Continuous vs. Repetitive inflection in ASL

[Tane Akamatsu]

Sandra,

I'm wondering, from your gut (since you are a native signer), who is being
killed in KILL-durative, and who is being killed in KILL-continuative?  I know
that *grammatically* the sweep vs. the same-place difference exists.  To these
non-native eyes, the sweep implies that many different people/insects were
killed over some period of time (i.e., serial killer, as someone mentioned
earlier), and with the same-place, it seems like the same person/insect is
being killed over a period of time, which makes no sense, as someone else
pointed out.  Would a long-slow-tortuous death be implied in the latter?

Tane Akamatsu

Sandra K. Wood wrote:

> I've been following your discussion on 'KILL' (durative vs. continuative).
> I agree with Don's assessment pretty much.  However, I'd like to add my
> observation as a native signer and ASL linguist which may (or may not)
> help distinguish between these two semantically.  When I sign KILL
> (durative), I move my hands from left to right over the neutral space in
> front of me, while signing the durative aspect of KILL at the same time.
> When I sign KILL (continuative), I simply keep the signing in the same
> space while signing the continuative aspect.  I think this adds another
> dimension to the layer of semantic information represented by the type of
> movement that durative and continuative make.
>
> What do you think, Don and whoever else is reading this? :)
>
> Sandra K. Wood
> Purdue University
> ASL Linguistics Lab
> swood at omni.cc.purdue.edu