TY - JOUR

T1 - Markers of epistemic modality and their origins

T2 - Evidence from two unrelated sign languages

AU - Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Native deaf signers express epistemic modality by different means: mental-state words, clause- internal particles, signs indicating hypothesis, and nonmanually. The data for this study come from two unrelated sign languages, Danish Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language. In dialogues the signers use both calques of majority-language words and signs that appear to have emerged in the sign languages only. Based on the multifunctionality of some word forms, the origin of the epistemic modal particles may be traced back to tags, interjections, and lexical signs, a route motivated by interaction and also found in unrelated spoken languages. Furthermore, in both sign languages, the first-person pronoun can be used, without a verb, as an epistemic “anchor” of a proposition, a construction that seems specific to languages in the gestural-visual modality. Another modality-specific feature is the possibility of transferring the expression of a marker of epistemic uncertainty from one articulator to another.

AB - Native deaf signers express epistemic modality by different means: mental-state words, clause- internal particles, signs indicating hypothesis, and nonmanually. The data for this study come from two unrelated sign languages, Danish Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language. In dialogues the signers use both calques of majority-language words and signs that appear to have emerged in the sign languages only. Based on the multifunctionality of some word forms, the origin of the epistemic modal particles may be traced back to tags, interjections, and lexical signs, a route motivated by interaction and also found in unrelated spoken languages. Furthermore, in both sign languages, the first-person pronoun can be used, without a verb, as an epistemic “anchor” of a proposition, a construction that seems specific to languages in the gestural-visual modality. Another modality-specific feature is the possibility of transferring the expression of a marker of epistemic uncertainty from one articulator to another.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - lingvistik

KW - tegnsprog

KW - epistemisk modalitet

KW - sproglig interaktion

KW - linguistics

KW - epistemic modality

KW - Danish Sign Language

KW - Japanese Sign Language

M3 - Journal article

VL - 45

SP - 277

EP - 320

JO - Studies in Language

JF - Studies in Language

SN - 0378-4177

IS - 2

ER -