Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2026
Surrogate produce enactments in three-dimensional surrogate spaces which depict events at times and places distinct from the here and now. Within the enactments surrogates do what people do. They do not explain what they are doing to the signer’s addressee. But by expressing their thoughts, they help an addressee understand what is happening within an enactment. At times, signers help clarify events in an enactment with brief simultaneous characterizations of what is happening in the enactment. They do not mention the physical details of the enactments because the surrogate’s gestures and facial expressions are there for an addressee to witness. Enactments frequently utilize meaningful, conventionalized handshapes. Enactments with these handshapes have apparently led to the creation of lexical forms, which include those meaningful handshapes. Their articulations also resemble the depictions from which they are derived, which makes it difficult to distinguish between the articulation of a lexical form and a gestural depiction which resembles that lexical form. Finally, the enactments provide no support for the idea that ‘role shifting’ is grammatically marked.
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