ERIC Number: EJ1387184
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 38
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0302-1475
EISSN: EISSN-1533-6263
Reiterative Code-Switching: Argument-Marking in Cena
Stoianov, Diane; Silva, Anderson Almeida; Nevins, Andrew
Sign Language Studies, v23 n3 p386-423 Spr 2023
Situations of language contact are often the norm for sign languages. This article investigates a case of unimodal contact between Cena, a young sign language in its third generation that is used in a small rural community in Brazil, and Libras, the national sign language of Brazil. Our analysis concerns one by-product of this contact: reiterative code-switches, wherein signers produce a sequence of two signs--one from each language--with the same meaning to label a single referent. We consider several motivations detailed in existing literature on code-switching, before proposing an explanation motivated by the disambiguation of reversible (therefore potentially ambiguous) verb events, primarily by using reiteration to focus agents. We suggest that with this phenomenon, we see signers employ a previously unattested strategy to mark arguments and thereby aid syntactic disambiguation.
Descriptors: Code Switching (Language), Sign Language, Language Usage, Syntax, Ambiguity (Semantics), Rural Areas, Language Variation, Verbs, Foreign Countries, Contrastive Linguistics, Official Languages
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Brazil
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A