Constituent order in Serbian Sign Language declarative clauses

Abstract

Constituent order can encode grammatical relations in a language. The visual-spatial modality imbues sign languages with characteristics such as simultaneity or the use of space which raise the question of the appropriate unit of analysis in constituent order studies. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence on the order of core constituents in elicited declarative clauses for non-reversible, reversible and locative states-of-affairs in Serbian Sign Language (SZJ). Forty (near-)native deaf SZJ signers, ranging in age between 18 and 70 years old, participated in the data-collection. We consider linguistic and social factors in 810 clauses elicited for the purposes of this study. Our findings suggest that SVO is a preferred order in non-locative clauses with two overtly expressed arguments, whilst GROUND-FIGURE-LOCATIVE RELATION is the most frequent pattern in locative clauses. We argue that our results provide some support for the claim that sign language discourse can be analysed in terms of constituent order in the clause, but that other strategies typical of the visual modality such as the simultaneous expression of core constituents, and manual and non-manual features, the use of space, core argument incorporation into the form of the verb and core argument omission, complicate the traditional notion of sequential constituent order clause as a central grammatical element in SZJ and, by extension, in other sign languages. Consequently, the description of relations between core constituents calls for careful consideration and analysis of different types of data as a way of gaining a clearer insight into the nature of a sign language.

Keywords

• sign language
• constituent order
• declarative clauses
• Serbian Sign Language