A Usage-Based Proposal for Argument Structure of Directional Verbs in American Sign Language

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Sign Language Studies
• Corpus Linguistics

Background:

• Verb agreement is a well-studied area in sign linguistics.
• However, the argument structure of directional verbs (also known as agreeing, agreement, or indicating verbs) remains under-explored.
• Existing analyses often overlook the nuanced grammatical roles these verbs play.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel usage-based framework for analyzing the argument structure of directional verbs in American Sign Language (ASL).
• To identify and define low-level constructions for specific uses of directional verbs, including reported speech, passive/reflexive constructions, and stance verbs.
• To demonstrate how patterns abstracted from recurring usage events contribute to users' linguistic knowledge.

Main Methods:

• A usage-based linguistic analysis framework.
• Identification of recurring patterns in American Sign Language (ASL) usage events.
• Abstraction of low-level constructions from observed linguistic data.

Main Results:

• Development of specific constructions for reported speech, non-dedicated passive/reflexive, and stance verbs in ASL.
• Demonstration that these constructions are derived from recurring usage events.
• Highlighting the role of usage patterns in shaping grammatical knowledge.

Conclusions:

• The proposed usage-based approach offers a new perspective on analyzing directional verb argument structure in ASL.
• This framework can illuminate the relationship between language use and linguistic structure in sign languages.
• The findings contribute to advancing the field of sign linguistics by offering a usage-centered methodology.