The Pragmatics of Person and Imperatives in Sign Language of the Netherlands

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> We present new evidence against a grammatical distinction between second and third person in Sign Language of The Netherlands (NGT). More precisely, we show how pushing this distinction into the domain of pragmatics helps account for an otherwise puzzling fact about the NGT imperative: not only is it used to command your addressee, it can also express ‘non-addressee-oriented commands’.</jats:p>

Properties of Command Constructions in TİD

“…As noted above, we have found the head-related non-manual markers-labeled as 'head nod', 'inclined head' and 'forward head lean' reported for other sign languages (NGT: Maier et al, 2013;LIS: Bonifacio et al, 2011) to be the most distinctive feature of commands in TİD. In her description of the command construction in TİD, Açan (2007: 223) had previously observed brow position (furrowed brows and/or eyebrow raise).…”

“…Moreover, even a single participant was not consistent in signing the PALM-UP with all commands but produced it mainly to convey impatience with the addressee or strong obligation on the part of the addressee to carry out the action of the command. Maier et al (2013) point out that in NGT, PALM-UP resembles co-speech gestures and consider it to be a discourse particle rather than a linguistic sign. We propose that the PALM-UP found in TİD commands has a function similar to the PALM-UP in NGT, i.e.…”

“…As for sign languages, Valli & Lucas (1992: 142-143) have reported for ASL imperatives that the subject is often omitted or it follows the verb. Similarly, in NGT the subject is dropped in imperative constructions (Maier et al 2013).…”