Three Patterns of temporal Interpretation in signed languages

old_uid6838
titleThree Patterns of temporal Interpretation in signed languages
start_date2009/05/04
schedule14h30-17h
onlineno
summaryn the absence of aspectual morphemes in (tenseless) sign languages, the temporal schema of a sentence determines its temporal interpretation based on a number of pragmatic defaults. There are three major patterns of temporal interpretation, each of which comes with its own pragmatic principles: deictic, anaphoric and narrative. Each one is characteristic of a certain discourse mode. Discourse mode is a way of structuring the text depending on its function (Smith 2003). In my talk, I will illustrate these patterns of temporal interpretation in tenseless sign languages and argue that the patterns are universally available and independent of (a) whether there is a tense system and (b) whether it is modality-specific (i.e.in auditory- vocal and visuo-gestural modalities).
responsiblesCopley