R-loci and Distributivity: Insights from Czech Sign Language

Abstract

This article describes a distributivity pattern in Czech Sign Language. The pattern is signed via a reduplication at the R-loci and resembles the distributivity behavior of the binominal each that is known in spoken languages. Nevertheless, there are important differences between the sign language reduplication and the spoken language distributivity that is seen in the binominal each; the most significant concerns the range of readings available for the sign language reduplication. We describe the data we gathered, and then formalize them in the Plural Compositional Discourse Representation Theory. The formal framework allows us to analyze the data and explain certain questions which arise from them.