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<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; ">The former idiom is perhaps the most widely cited example of an ASL idiom that fits the linguistic definition. In fact, it appears to have been translated into Auslan, and has a number of variations
here, e.g., PRO-2 MISS TRAIN or simply X-P-T ('Express passenger train') etc. </div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; ">Adam</div>
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<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span>Fischer Susan <<a href="mailto:susan.fischer@RIT.EDU">susan.fischer@RIT.EDU</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span>linguists interested in signed languages <<a href="mailto:SLLING-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU">SLLING-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Friday, 15 March 2013 8:57 <br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>"<a href="mailto:SLLING-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU">SLLING-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU</a>" <<a href="mailto:SLLING-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU">SLLING-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>Re: Idioms in Sign Languages<br>
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There are a few idioms in ASL, where I'm defining an idiom as an expression where the meaning is not derivable from the sum of its parts, but I don't know of anything formally written about them. A couple of examples:
<div>TRAIN ZOOM (equivalent to "you missed the boat"; it's too late and I'm not going to repeat what I said)</div>
<div>PATIENT TOILET (I have to go to the bathroom)</div>
<div>ASL is not alone in having relatively few idioms; I remember someone saying that Greenlandic lacked them too.</div>
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<div apple-content-edited="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">
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Susan D. Fischer<br>
<a href="mailto:Susan.Fischer@rit.edu">Susan.Fischer@rit.edu</a></div>
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Visiting Scholar, NYU</div>
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<div>On Mar 14, 2013, at 5:26 PM, Adam Schembri wrote:</div>
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<div>Myself and other linguists have made this point before - there is<br>
relatively little evidence of idioms in sign languages (i.e., of<br>
relatively invariant phrasal constructions with a non-componential<br>
meaning). Many signs that are called idioms by sign language teachers are<br>
not actually idioms but have idiomatic equivalents in the surrounding<br>
spoken language - hence the confusion.<br>
You can download an interesting paper by Trevor Johnston and Lindsay<br>
Ferarra "Lexicalization in signed_languages: when is an idiom not an<br>
idiom" from Trevor Johnston's <a href="http://www.academia.edu">www.academia.edu</a> page.<br>
Thanks<br>
Adam<br>
-- <br>
Assoc. Prof. Adam Schembri, PhD<br>
Linguistics program | Humanities and Social Sciences<br>
Interim director | Centre for Research on Language Diversity<br>
(<a href="http://www.latrobe.edu.au/crld">http://www.latrobe.edu.au/crld</a>)<br>
La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) | Victoria | 3086 | Australia<br>
Tel : +61 3 9479 2887/6401 | Mob: +61 432 840 744<br>
Secretary, Sign Language Linguistics Society: <a href="http://www.slls.eu">http://www.slls.eu</a><br>
ALLY Network Member supporting GLBTIQ students and staff at La Trobe<br>
University: <a href="http://www.latrobe.edu.au/equality/ally">www.latrobe.edu.au/equality/ally</a><br>
<<a href="http://www.latrobe.edu.au/equality/ally">http://www.latrobe.edu.au/equality/ally</a>><br>
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On 15/03/13 3:48 , "Rena Andrikopoulou" <<a href="mailto:rena_andrikopoulou28@YAHOO.GR">rena_andrikopoulou28@YAHOO.GR</a>><br>
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">Does anybody have any idea about Phd/ paper/ dissertation / research, in<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">Sign Languages' Idioms? Linguistic criteria of determination by simple<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">figurative/metaphorical language?<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">I am a Phd student of Deaf Studies Unit, University of Patras, Greece.<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">Thank you in advance...<br>
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