This volume is the second in the Sign Language Typology series, and
presents the results of a large-scale typological investigation on
possessive and existential constructions in sign languages. The
introductory chapter outlines the theoretical and methodological scope of
the project, and provides a typological sketch of the target structures,
synthesizing data from 27 sign languages around the world. Each of the ten
remaining chapters provides an in-depth study of the expression of
possession and existence in an individual sign language. The sign languages
represent different geographical areas, including North and South America,
Africa, Asia, and Europe. The book includes data from urban sign languages
(from the US, Austria, Catalonia, Flanders, Japan, Jordan, Uganda, and
Venezuela) and village sign languages (Kata Kolok in Bali and Adamorobe
Sign Language in Ghana).
The topics addressed in the volume cover a wide range of morphological and
syntactic structures used to express attributive and predicative
possession, alienable and inalienable possession, and the related domains
of existence and location. The diversity of structures includes possessive
pronouns, possessive and existential predicates, particles, modifiers,
nominal juxtaposition, non-manual markers, locative verbs, and negative
existentials and possessives. Overall, the volume contributes valuable data
to our knowledge base of grammatical structure in sign languages, enhancing
our understanding of the range of structural variability within sign
languages. In addition, it contributes to our understanding of the
influence of language modality on linguistic structure and, by extension,
informs the question of linguistic universals in human language.
The volume is of interest not only to sign language linguists, but also to
typologists interested in linguistic diversity in sign languages, to
undergraduate and postgraduate students of sign language linguistics or
deaf studies, and to a readership in general linguistics with an interest
in newly developing linguistic sub-disciplines. The volume features a
subject and language index for easy reference as well as an appendix with
the original research materials that were used for the study.
The accompanying CD includes several hundred video clips from the various
sign languages. Contributors include Deborah Chen Pichler (USA), Josep Quer
(Catalonia), Myriam Vermeerbergen (Belgium), and others.
This volume is published by Ishara Press, an ethically responsible
publisher in the field of sign language studies.