a Linguistics of ASL question -- grammar

[Albert Bickford]

OK, that being the case, that seems to be the type of sentence that 
controls for topicalization enough to clarify the claim about VS order 
being impossible.  The claim applies only to what happens after the 
topic.  If this line of reasoning is correct, then in sentences that 
appear to have VS order, there should be nonmanuals that would indicate 
that the V was topicalized.  Does anyone know if that prediction is correct?

Albert Bickford
SIL International (Mexico program and Signed Language Leadership Team)
albert_bickford at sil.org


On 2011/03/06 9:18 PM, Adam Frost wrote:
> I wasn't planning on saying anything on the matter, but as a native signer the sentence RECENTLY, EAT-FINISH DADDY to follow a VS structure feels wrong. The only way I can see DADDY being a subject in this sentence is if it were a rhetorical statement. I don't know if that would mean it's still a VS structure with that way of signing, but I don't think it would be.
>
> Adam
>
> On Mar 6, 2011, at 6:22 AM, "Dan Parvaz"<dparvaz at GMAIL.COM>  wrote:
>
>>>     topic_____
>>>     RECENTLY, EAT-FINISH DADDY.
>> I have no "instincts", but years of observation have me thinking that if the above
>> is an example of a VS structure, then it is infelicitious. It is possible to construe
>> it as such, to find a context in which it can be so, but I'll bet the temptation
>> would be to interpret that as "Not that long ago, I ate my father." That this
>> sentence might be as likely, or more so, than the VS interpretation should say
>> something about the former interpretation's likelihood. Or about me, but that's a
>> little more disturbing.
>>
>> <soapbox>
>> This is one more reason why we need a good ASL corpus, preferably including
>> spontaneous dialogue and not simply those utterances we wheedle out of our
>> consultants. Then we may have some idea of the distribution of these
>> constructions.
>> </soapbox>
>>
>> -Dan.
>>
>
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