-initial position, a prosodic break following the topic, and non-manual markers, including eyebrow raise and backward head tilt. In NGT all these markers are used, too, but sometimes topics are also marked by clause-final pointing signs referring back to the topic of the sentence (sentence-final topic copying); this was not found in RSL. Topics in RSL and NGT are not marked obligatorily. Eyebrow raise and head tilt only mark shifted aboutness topics. In both RSL and NGT the VS order is used in thetic sentences. However, this strategy is optional, so the SV order is also accepted in thetic sentences. According to the criteria of topic prominence summarized by Sze (2008), RSL and NGT cannot be considered topic prominent. We argue that the notion of topic prominence should be considered gradual.

This is a paper for a volume in honor of Barbara Partee. I address some ideas that Barbara developed in her 1995 paper where she discussed quantification in American Sign Language (among other things). I applied these ideas to new data from Russian Sign Language.

Full reference: Kimmelman, V. (2015). Quantifiers in RSL: distributivity and compositionality. In P. Arkadiev, I. Kapitonov, Y. Lander, E. Rakhilina, & S. Tatevosov (Eds.) Donum Semanticum (pp. 121-134). Moscow: Jazyki Slavjanskoj Kuljtury

Anna Sáfár1 & Vadim Kimmelman

In this paper, we provide a quantitative analysis of weak hand holds based on corpus data. We include both a cross-linguistic analysis of these holds in narrative data from Russian Sign Language (RSL) and Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT), and a language-internal, cross-genre analysis comparing NGT narrative and conversational data. We classified the functions of all holds found in two corpora of RSL and NGT, and analyzed their formal characteristics. We found that holds in RSL and NGT have similar functions. However, holds are significantly more frequent in RSL than in NGT. In addition, we found that the distribution of holds across different functions varies between different genres in NGT. The similarities between RSL and NGT in the domain of holds may be attributed to modality effects. The differences in frequency of holds ask for a language-specific explanation, and we discuss several possible scenarios.

This dissertation explores Information Structure in two sign languages: Sign Language of the Netherlands and Russian Sign Language. Based on corpus data and elicitation tasks we show how topic and focus are expressed in these languages. In particular, we show that topics can be marked syntactically and prosodically (including non-manual markers) in both languages, although some differences between the languages are also found. We also conclude that these languages are not topic prominent. As for focus, certain syntactic and prosodic (manual and non-manual) markers can be used to mark it in both languages, although some quantitative differences between the languages can be found. In addition, we analyze two mechanism previously linked to Information Structure expression in other sign languages, namely doubling and weak hand holds. Doubling in both languages can be used to express focus, emphasis, and foregrounding. Weak hand holds are used in a variety of functions, some of which are related to topicality. We discuss the similarities and differences between the languages in the domain of Information Structure, as well as typological implications of our findings. In addition, we assess the effects of the visual modality on expression of Information Structure.

... Since Stokoe's (1960) seminal work on the phonological structure of ASL, it is generally ... RSL signs grand-mother and moscow, for example, differ only in the movement component, while ... A mouthing is a silent articulation of (a part of) the corresponding spoken language word ...