LL-L "Syntax" 2005.05.04 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 04.MAY.2005 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================

From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Syntax" [E]

I thought it might be time to try describing the syntactic structure of
British Sign Language (BSL) for those on the list that are interested.

Before starting, you have to appreciate that we're talking about a whole new
linguistic medium - it's visual. The main consequence of this is that BSL
isn't nearly as strongly coded as oral languages. While words in oral
languages are effectively arbitrary codifications of the objects they
represent, many signs in BSL are like moving diagrams of the things they
represent.

So although BSL has a definite syntax, you need to always bear in mind that
considerations involving visual representation can override that syntax.

For example, BSL could be said to be an OSV language. So for "I'm going to
the library", you'd sign "library go" and suchlike (pronouns are often
represented using simultaneous directional cues so I'll leave them out of
these descriptions).

However, consider something like "I'm baking a cake". You might think it's
"cake bake". The problem with this is that it suggests that you've got a
cake - then you put it in the oven and bake it! This is visually incorrect -
you don't have the cake until it's baked. So it's "bake cake" - but "eggs
scrambled"!

So bearing these overriding concerns in mind, the syntax of a BSL sentence
is usually taught as:

1. Time
2. Location
3. Object
4. Subject
5. Verb
6. Question-word (eg who? what? why?)

This seems to me to be pretty much in line with visual requirements - the
most abstract elements - time and the question-word - are at the ends of the
sentence, while the physical elements - location, object and subject are
grouped together.

So while in English you might say:

"Hannibal crossed the Alps in AD 218."

In BSL this would be:

"AD 218, Alps, Hannibal cross finish."

(This "finish" is a perfect tense marker).

It might be helpful to think of a BSL sentence as like staging a brief
theatre performance. Firstly, someone puts up a board saying what time the
current scene took place at - a crude device, but a hallmark of this
theatre! The curtains open and you see the Alps. Hannibal enters, stage
left, and crosses them.

Likewise, in BSL you can't say: "I went to the shops yesterday," it has to
be "Yesterday..." ie, "Yesterday, shops, go finish."

Time tends to be simple, and in this sentence the location is simply the
Alps, but the object can be arbitrarily complicated. If you want to describe
Hannibal's actual route across the Alps then you may spend some time setting
up the this route as the object of the sentence before you start to describe
the subject's (Hannibal's) crossing. Of course there's no need to repeat
this in subsequent sentences, though you might add to it. The location could
also be extended - for example, you could specify and place Hannibal's start
point and end point and sign him as moving between those.

The subject might also be simple or you might want to describe it in detail,
especially if it's a person. So, you might say:

"AD 218, Alps, Hannibal short-curly hair, straight nose, elephant riding,
army men elephants riding on both sides, cross finish."

You'll notice that in BSL it's usual to put qualifying descriptions such as
adjectives after the noun, but this isn't considered a strict rule.
Adjectives can be before, after, bracketting or simultaneous. This may be
related to overriding visual concerns too, I'm not sure.

There's very little in the way of words such as "on", "in", "and",
"determined-looking", "up and down" - all this sort of thing is already
present in the visual representations, including facial expressions. I'm
also not sure to what extent the "location, object, subject," distinction is
real and to what extent it's best just to think in terms of the picture and
its action.

The verb can also be expanded greatly. In BSL there's a classifier meaning a
"throng" of people and suchlike so although there's not really a sign
meaning "to cross", it's very easy and quick to illustrate the the whole
army moving in procession up and down the Alps.

So you might think of a BSL sentence or monologue as a theatre performance
or a film. The pictures in the listeners' (or viewers') minds might be
perfectly realistic, but like film animation there's no reason why a signer
can't add much more avant garde or "Daffy Duck" elements just as an animator
does. In fact brief signs for such things as "eyes out on stalks", "jaw hit
the floor", "heart leaped out of chest", "hit with a giant fist" (meaning,
eg "it knocked me for six") are used every day as an integral part of the
language, as well as large numbers of purely abstract ways of expressing
well-known human situations with quick, idiomatic signs.

So it might seem a bit belles-lettres-ish - and odd - to say this in English
conversation:

"In AD 218, curly-haired Hannibal, riding sternly on an elephant with his
vast army of elephants bearing soldiers stretching away to either side
crossed the Alps in stately, undulating procession. When the Romans saw them
descending from above their jaws fell smack on the ground..."

...in BSL this is quick to sign and perhaps the most natural way to describe
the event.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

==============================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================