Situation Types in Thai Sign Language

Abstract

Situation types are defined according to three temporal features: dynamism, duration, and telicity. The inherent temporal features of a predicate can be uncovered using test frames with simple sentences. The current study presents a series of such tests and applies them to a set of Thai Sign Language (ThSL) predicates. Based on the test results, five situation types are identified in ThSL: states, activities, accomplishments, achievements, and semelfactives.

Keywords

• sign language
• thai sign language
• situation types
• aktionsart
• event structure
• lexical aspect