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Italian Sign Language from a Cognitive and Socio-semiotic Perspective
Implications for a general language theory
This volume reveals new insights on the faculty of language. By proposing a new approach in the analysis and description of Italian Sign Language (LIS), that can be extended also to other sign languages, this book also enlightens some aspects of spoken languages, which were often overlooked in the past and only recently have been brought to the fore and described.
First, the study of face-to-face communication leads to a revision of the traditional dichotomy between linguistic and enacted, to develop a new approach to embodied language (Kendon, 2004).
Second, all structures of language take on a sociolinguistic and pragmatic meaning, as proposed by cognitive semantics, which considers it impossible to trace a separation between purely linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge.
Finally, if speech from the point of view of its materiality is variable, fragile, and non-segmentable (i.e. not systematically discrete), also signs are not always segmentable into discrete, invariable and meaningless units. This then calls into question some of the properties traditionally associated with human languages in general, notably that of ‘duality of patterning’.
These are only some of the main issues you will find in this volume that has no parallel both in sign and in spoken languages linguistic research.
First, the study of face-to-face communication leads to a revision of the traditional dichotomy between linguistic and enacted, to develop a new approach to embodied language (Kendon, 2004).
Second, all structures of language take on a sociolinguistic and pragmatic meaning, as proposed by cognitive semantics, which considers it impossible to trace a separation between purely linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge.
Finally, if speech from the point of view of its materiality is variable, fragile, and non-segmentable (i.e. not systematically discrete), also signs are not always segmentable into discrete, invariable and meaningless units. This then calls into question some of the properties traditionally associated with human languages in general, notably that of ‘duality of patterning’.
These are only some of the main issues you will find in this volume that has no parallel both in sign and in spoken languages linguistic research.
[Gesture Studies, 9] 2022. vi, 220 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 16 August 2022
Published online on 16 August 2022
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
- From spoken to signed languages back and forth, between cognition and semiotics: The case of Italian Sign Language | pp. 1–6
- Chapter 1. Historical steps towards a new description of sign languages | pp. 7–34
- Chapter 2. The community | pp. 35–62
- Chapter 3. The basic units of LIS | pp. 63–100
- Chapter 4. Constructing sentences | pp. 101–132
- Chapter 5. Variation and change in LIS | pp. 133–164
- Chapter 6. Sign languages and spoken languages: Toward a new description | pp. 165–190
- References | pp. 191–216
- Index | pp. 217–220
“In conclusion, the book Italian Sign Language from a Cognitive and Socio-semiotic Perspective is a clear and well-organized description that delves into numerous linguistic phenomena observed in LIS. Throughout the six chapters, the authors consistently adopt a critical perspective toward traditional linguistic analyses of sign languages, challenging well-established concepts in structuralist and formal linguistics. The volume targets anyone interested in understanding the richness and complexity of LIS from a linguistic, cultural, and social perspective.”
Lara Mantovan, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in Journal of Pragmatics 2017 (2023).
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Monte, Maria T. De
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2026. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.