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Article published In: Sign Language & Linguistics
Vol. 20:1 (2017) ► pp.27–54

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Two agreement markers in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)

 | Research group Neurobiology of Language, Department of Linguistics, University of Salzburg | Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg
 | Linguistics Program, and Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University
 | Research group Neurobiology of Language, Department of Linguistics, University of Salzburg | Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg
Published online: 6 November 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.20.1.02kre
Abstract
For many of the sign languages studied to date, different types of agreement markers have been described which express agreement in transitive constructions involving non-inflecting (plain) verbs and sometimes even inflected agreement verbs. Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) belongs to the group of sign languages employing two different agreement markers (agrm-bc/agrm-mf), which will be described in this paper. In an online questionnaire, we focused on two questions: (i) whether both forms of agreement markers are rated as equally acceptable by Deaf ÖGS-signers and hearing native signers, and (ii) whether there is a preferred syntactic position (pre- vs. postverbal) for these markers. Data analysis confirmed that both agreement markers are accepted by ÖGS-signers and that both agreement markers are slightly preferred in preverbal position. Further, possible origins of both agreement markers are discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Agreement in sign languages
    • 1.1Spatial establishment of arguments
    • 1.2Spatial agreement by movement and facing
    • 1.3Verb typology in sign languages
    • 1.4Person Agreement Marker (pam) in German Sign Language
  • 2.Two agreement markers in ÖGS
    • 2.1 agrm-bc
    • 2.2 agrm-mf
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Procedure
    • 3.2Materials and design
    • 3.3Participants
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Distribution of the ÖGS agreement markers
    • 4.2Cross-linguistic comparison
    • 4.3Speculations on the grammaticalization of ÖGS agreement markers
  • 5.Conclusions and questions for further research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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