Idioms in Sign Languages

[Adam Schembri]

Myself and other linguists have made this point before - there is
relatively little evidence of idioms in sign languages (i.e., of
relatively invariant phrasal constructions with a non-componential
meaning). Many signs that are called idioms by sign language teachers are
not actually idioms but have idiomatic equivalents in the surrounding
spoken language - hence the confusion.
You can download an interesting paper by Trevor Johnston and Lindsay
Ferarra "Lexicalization in signed_languages: when is an idiom not an
idiom" from Trevor Johnston's www.academia.edu page.
Thanks
Adam
-- 
Assoc. Prof. Adam Schembri, PhD
Linguistics program | Humanities and Social Sciences
Interim director | Centre for Research on Language Diversity
(http://www.latrobe.edu.au/crld)
La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) | Victoria |  3086 |  Australia
Tel : +61 3 9479 2887/6401 | Mob: +61 432 840 744
Secretary, Sign Language Linguistics Society: http://www.slls.eu
ALLY Network Member supporting GLBTIQ students and staff at La Trobe
University:  www.latrobe.edu.au/equality/ally
<http://www.latrobe.edu.au/equality/ally>








On 15/03/13 3:48 , "Rena Andrikopoulou" <rena_andrikopoulou28 at YAHOO.GR>
wrote:

>Does anybody have any idea about Phd/ paper/ dissertation / research, in
>Sign Languages' Idioms? Linguistic criteria of determination by simple
>figurative/metaphorical language?
>I am a Phd student of Deaf Studies Unit, University of Patras, Greece.
>Thank you in advance...
>