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Article published In: Special Issue in Memory of Irit Meir
Edited by Diane Lillo-Martin, Wendy Sandler, Marie Coppola and Rose Stamp
[Sign Language & Linguistics 23:1/2] 2020
► pp. 38–72

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Argument structure and the role of the body and space in Kenyan Sign Language

 | Leiden University
Published online: 30 October 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00043.mor
Abstract
This paper investigates how systematically a young macro-community sign language, Kenyan Sign Language, uses two different means to communicate about events: (i) word order, and (ii) verb agreement using spatial co-reference. The study finds that KSL signers rely primarily on word order and using the body as a referent, rather than verb agreement, when representing transitive events. Yet, by looking separately at how KSL signers use the sub-components of verb agreement, a pattern emerges that indicates a possible path toward ‘canonical verb agreement’. These sub-components are evaluated using Meir’s stages/types of grammaticalization of verb agreement (. 2011. How does a grammatical category emerge? The case of sign language agreement verbs. Invited talk at the Center for Research in Language (CRL), UC San Diego, January 25, 2011.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2016. Grammaticalization is not the full story: a non-grammaticalization account of the emergence of sign language. In Mediterranean Morphology Meeting Online Proceedings, vol. 101, 112–124. [URL]), and compared with other young and emerging sign languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Sign language agreement
    • 2.2Kenyan Sign Language
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Methods
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Word order
      • 5.1.1Simple transitives with one person, one object
      • 5.1.2Simple transitives with two people
      • 5.1.3Ditransitives with two people and one object
      • 5.1.4Comparing word orders in different types of vignette
    • 5.2Verb agreement and spatial co-reference
    • 5.3KSL in Meir’s typology of verb agreement
    • 5.4Clues to grammaticalization
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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