Caswell's screed

[Adam Schembri]

The term 'double articulation' actually comes from the work of the French
linguist Andre Martinet, and it can be found in some introductory books on
linguistics (see, for example, Jean Aitchison's 'Teach Yourself
Linguistics'), but a more common term for this concept is perhaps 'duality
of patterning'. This is regularly included as a 'defining' feature of
language in introductory linguistics books.

Although 'lexicalised' signs from the 'core native lexicon' of languages
like ASL and Auslan can be analysed as having duality of patterning, whether
or not all aspects of signed language organization show this duality IS
actually a matter of debate, so we ought not to dismiss this issue out of
hand. See Liddell (2000) on the use of space in directional verb signs, or
Cogill (2000) on aspects of 'classifier' verbs of motion.

Liddell, S. K. (2000a). Indicating verbs and pronouns: Pointing away from
agreement. In K. Emmorey & H. Lane (Eds.), The signs of language revisited:
An anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima (pp. 303-320). Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Cogill-Koez, D. (2000). "Signed language classifier predicates: linguistic
structures or schematic visual representation?" Sign Language and
Linguistics 3(2): 153-207.



Adam Schembri, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Renwick College
University of Newcastle/
Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
Private Bag 29
Parramatta NSW 2124
AUSTRALIA
Tel (voice/TTY): +(61 2) 9872 0281
Fax: (+61 2) 9873 1614
Email: adam.schembri at ridbc.org.au

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark A Mandel [mailto:mam at THEWORLD.COM]
> Sent: Monday, 12 May 2003 11:36 AM
> To: SLLING-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
> Subject: Re: Caswell's screed
>
> On Sun, 11 May 2003, Grushkin, Donald A. wrote:
>
> #I also was wondering about that stuff about double articulation
> #languages. Is any of that real?  is there really a concept of single
> #and double articulation?  And does it apply to what she said about
> #signed languages?
>
> I hadn't the stomach or the time to go through her... output... but I
> recognize this terminology. I think it goes all the way back to
> Saussure. "Double articulation" here refers to the separation between
> symbol and meaning: two distinct "layers". I'm not surprised if C. is
> saying that SLs are only singly articulated. It's nonsense, of course,
> but it's consistent with what I did see of her material.
>
> I don't think any linguists have ever referred to "single articulation
> languages", since that contradicts the concept of language as defined by
> (as I said: IIRC) Saussure.
>
> -- Mark A. Mandel