[parislinguists] conf E.Pizzuto

[Lea Nash]

L'UMR 7023 (SFL)
a le plaisir d'annoncer un exposé
Date : lundi 15 novembre 2004
Lieu : locaux SFL, 15 rue Catulienne, 93 Saint-Denis, salle 205
Heure : 10:00-11:30
Métro : Basilique de Saint-Denis
RER : Saint-Denis


10:00-11:30
Elena Pizzuto
Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research 
Council, Rome

	Deixis and Anaphora in Signed Languages: a Crosslinguistic Perspective



RESUME

This presentation aims to (1) provide a broad overview of the main 
devices that are used in signed languages for deictic and anaphoric 
reference; (2) discuss a set of formal features of such devices that 
appear to be markedly influenced by the visual-gestural modality of 
linguistic expression; (3) examine from a crosslinguistic perspective 
the formal and functional similarities that, in spite and beyond 
differences linked to the substance of the signifiers, render comparable 
deixis and anaphora in sign and speech, and appear to provide useful 
insights on the more general properties of these structures in human 
language systems.
I shall examine in some detail the problems posed by deictic and 
anaphoric devices that are realized, in signed languages, by manual 
indexes or ‘pointing’ signs that can be directed towards “real 
referents” (as when marking person in the canonical situation of 
utterance), or towards “loci in space” (when referring to absent 
referents). A question that has been and remains hotly debated in sign 
language research is whether such ‘pointing’ signs can be listed in the 
lexicon of signed languages as pronouns or, rather, should be 
assimilated, fully or in part, to ostensive pointing gestures 
substantially comparable to those observed in spoken languages coverbal 
gesturing (Liddell, 2003; McBurney, 2002). I will propose that pointing 
signs can be distinguished from ostensive pointing gestures if one takes 
into due account their receptive features, as evidenced by the gaze 
behaviour of the signer’s addressee (Cuxac, 2000).
I shall also consider the issues raised by highly iconic 
deictic-anaphoric reference structures vehiculated by:
Complex manual sign units characterizable as “proforms” (after Cuxac, 
2000; Sallandre, 2003), usually described as “classifiers” (Emmorey, 
2003).
Non-manual markers that are frequently described as “role-playing” or 
“role-shifting” devices (performed by postural modifications of the 
shoulders or the whole upper part of the body, distinct eye-gaze 
directions and facial expressions).
In line with proposals formulated by Cuxac (2000) and Sallandre (2003), 
I will argue that an appropriate description of these structures cannot 
be based on analytic tools developed for the analysis of spoken 
languages, but needs to be grounded within a broader semiotic 
perspective where the distinctive, modality-specific features of both 
signed and spoken languages are fully recognized, along with the more 
general properties they share as natural human languages.
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