grammaticalization of points in nicaraguan signing

Grammaticalization of points in

Nicaraguan signing

Marie CoppolaUniversity of Connecticut

Departments of Psychology and Linguistics

Ann Senghas Barnard College of Columbia University

Department of Psychology

1

Grammaticalization Pathways(Hopper & Traugott, 1993; Janzen & Shaffer 2002; Wilcox, 2004; Pfau & Steinbach 2006)

OLD ENGLISH PRESENT DAY ENGLISH

WILLAN WILL / ‘LL

Lexicalitem

GrammaticalElement

spoken language

2

OLD LSF LSF



WILLAN WILL / ‘LL

“to leave” future marker

Lexicalitem

GrammaticalElement

sign language

spoken language

2

Non-LexicalForms

• Conventional Gesture• Manner• Non-manuals

OLD LSF LSF



WILLAN WILL / ‘LL

“to leave” future marker

Lexicalitem

GrammaticalElement

sign language

spoken language

2

Non-LexicalForms

• Conventional Gesture• Manner• Non-manuals

OLD LSF LSF



WILLAN WILL / ‘LL

future marker

GrammaticalElement

sign language

spoken language

2

Non-LexicalForms

OLD LSF LSF



WILLAN WILL / ‘LL

future marker

GrammaticalElement

POINTS

sign language

spoken language

2

Nicaraguan children today

3

Nicaraguan teens today

4

Nicaraguan adults today

5

secondcohort

1980s

firstcohort

1970s

thirdcohort

1990s

The emergence of the Nicaraguan Deaf community

6

co-existing cohorts of learners

1980 1985 1990 1995

second cohort

third cohort

By comparing signers of different ages today, we can see the course of language emergence.

first cohortToday

7

Homesigner in Nicaragua

8

secondcohort

1980s

firstcohort

1970s

thirdcohort

1990s

The emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language

9

secondcohort

1980s

firstcohort

1970s

thirdcohort

1990s

The emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language

HomesignSystems

9

• 16 deaf people participated! 4 Homesigners who don’t know NSL or each other! 4 signers from Cohort 1 of NSL! 4 signers from Cohort 2 of NSL! 4 signers from Cohort 3 of NSL

• Each person saw a cartoon of Tweety the bird and Sylvester the cat, and then signed the story to another person

• Every point identified and coded– points to real object (n = 11)– points to empty space and chest (n = 542)

Method

10

all YOUNGlearners!

• 16 deaf people participated! 4 Homesigners who don’t know NSL or each other! 4 signers from Cohort 1 of NSL! 4 signers from Cohort 2 of NSL! 4 signers from Cohort 3 of NSL

• Each person saw a cartoon of Tweety the bird and Sylvester the cat, and then signed the story to another person

• Every point identified and coded– points to real object (n = 11)– points to empty space and chest (n = 542)

Method

10

concrete abstract

FORM

11

concrete abstract

FORM

real space on the right

point to a space on the right

11

concrete abstract

FORM



story space(e.g., to a

character’s right)


11

concrete abstract

FORM






story character(not space!)


11

FORM








gesture language

11

FORM






gesture language

reliability = 95%11

FORM






gesture language

MEANING

Locative (place) point

Nominal (noun) point

reliability = 95%11

Point that refers to a location

12

Point that refers to a character

13

Locative points do not change but nominal points increase

Coppola & Senghas, Sign Languages, D. Brentari, Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2010.

0

25.0

50.0

75.0

100.0

Homesigners Cohort 1 Cohort 2 Cohort 3

(Poi

nts

/ tot

al s

igns

) x

1000

Locative points Nominal pointsp < .01p = n.s.

14

Nominal points fill subject slots

0

15

30

45

60


Num

ber

of c

ombi

natio

ns

Verb + Nominal point Nominal point + Verb

15

Emergence ofSubject + Verb combinations

0

15

30

45

60


Num

ber

of c

ombi

natio

ns

Noun + Nominal pointNominal point + Noun

0

15.0

30.0

45.0

60.0


Verb + Nominal pointNominal point + Verb

16

Proposed grammaticalizationpath for points(Pfau & Steinbach 2006)

17

In Nicaragua, within 30 years, the “simple” point has evolved:• from gesture that picks out a real object• to an abstract point at empty air

– that refers to some non-present referent– at some non-present time– serving a particular linguistic role in the

sentence (such as syntactic subject)

18

Language emergence followsthe path of historical language change and grammaticalization

in a shorter time span.

We propose that the same mechanisms underlie both kinds

of language change.

19

Future analyses

• Began with points and compared their functions in the grammar

• Next: begin with characters and track how signers refer to them throughout the narrative

20

Acknowledgements

All participants and their familiesNicaraguan National Deaf Association

Melania Morales Center for Special Education

Molly Flaherty, Jennie Pyers,& Deanna Gagne

Funding sources:National Institutes of Health: NIDCD (to Ann Senghas)

National Institutes of Health: NIDCD (to Susan Goldin-Meadow)National Science Foundation (to Diane Brentari)

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grammaticalization of points in nicaraguan signing

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