Cover not available

Article published In: Sign Language & Linguistics
Vol. 24:2 (2021) ► pp.259–273

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required
Squib

Linearization constraints on sentential negation in Russian Sign Language are prosodic

 | HSE UniversityMoscow
 | HSE UniversityMoscow
Published online: 11 June 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.20007.rud
Abstract
This squib documents exceptions to the main strategy of expressing sentential negation in Russian Sign Language (RSL). The postverbal sentential negation particle in RSL inverts the basic SVO order characteristic of the language turning it into SOV (Pasalskaya, Elena. 2018a. Syntax of non-manual negation in Russian Sign Language. Moscow: National Research University Higher School of Economics Bachelor’s thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). We show that this reversal requirement under negation is not absolute and does not apply to prosodically heavy object NPs. The resulting picture accords well with the view of RSL word order laid out by . 2012. Word order in Russian Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 12(3). 414–445. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and supports a model of grammar where syntactic computation has access to phonological information (Kremers, Joost. 2014. Parallel structures. Linguistics in Göttingen 1. [URL]; . 2019. On the motivation for phonology-free syntax and multiple levels in a derivational grammar. Manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Word order and negation in Russian Sign Language
  • 2.NegP and head movement
  • 3.Coordinated NPs under sentential negation
  • 4.Analysis: Heavy constituent shift
  • 5.Resultative secondary predicates
  • 6.Mouthing
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (37)
References
Bruening, Benjamin. 2018. CPs move rightward, not leftward. Syntax 21(4). 362–401. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. On the motivation for phonology-free syntax and multiple levels in a derivational grammar. Manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1957. Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. Beyond explanatory adequacy. In Adriana Belletti. (ed.), Structures and beyond: The cartography of syntactic structures, vol. 31, 104–131. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crasborn, Onno, Els van der Kooij & Johan Ros. 2012. On the weight of phrase-final prosodic words in a sign language. Sign Language & Linguistics 15(1). 11–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davidson, Kathryn. 2013. ‘And’ or ‘or’: General use coordination in ASL. Semantics and Pragmatics 6(4). 1–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
den Dikken, Marcel. 2006. Either-float and the syntax of co-or-dination. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 24(3). 689–749. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Embick, David & Rolf Noyer. 2001. Movement operations after syntax. Linguistic Inquiry 32(4). 555–595. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geraci, Carlo & Carlo Cecchetto. 2013. Neglected cases of rightward movement: When wh-phrases and negative quantifiers go to the right. In Gert Webelhuth, Manfred Sailer & Heike Walker. (eds.), Rightward movement in a comparative perspective, 211–242. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grenoble, Lenore. 1992. An overview of Russian Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 771. 321–338. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harizanov, Boris & Vera Gribanova. 2018. Whither head movement? Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 371. 461–522. 461–522. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hirsch, Aron. 2016. ‘DP conjunction’ as vP conjunction: A case for conjunction reduction. Proceedings of NELS 461.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ivlieva, Natalia. 2013. Scalar implicatures and the grammar of plurality and disjunction. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD dissertation. [URL]
Jantunen, Tommi. 2006. The complexity of lexical movements in FinSL. In Mickael Suominen, Antti Arppe, Anu Airola, Orvokki Heinämäki, Matti Miestamo, Urho Määttä, Jussi Niemi, Kari K. Pitkänen & Kaius Sinnemäki. (eds.), A man of measure: Festschrift in honour of Fred Karlsson on his 60th birthday, 335–344. Turku: The Linguistic Association of Finland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kimmelman, Vadim. 2007. Neregulyarnye otritsaniya v russkom zhestovom yazyke [Irregular negation in Russian Sign Language]. Moscow Student Conference on Linguistics. 89–103.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Word order in Russian Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 12(3). 414–445. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Basic argument structure in Russian Sign Language. Glossa: a Journal of General Linguistics 3(1). 1–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. Information structure in sign languages. Evidence from Russian Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kimmelman, Vadim, Roland Pfau & Enoch O. Aboh. 2020. Argument structure of classifier predicates in Russian Sign Language. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 381. 539–579. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. Severing the external argument from its verb. In Johan Rooryck & Laurie Zaring. (eds.), Phrase structure and the lexicon, 109–137. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kremers, Joost. 2014. Parallel structures. Linguistics in Göttingen 1. [URL]
. 2015. Morphology is in the eye of the beholder. Linguistische Berichte 2431. 245–294.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matushansky, Ora. 2006. Head movement in linguistic theory. Linguistic Inquiry 37(1). 69–109. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitrović, Moreno. 2014. Morphosyntactic atoms of propositional logic. Cambridge: University of Cambridge PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Overfelt, Jason. 2015. Rightward movement: A study in locality. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts PhD dissertation. [URL]
Pasalskaya, Elena. 2018a. Syntax of non-manual negation in Russian Sign Language. Moscow: National Research University Higher School of Economics Bachelor’s thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018b. Sentential negation in Russian Sign Language. National Research University Higher School of Economics Research Paper No. WP BRP 65/LNG/2018. Available at SSRN: [URL] or
Pfau, Roland. 2016. A featural approach to sign language negation. In Pierre Larrivée & Chungmin Lee. (eds.), Negation and negative polarity. Cognitive and experimental perspectives, 45–74. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ross, John. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD dissertation. [URL]
Schein, Barry. 2017. ‘And’: Conjunction reduction redux. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 2012. Spanning. Manuscript. [URL]
Tang, Gladys & Prudence Lau. 2012. Coordination and subordination. In Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach & Bencie Woll. (eds.), Sign language: An international handbook, 340–364. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Timberlake, Alan. 2004. A reference grammar of Russian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeshan, Ulrike. 2004. Hand, head, and face: Negative constructions in sign languages. Linguistic Typology 8(1). 1–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006. Negative and interrogative constructions in sign languages: A case study in sign language typology. In Ulrike Zeshan. (ed.), Interrogative and negative constructions in sign languages. Nijmegen: Ishara Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zorzi, Giorgia. 2018. Coordination and gapping in Catalan Sign Language. Barcelona: Pompeu Fabra University PhD dissertation. [URL]
Zwart, Jan-Wouter. 2009. Prospects for top-down derivation. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 81. 161–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

van Boven, Cindy, Marloes Oomen, Roland Pfau & Lotte Rusch
2023. Negative Concord in Sign Language of the Netherlands. In Advances in Sign Language Corpus Linguistics [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 108], ► pp. 30 ff. DOI logo
Lutzenberger, Hannah, Roland Pfau & Connie de Vos
2022. Emergence or Grammaticalization? The Case of Negation in Kata Kolok. Languages 7:1 ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Pfau, Roland, Tamar Makharoblidze & Hedde Zeijlstra
2022. Negation and Negative Concord in Georgian Sign Language. Frontiers in Psychology 13 DOI logo
Almeida, Luiz Gustavo Paulino de & André Nogueira Xavier
2021. A negação nas línguas sinalizadas. Revista da ABRALIN ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 2025. 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue