L’espressione dell’incertezza nella Lingua dei Segni Italiana (LIS)

Gianfreda, Gabriele; Volterra, Virginia; Zuczkowski, Andrzej

doi:10.6092/issn.1970-2221/4298

Cited by 2 publications

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“…The two signs share the same hand configuration (two fists) but are executed with different movements ( Wilcox et al, 2010 ; Gianfreda et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Expressing Negation In Italian Sign Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

On the Embodiment of Negation in Italian Sign Language: An Approach Based on Multiple Representation Theories

2022

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Negation can be considered a shared social action that develops since early infancy with very basic acts of refusals or rejection. Inspired by an approach to the embodiment of concepts known as Multiple Representation Theories (MRT, henceforth), the present paper explores negation as an embodied action that relies on both sensorimotor and linguistic/social information. Despite the different variants, MRT accounts share the basic ideas that both linguistic/social and sensorimotor information concur to the processes of concepts formation and representation and that the balance between these components depends on the kind of concept, the context, or the performed task. In the present research we will apply the MRT framework for exploring negation in Italian sign language (LIS). The nature of negation in LIS has been explored in continuity with the co-speech gesture where negative elements are encoded through differentiated prosodic and gestural strategies across languages. Data have been collected in naturalistic settings that may allow a much wider understanding of negation both in speech and in spoken language with a semi-structured interview. Five LIS participants with age range 30–80 were recruited and interviewed with the aim of understanding the continuity between gesture and sign in negation. Results highlight that negation utterances mirror the functions of rejection, non-existence and denial that have been described in language acquisition both in deaf and hearing children. These different steps of acquisition of negation show a different balance between sensorimotor, linguistic and social information in the construction of negative meaning that the MRT is able to enlighten.

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“…The two signs share the same hand configuration (two fists) but are executed with different movements ( Wilcox et al, 2010 ; Gianfreda et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Expressing Negation In Italian Sign Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

On the Embodiment of Negation in Italian Sign Language: An Approach Based on Multiple Representation Theories

2022

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The body and the fading away of abstract concepts and words: a sign language analysis

et al. 2014

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One of the most important challenges for embodied and grounded theories of cognition concerns the representation of abstract concepts, such as “freedom.” Many embodied theories of abstract concepts have been proposed. Some proposals stress the similarities between concrete and abstract concepts showing that they are both grounded in perception and action system while other emphasize their difference favoring a multiple representation view. An influential view proposes that abstract concepts are mapped to concrete ones through metaphors. Furthermore, some theories underline the fact that abstract concepts are grounded in specific contents, as situations, introspective states, emotions. These approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive, since it is possible that they can account for different subsets of abstract concepts and words. One novel and fruitful way to understand the way in which abstract concepts are represented is to analyze how sign languages encode concepts into signs. In the present paper we will discuss these theoretical issues mostly relying on examples taken from Italian Sign Language (LIS, Lingua dei Segni Italiana), the visual-gestural language used within the Italian Deaf community. We will verify whether and to what extent LIS signs provide evidence favoring the different theories of abstract concepts. In analyzing signs we will distinguish between direct forms of involvement of the body and forms in which concepts are grounded differently, for example relying on linguistic experience. In dealing with the LIS evidence, we will consider the possibility that different abstract concepts are represented using different levels of embodiment. The collected evidence will help us to discuss whether a unitary embodied theory of abstract concepts is possible or whether the different theoretical proposals can account for different aspects of their representation.

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L’espressione dell’incertezza nella Lingua dei Segni Italiana (LIS)

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

On the Embodiment of Negation in Italian Sign Language: An Approach Based on Multiple Representation Theories

On the Embodiment of Negation in Italian Sign Language: An Approach Based on Multiple Representation Theories

The body and the fading away of abstract concepts and words: a sign language analysis

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