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Asymmetries in relative clause comprehension in three European sign languages
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In: Glossa: a journal of general linguistics; Vol 6, No 1 (2021); 72 ; 2397-1835 (2021)
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Abstract:
Relativization is a robust subordinating type across languages, displaying important typological variability concerning the position of the nominal head that the relative clause modifies, and sign languages are no exception. It has been widely assumed since Keenan & Comrie (1977) that the subject position is more accessible to relativization than object and oblique positions. The main aim of this paper is to investigate the extension of this famous generalization both across modalities (sign as opposed to spoken languages) and across relativization typologies (internally as opposed to externally headed relatives), and to verify how it interacts with age of first language exposure. We here report the results of a sentence-to-picture matching task assessing the comprehension of subject and object relative clauses (RCs) in three sign languages: French Sign Language (LSF), Catalan Sign Language (LSC), and Italian Sign Language (LIS). The results are that object RCs are never easier to comprehend than subject RCs. Remarkably, this is independent from the type of relative clause (internally or externally headed). As for the impact of age of exposure, we found that native signers outperform non-native signers and that a delay in language exposure emphasizes the subject/object asymmetry. Our results introduce a new potential diagnostic for LF movement: the existence of a Subject Advantage in comprehension can be used as a reliable and measurable cue for the existence of long-distance dependencies, including covert ones.
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Keyword:
age of exposure; comprehension; cross-linguistic and cross-modal typology; experimental; Linguistics; psycholinguistics; relative clauses; Sign language; Subject/ Object asymmetries; syntax
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URL: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1454
https://www.glossa-journal.org/jms/article/view/1454
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Experimental evidence for the influence of structure and meaning on linear order in the noun phrase
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In: Glossa: a journal of general linguistics; Vol 5, No 1 (2020); 97 ; 2397-1835 (2020)
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An areal typology of clause-final negation in Africa ; An areal typology of clause-final negation in Africa: Language dynamics in space and time
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In: Aspects of linguistic variation ; https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01933965 ; Daniël Van Olmen, Tanja Mortelmans, Frank Brisard. Aspects of linguistic variation, De Gruyter Mouton, pp.115-163, 2018, ⟨10.1515/9783110607963-005⟩ (2018)
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| 17 |
Basic argument structure in Russian Sign Language
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In: Glossa: a journal of general linguistics; Vol 3, No 1 (2018); 116 ; 2397-1835 (2018)
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Case/agreement matching: Evidence for a cognitive bias
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In: Glossa: a journal of general linguistics; Vol 3, No 1 (2018); 92 ; 2397-1835 (2018)
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