Chapter 10. The qualitative lexicon in Russian Sign Language from a typological perspective
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Maria Kyuseva
Abstract
The paper describes several expressions of physical qualities (namely, sharp, blunt, old, thick-wide, and thin-narrow) in Russian Sign Language (RSL) from a lexical typological perspective. This is the first study to analyse a sign language from the standpoint of the MLexT framework. The results show that RSL structures the aforementioned domains on the same grounds as spoken languages. This finding strongly supports the hypothesis that lexical systems are cognitively motivated. At the same time, RSL exhibits a number of non-trivial lexicalization strategies, which are not accidental but can be explained by the fact that this language is produced in the visual modality.
Abstract
The paper describes several expressions of physical qualities (namely, sharp, blunt, old, thick-wide, and thin-narrow) in Russian Sign Language (RSL) from a lexical typological perspective. This is the first study to analyse a sign language from the standpoint of the MLexT framework. The results show that RSL structures the aforementioned domains on the same grounds as spoken languages. This finding strongly supports the hypothesis that lexical systems are cognitively motivated. At the same time, RSL exhibits a number of non-trivial lexicalization strategies, which are not accidental but can be explained by the fact that this language is produced in the visual modality.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Methodology at work 29
- Chapter 3. A matter of degree? 57
- Chapter 4. Quality as a two-place predicate 79
- Chapter 5. Typology of dimensions 117
- Chapter 6. The domain of surface texture 161
- Chapter 7. A new approach to old studies 189
- Chapter 8. Talking temperature with close relatives 215
- Chapter 9. Lexical typology of Mandarin Chinese qualitative features 269
- Chapter 10. The qualitative lexicon in Russian Sign Language from a typological perspective 289
- Chapter 11. Constructing a typological questionnaire with distributional semantic models 309
- Language index 329
- Subject index 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Methodology at work 29
- Chapter 3. A matter of degree? 57
- Chapter 4. Quality as a two-place predicate 79
- Chapter 5. Typology of dimensions 117
- Chapter 6. The domain of surface texture 161
- Chapter 7. A new approach to old studies 189
- Chapter 8. Talking temperature with close relatives 215
- Chapter 9. Lexical typology of Mandarin Chinese qualitative features 269
- Chapter 10. The qualitative lexicon in Russian Sign Language from a typological perspective 289
- Chapter 11. Constructing a typological questionnaire with distributional semantic models 309
- Language index 329
- Subject index 333
