Expressing negation in Chinese Sign Language

Yang, Jun Hui; Fischer, Susan D.

doi:10.1075/sll.5.2.05yan

Cited by 41 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…In many sign pairs, a handshape with extended thumb carries positive meaning, and the corresponding negative is created by substituting a handshape with extended little finger. This pattern is very productive and occurs in sign language varieties in other parts of China as well (Yang & Fischer 2002). Again, this kind of negation strategy has not been found in sign languages in any other region of the world.…”

Section: Parts and Chaptersmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…nOTHing can also occur at the end of a clause containing another negator, for example: PRO1 neVeR TaKe-Pill nOTHing -'i never take (any) pills'; iX nOT-YeT 3 FaX 1 nOTHing -'(They) haven't faxed me yet'. a similar construction in Chinese Sign language is characterised by Yang and Fischer (2002) as a 'negative sandwich'. incomplete aspect is expressed by the sign nOT-YeT normally accompanied by a headshake and/or backward head movement, although the headshake may be absent as in example 35. nOT-YeT generally follows a verb or a topic phrase, as in examples 35 and 36. nOT-YeT may pre-modify a verb (see example 37), but this is a less preferred position.…”

Section: Position Of Negators In Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The positive-negative pairs in sign languages from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China are conspicuously similar to the so-called "A-not-A-construction" used in polar questions in Sinitic languages (but not in spoken Thai). In fact, the A-not-A-construction may well have influenced the development of forms combining positive and negative counterparts in these sign languages (see Yang & Fischer 2002, and Tang, this volume).…”

Section: Manual Marking Of Polar Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This last category of signs will not be discussed here, except to note that their handshape is also associated with negative meaning in other signed languages including auslan (Johnston 1989), BSl (Brien 1992), Chinese Sign language and Thai Sign language (Yang & Fischer 2002), and some varieties of aSl (Sternberg 1981). …”

Section: Negationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a number of such pairs in Hong Kong Sign Language as well as in Chinese Sign Language, but the negative handshape can also be added directly to monomorphemic signs, or it simply replaces the handshape of a positive sign to make it negative (see Yang & Fischer 2002, and Tang, this volume, for further details). Finally, negative signs may be derived by internal modification of a positive sign.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Interrogative and Negative Constructions in Sign Language

Zeshan¹

2006

172

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The Sign Language Typology Series is dedicated to the comparative study of sign languages around the world. Individual or collective works that systematically explore typological variation across sign languages are the focus of this series, with particular emphasis on undocumented, underdescribed and endangered sign languages. The scope of the series primarily includes cross-linguistic studies of grammatical domains across a larger or smaller sample of sign languages, but also encompasses the study of individual sign languages from a typological perspective and comparison between signed and spoken languages in terms of language modality, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to sign language typology. We started talking about sign languages and deaf communities, and, becoming more and more surprised at all the strange facts I was bringing to his notice, he summed up our discussion with the words: "I only came to find a new television, but I found a whole new world!". Since 1994, my work in the world of deaf communities in various countries has brought with it a constant stream of memorable moments. A nightly journey in 1998 on a bicycle-rickshaw through a quarter of the old city in Delhi to visit a deaf family, in almost total darkness due to one of the usual electricity cuts. The first Indian conference on bilingualism in deaf education in Hyderabad in 2001. A long evening in Eskişehir learning the local games of chance in the deaf club together with some of my first Turkish signs. A week trapped in snowstorms in the worst Istanbul winter in decades, and severe Monsoon floodings in Mumbai. And above all, the long nights of relentless and addictive signing.Working in developing countries means working under the constant strain of insufficient resources and, at times, personal hardship, but more often than not, this is counterbalanced by the amazing human resources to be found in the deaf communities themselves. I gratefully acknowledge that they have been my main source of inspiration, and so it is to them that I wish to dedicate this volume.On the academic side, I am no less grateful to the many people who have accompanied me on various stages of the journey towards the beginnings of sign language typology. I owe a lot to the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT) in Australia, which was my host institution in Canberra and in Melbourne between 1999 and 2003. The framework for a large cross-linguistic study on negatives and interrogatives in sign languages, which has resulted in the present volume, first took shape at the RCLT. The subsequent development of the project is something that still surprises me. Having designed questionnaires and contacted possible collaborators around the world, the sensible expectation, which luckily I was not aware of at the time, would have been to get some basic information from a handful of respondents, if not less. Instead, I received responses for sign languages from 18 countries, varying from a few basic written answers to complete 20-page papers. Mo...

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Section: Parts and Chaptersmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Position Of Negators In Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Manual Marking Of Polar Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Negationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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