Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Conlin, Frances
• Hagstrom, Paul
• Neidle, Carol

Titel

A Particle of Indefiniteness in American Sign Language

Ist Teil von

• Linguistic discovery, 2003, Vol.2 (1)

Ort / Verlag

Dartmouth College Library

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We describe here the characteristics of an often-occurring ASL indefinite focus particle, which has not previously been recognized as such. We show here that, despite its similarity to the question sign "WHAT," the particle is distinct from that sign in terms of articulation, function, & distribution. The particle serves to express "uncertainty" in various ways, which can be formalized semantically in terms of a domain-widening effect of the same sort as that proposed for English "any" by Kadmon & Landman (1993). Its function is to widen the domain of possibilities under consideration from the typical to include the non-typical as well, along a dimension appropriate in the context. 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 25 References. Adapted from the source document