Cover not available

Article published In: Sign Language & Linguistics
Vol. 25:2 (2022) ► pp.163–204

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

Hong Kong Sign Language numerals

Interaction of syntactic processes and the movement-parameter

ORCiD logo with link | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Published online: 30 September 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.21007.koe
Abstract
Syntactic processes trigger changes in the movement-parameter of Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) numeral signs. Though HKSL cardinal numerals by default do not contain movement and are produced in neutral space, under specific circumstances, the movement-parameter can be altered from [∅] to specifications for both path- and hand-internal movement. This creates four types of numerals: (1) event numerals, (2) transfer numerals, (3) conjunction numerals, and (4) list numerals. I analyze the syntactic structures of these four numerals as follows: Firstly, event numerals quantify the number of times an event denoted by V has occurred and in syntax the numeral is located in a FreqP in Spec,VP. Secondly, transfer numerals show transfer of ownership and are within the DP complement of V0. Thirdly, the conjunction numeral indicates that all items of a set are included and the numeral is located within ConjP. Finally, the list numeral is the head of a NumeP with a [list]-feature within DP.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Hong Kong Sign Language
    • 1.2HKSL numerals
    • 1.3Syntax of numerals
    • 1.4Hypothesis
    • 1.5Contents of this paper
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.Event numerals
    • 3.1Event numeral interpretation
    • 3.2Quantification of verbal events
    • 3.3FreqP in Spec,VP
  • 4.Transfer numerals
    • 4.1Transfer numeral interpretation
    • 4.2Spatial agreement
    • 4.3Complement to V0
  • 5.Conjunction numerals
    • 5.1Conjunction numeral interpretation
    • 5.2Inside ConjP
  • 6.List numerals
    • 6.1List numeral interpretation
    • 6.2[list]-feature on Nume0
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (37)
References
Burkova, Svetlana, Elizaveta Filimonova, Vadim Kimmelman, Viktoriia Kopylova & Nina Semushina. 2019. Lexical expressions of time in Russian Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 19(2). 175–203. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danon, Gabi. 2012. Two structures for numeral-noun constructions. Lingua 1221. 1282–1307. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donazzan, Marta. 2012. On counting and measuring events. In Emmanuel Chemla, Vincent Homer & Gregoire Winterstein (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 17, Paris, 8–10 September 2012, 219–236.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, Gilles. 1985. Mental spaces. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1997. Mappings in thought and language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fischer, Susan, Yu Hung & Shih-Kai Liu. 2011. Numeral incorporation in Taiwan Sign Language. In Jung-hsing Chang & Jenny Yichun Kuo (eds.), Language and cognition: Festschrift in honor of James H-Y. Tai on his 70th Birthday, 147–170. Taipei: The Crane Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuentes, Mariana & Liliana Tolchinsky. 2004. The subsystem of numerals in Catalan Sign Language: description and examples from a psycholinguistic study. Sign Language Studies 5(1). 94–117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuentes, Mariana, María Ignacia Massone, María del Pilar Fernández-Viader, Alejandro Makotrinsky & Francisca Pulgarín. 2010. Numeral-incorporating roots in numeral systems: a comparative analysis of two sign languages. Sign Language Studies 11(1). 55–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hendriks, Bernadet. 2007. Simultaneous use of the two hands in Jordanian Sign Language. In Myriam Vermeerbergen, Lorraine Leeson & Onno Crasborn (eds.), Simultaneity in signed languages: form and function, 237–255. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, James C.-T., Audrey Y.-H. Li & Li Yafei. 2009. The syntax of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johannessen, Janne Bondi. 2005. The syntax of correlative adverbs. Lingua 1151. 419–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnston, Trevor & Adam Schembri. 1999. On defining lexeme in a signed language. Sign Language & Linguistics 2(2). 115–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, Vanessa L. 2013. Numeral incorporation in American Sign Language. Grand Forks, ND: University of North Dakota MA dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kobuchi-Philip, Mana. 2021. Japanese numeral quantifiers that count events. In Chungmin Lee, Young-Wha Kim & Byeong-uk Yi (eds.), Numeral classifiers and classifier languages, 172–198. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ktejik, Mish. 2013. Numeral incorporation in Japanese Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 13(2). 186–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liddell, Scott K. 1995. Real, surrogate, and token space: grammatical consequences in ASL. In Karen Emmorey & Judy S. Reilly (eds.), Language, gesture, and space, 19–41. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1996. Numeral incorporating roots & non-incorporating prefixes in American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 921. 201–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003. Grammar, gesture, and meaning in American Sign Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liddell, Scott K., Marit Vogt-Svendsen & Brita Bergman. 2007. A crosslinguistic comparison of buoys: evidence from American, Norwegian, and Swedish Sign Language. In Myriam Vermeerbergen, Lorraine Leeson & Onno Crasborn (eds.), Simultaneity in signed languages: form and function, 187–215. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillo-Martin, Diane & Richard P. Meier. 2011. On the linguistic status of ‘agreement’ in sign languages. Theoretical Linguistics 37(3/4). 95–141. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meier, Richard P. 1982. Icons, analogues, and morphemes: the acquisition of verb agreement in ASL. San Diego, CA: University of California PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nelson, Diane & Ida Toivonen. 2000. Counting and the grammar: case and numerals in Inari Sami. In Diane Nelson & Paul Foulkes (eds.), Leeds working papers in linguistics, vol. 8, 179–192. University of Leeds.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Padden, Carol. 1983. Interaction of morphology and syntax in American Sign Language. San Diego, CA: University of California PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paris, Marie-Claude. 2013. Verbal reduplication and verbal classifiers in Chinese. In Guangshun Cao, Hilary Chappell, Redouane Djamouri & Thekla Wiebusch (eds.), Breaking down the barriers: interdisciplinary studies in Chinese and beyond, 257–278. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pfau, Roland, Martin Salzmann & Markus Steinbach. 2018. The syntax of sign language agreement: common ingredients, but unusual recipe. Glossa: a Journal of General Linguistics 3(1): 1071. 1–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quer, Josep. 2011. When agreeing to disagree is not enough: further arguments for the linguistic status of sign language agreement. Theoretical Linguistics 37(3/4). 189–196. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sagara, Keiko. 2014. The numeral system of Japanese Sign Language from a cross-linguistic perspective. Preston: University of Central Lancashire MPhil dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Semushina, Nina & Rachel I. Mayberry. 2019. Numeral incorporation in Russian Sign Language: phonological constraints on simultaneous morphology. Sign Language Studies 20(1). 83–131. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shlonsky, Ur. 2004. The form of semitic noun phrases. Lingua 114(12). 1465–1526. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sze, Felix, Connie Lo, Lisa Lo & Kenny Chu. 2013. Historical development of Hong Kong Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 13(2). 155–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sze, Felix. 2015. Is Hong Kong Sign Language a topic-prominent language? Linguistics 53(4). 809–876. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woodward, James. 1993. Intuitive judgments of Hong Kong signers about the relationship of sign language varieties in Hong Kong and Shanghai. CUHK Papers in Linguistics 41. 88–96.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zabbal, Y. 2005. The syntax of numeral expressions. Unpublished paper, UMass, Amherst.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeshan, Ulrike & Nick Palfreyman. 2017. Sign language typology. In Alexandra Aikhenvald & Robert M. W. Dixon (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic typology, 178–216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Niina Ning. 2017. The syntax of event-internal and event-external verbal classifiers. Studia Linguistica 711. 266–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwitserlood, Inge. 2003. Classifying hand configurations in Nederlandse Gebarentaal (Sign Language of the Netherlands). Utrecht: Utrecht University PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Thierfelder, Philip, Gladys Tang & Jia Li
2024. The acquisition of Hong Kong Sign Language in deaf and hard-of-hearing children: A longitudinal study of sign language development in a bimodal bilingual co-enrollment programme. Deafness & Education International 26:1 ► pp. 6 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