(A)symmetries and movement in spoken and sign languages
Final Report Abstract
One of the most intriguing properties of the organization of sentences is the pervasiveness of certain kind of linear asymmetries. A well-attested and long discussed asymmetry attested in many languages concerns the preponderance of specifier-initial orders (e.g. subject-verb orders) over the specifier-final orders (e.g. verb-subject orders). This asymmetry in the linear order raises the question to what extent the underlying structure and the generative system itself are (a)symmetric. Over the last several decades the inquiry into natural languages yielded (at least) two opposing views with respect to the (a)symmetry of the underlying syntactic structure. On the one hand, the “symmetric” approach argues that grammar is underlyingly symmetric in that it can output either specifier-final or specifier-initial orders (as well as either head-initial or head-final orders). Following this line of argumentation, the established preponderance of specifier-initial over specifier-final orders may follow from a ban on rightward movement, or even extra-grammatical principles such as sentence processing. On the other hand, the opposing “asymmetric” approach argues that all phrases are linearized in specifier-head-complement orders. Following this approach, surface patterns that appear to deviate from this schema are derived via a series of movements. Both approaches face a number of empirical hurdles and the fundamental question of whether grammar is underlyingly symmetric or asymmetric remains unanswered. This project widens the empirical perspective and focuses on two areas of interest combining well investigated phenomena in spoken languages with less investigated phenomena in sign languages. First, the project reexamines existing left-right asymmetries in spoken languages (and whether these follow from the ban on rightward movement or something else) and second, it investigates left-right asymmetries in sign languages since sign languages exhibit certain asymmetries that have not been attested in spoken languages. The overarching goal is to determine the extent to which the phenomena studied in these two areas provide evidence for a grammar-external ban on rightward movement as the sole source for syntactic left-right asymmetries, as well as the extent to which grammar-external factors, such as sentence processing and modality (i.e. speech vs. sign), contribute to surface (a)symmetries. The results of the first area of this project show that already observed left-right asymmetries, such as the Final-Over-Final-Condition can indeed be accounted for in terms of the ban on rightward movement, and that the latter should be understood in a strict way, i.e. not even string-adjacent (head) movement should be permitted. Also, the fact that linear asymmetries primarily emerge due the ban on rightward movement and not by other in-built syntactic asymmetries has been further corroborated, for instance by investigating the word order facts in Kakchiquel. The results of the new empirical studies on Indian Sign Language (ISL) conducted in the second area confirmed the previous findings that the sentence-final position is the most natural one for wh-signs. Based on new data elicited during the fieldwork, whinterrogatives in ISL can be analyzed best in line with rightward movement analyses that have been proposed for wh-interrogatives in Italian Sign Language. Consequently, in unmarked whinterrogatives, all kinds of wh-signs (subject or object) occur at the clause-final position. To account for doubling in wh-interrogatives, the sentence contains two full copies of the wh-sign. One copy moves to the right to WhP, and the other copy moves to the left to the specifier of FocP.
Publications
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"Affirming and Rejecting Assertions in German Sign Language (DGS)." In Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 24, 1–19.
Loos, C. & S. Repp, M. Steinbach
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Exploring wh-questions in Indian Sign Language. FEAST. Formal and Experimental Advances in Sign language Theory, 3, 30-42.
Kulshreshtha, Neha
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Differential object marking in sign languages?. Angles of Object Agreement, 209-240. Oxford University PressOxford.
Steinbach, Markus
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FOFC and what left–right asymmetries may tell us about syntactic structure building. Journal of Linguistics, 59(1), 179–213.
Zeijlstra, Hedde
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“Rethinking Remerge: Merge, Movement and Music.” In A. Barany, Th. Biberauer, J. Douglas and S. Vikner (eds.), Syntactic Architecture and its Consequences. Vol. I: Syntax Inside the Grammar. Berlin: Language Science Press, 571–598.
Zeijlstra, H.
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“VSO-VOS Alternations in Kaqchikel.” In M. Janebová, J. Emonds & L. Veselovská (eds.), Language Use and Linguistic Structure. Olomouc: Palacký University. 224-243.
Tvica, S.
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Rich Agreement and Verb Movement. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Morphology, 1-43. Wiley.
Koeneman, Olaf; Tvica, Seid & Zeijlstra, Hedde
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Why artichokes and palms don’t grow on trees – the grammaticalization of question particles from co-speech gesture in sign language. From Formal Linguistic Theory to the Art of Historical Editions, 81-104. V&R unipress.
Steinbach, Markus; Coniglio, Marco & Paul, Katharina
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Two Varieties of Korean: Rightward Head Movement or Polarity Sensitivity? Linguistic Inquiry, 55(3), 622–641.
Zeijlstra, Hedde
