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Modification of indicating verbs in British Sign language: A corpus-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Jordan Fenlon ,
Adam Schembri  and
Kearsy Cormier
Jordan Fenlon*
Affiliation:
Heriot-Watt University
Adam Schembri*
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Kearsy Cormier*
Affiliation:
University College London
*
Fenlon, Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland EH14 4AS, [j.fenlon@hw.ac.uk]
Schembri, Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics University of Birmingham Birmingham B152TT, UK, [a.schembri@bham.ac.uk]
Cormier, Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre University College London London WC1H 0PD, UK, [k.cormier@ucl.ac.uk]
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Abstract

Indicating verbs can be directed toward locations in space associated with their arguments. The primary debate about these verbs is whether this directionality is akin to grammatical agreement or whether it represents a fusion of both morphemic and gestural elements. To move the debate forward, more empirical evidence is needed. We consider linguistic and social factors in 1,436 indicating-verb tokens from the BSL Corpus. Results reveal that modification is not obligatory and that patient modification is conditioned by several factors, such as constructed action. We argue that our results provide some support for the claim that indicating verbs represent a fusion of morphemic and gestural elements.

Keywords

agreementdirectionalpersonconstructed actionrole shiftgesturedeixis

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 94 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 84 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Linguistic Society of America

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