Incl/excl pronouns in SLs: Summary

[Kearsy Cormier]

Hello,

I posted a query to this list a few months ago about inclusive and
exclusive pronouns in signed languages.  Thanks to all who responded.

According to my sources, the following languages show a distinction between
inclusive ('we including you') and exclusive ('we not including you')
pronouns:

Polish Sign Language
Icelandic Sign Language
New Zealand Sign Language
Australian Sign Language
German Sign Language
Japanese Sign Language

I'm claiming that the incl/excl distinction also exists in American Sign
Language, with the citation form WE as the neutral (not necessarily
inclusive or exclusive) form, and a sign similar to WE - but offset to
either the signer's right or left side - as the exclusive form.

Interestingly, I have not been able to find any signed languages that
*don't* have an inclusive/exclusive distinction.  That doesn't necessarily
mean that there aren't any, but I do think the indexic use of space in
signed languages allows for an inclusive/exclusive distinction to occur in
SLs much more widely than in spoken languages.

-Kearsy








Kearsy Cormier
kearsy at mail.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D. student, Dept. of Linguistics
http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~kearsy