Nominal Modification in Italian Sign Language [Kõva köide]

Since the recent creation of a large-scale corpus of Italian Sign Language (LIS), a new research branch has been established to study the sociolinguistic variation characterizing this language in various linguistic domains. However, for nominal modification, the role of language-internal variation remains uncertain. This volume represents the first attempt to investigate sign order variability in this domain, examining what shapes the syntactic structure of LIS nominal expressions. In particular, three empirical studies are presented and discussed: the first two are corpus studies investigating the distribution and duration of nominal modifiers, while the third deals with the syntactic behavior of cardinal numerals, an unexplored area.

In this enterprise, three different theoretical dimensions of inquiry are innovatively combined: linguistic typology, generative linguistics, and sociolinguistics. The research setup involves both quantitative and qualitative data. This mixed approach starts from corpus data to present the phenomenon, examine linguistic facts on a large scale, and draw questions from these, and then looks at elicited and judgment-based data to provide valid insights and refine the analysis. Crucially, the combination of different methods contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms driving nominal modification in LIS and its internal variation.

Over the past decades, the field of sign language linguistics has expanded considerably. Recent research on sign languages includes a wide range of subdomains such as reference grammars, theoretical linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and applied studies on sign languages and Deaf communities. The SLDC series is concerned with the study of sign languages in a comprehensive way, covering various theoretical, experimental, and applied dimensions of sign language research and their relationship to Deaf communities around the world. The series provides a multidisciplinary platform for innovative and outstanding research in sign language linguistics and aims at linking the study of sign languages to current trends in modern linguistics, such as new experimental and theoretical investigations, the importance of language endangerment, the impact of technological developments on data collection and Deaf education, and the broadening geographical scope of typological sign language studies, especially in terms of research on non-Western sign languages and Deaf communities.