The Conceptualization of Space: Places in Signed Language Discourse

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Semiotics

Background:

• Signed languages utilize space extensively for grammatical and semantic functions.
• Cognitive grammar provides a framework for analyzing symbolic structures in language.
• Understanding spatial conceptualization is key to deciphering signed language discourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the conceptualization and referential function of spatial elements (Places) in Argentine Sign Language (ASL).
• To investigate how Places are used in discourse to introduce, track, and provide access to referents.
• To explore the semantic and phonological loading of space within the theory of cognitive grammar.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of video recordings of deaf Argentine Sign Language signers.
• Application of the Places view from cognitive grammar to signed language discourse.
• Examination of grammatical constructions involving spatial elements and conceptual reference points.

Main Results:

• Places in ASL are symbolic structures with both semantic and phonological poles, acquiring meaning in usage events.
• Places are used for pointing, placing, and introducing/tracking referents, functioning along a continuum from deixis to anaphor.
• The choice of Places is motivated by embodied experience and abstraction, with implications for understanding discourse development.

Conclusions:

• Space in signed language discourse is inherently semantically and phonologically loaded.
• The conceptual system unites Places along a deixis-anaphor continuum, varying in phonological subjectification.
• The analysis offers insights into the developmental aspects of spatial language in signed languages.