Properties of Coordination in Japanese Sign Language

DOI Web Site 17 References

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 日本手話における等位接続の特性 (1)
  • Asymmetric Analysis of Simultaneity of Coordination
  • 等位接続の同時性における非対称分析

Abstract

This article is the first half of the research paper that deals with the phenomenon of coordination in Japanese Sign Language (JSL) within the framework of generative grammar (Chomsky 2015, et seq.). Sentences with coordination (e.g., John and Mary got married.) create a mismatch between semantic symmetry and phonological asymmetry of coordinated phrases (conjuncts). On the one hand, conjuncts have an equal semantic status: e.g., the two conjuncts in a coordinate structure may appear in a different order without altering the truth value of the sentences. For example, the sentences John and Mary got married. and Mary and John got married may be true exactly under the same circumstances, and the two DP conjuncts bear the same thematic role. On the other hand, various data suggest that asymmetries do exist between conjuncts (see e.g., Ross 1967). For one, the conjuncts in coordination needs to be asymmetrically linearized in the phonology. Given this theoretical challenge, researchers do not agree whether conjuncts in coordination are syntactically analyzed in a symmetrical or asymmetrical manner (for a review, see Progovac 1998). The main aim of this article is to shed light on this issue by investigating the phonological simultaneity of coordination in JSL, thus far received little attention. It is shown that the simultaneous articulation of two conjuncts, although physiologically possible, is not permitted in JSL. This observation lends support to the asymmetrical analysis of coordination (e.g. Den Dikken 2006, Mitrovič & Sauerland 2014.).

Journal

References(17)*help

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top