Plain verbs in signed languages

[Schola Lam]

Hi everyone,
   
  I think I need to rephrase my question. Sorry for any misunderstandings caused. 
   
  I tried to adopt Padden's (1983, 1988) verb classification for my HKSL data. Yet I want to clarify the notion plain verbs. I wonder if what have been called plain verbs may not be really "plain" in terms of morphology (e.g. verb agreement, aspect, etc) when more studies are done on ASL and other signed languages. 
   
  Did anyone observe that the so-called plain verbs may actually be marked with morphemes in signed languages?
   
  Scholastica 
  
"Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu> wrote:
  "Scholastica" (Nini Hoiting?) wrote:

#I am a research student who works on Hong Kong Sign Language. My focus of 
#study is verbs. I would like to confirm if plain verbs are generally
#unmarked for verb agreement and spatial locations.

Dan Slobin answered:

#By defnition, a "plain verb" is one that cannot move in space, and so it
#cannot mark agreement and spatial locations in itself. But in many sign
#languages (including Sign Language of the Netherlands, Taiwanese Sign
#Language, and others), there are "auxiliary" verbs that accompany a "plain"
#verb. Such accompanying verbs do move in space to indicate relations such
#as source-goal, agent-patient, and so forth.

Denise Wetzler added:

#In American Sign Language, verbs move. The movement itself contains a great
#amount of information. If want to show that I will go from my house to the
#bank and then to the library, these three locations are first established in
#the signing space. How I sign the verb 'go-to' then will show where I
#started from; went to; and where I ended up. [...]


It's essential to know what Scholastica means by "plain verb". Dan is evidently 
assuming that S. has the same definition for it that he does. 

A sign that does not move in space can nevertheless mark agreement with a 
spatial location, by its orientation and possibly its location as well. Example: 
ASL PITY (open-8 handshape, palm toward object, middle finger repeatedly 
bending).

Clarification of Denise's answer: in ASL, *many* verbs move [in space], but by 
no means all of them.

-- Mark A. Mandel
Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania

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