A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

2.2.1. Diminutive and augmentative

Diminution and augmentation of the size of an object can be conveyed in LIS through dedicated non-manual markers which are simultaneously articulated with the noun they modify. In some instances, the manual nominal sign displays a reduced or enlarged articulation to encode diminution or augmentation, respectively. This simultaneous derivational process does not change the lexical category of the base (i.e. the manual sign). We provide some examples below.

a. box

‘Little box’ (diminutive)

b. box

‘Big box’ (augmentative)

c. tie

‘Little tie’ (diminutive) (recreated from Petitta et al., 2015: 160)

d. tie

‘Big tie’ (augmentative) (recreated from Petitta et al., 2015: 160)

tp tl tp tl tp

e. dom: stripe stripe stripe stripe stripe

n-dom: stripe

‘Alternating thin and thick stripes’ (diminutive/augmentative)

Focusing on non-manual markers, the examples above show that diminution is encoded through squinted eyes (sq) and tongue protrusion (tp), whereas augmentation is conveyed through furrowed eyebrows (fe) and teeth on the lower lip (tl). Crucially, these non-manual markers are not lexically specified for the adjectives small and big, respectively, therefore they constitute clear examples of non-manual morphemes encoding diminution and augmentation. As far as the manual sign is concerned, it can display modifications involving distalisation (a) or proximalisation (b) (PHONOLOGY 3.1.3.2), a change of the handshape (c) and (d), or a change in the degree of flexion in the base joint (e).

It is important to notice that both the simultaneous articulation of the non-manual morphemes and the modifications of the manual sign are constrained to some extent. The occurrence of non-manual morphemes involving the mouth is constrained by mouthings (PHONOLOGY 1.5.2): when the nominal sign is accompanied by the voiceless articulation of the corresponding Italian word, the mouth cannot articulate the non-manual marker dedicated to diminutive or augmentative. Thus, diminution or augmentation are conveyed solely by means of manual modifications. This strategy is illustrated below: the sign street is accompanied by the mouthing of the corresponding Italian word (strada) and thus it conveys augmentation by enlarging the distance between hands.

‘strada’

street

‘Large street’ (augmentative)

The morphological modification of the manual sign is phonologically constrained as well. Nouns whose phonological structure does not allow to encode features of size through modifications of the articulation or of the joints configuration need another element to encode size information, namely a size and shape specifier (SASS) (MORPHOLOGY 5.2). This strategy is adopted with:

i) one- or two-handed nouns articulated on the body which cannot modify the handshape to encode size;

a. bed SASS(unspread 5): ‘little’

‘Little bed’ (diminutive)

b. backpack SASS(flat open 4): ‘little’

‘Little backpack’ (diminutive)

ii) two-handed nouns articulated in the neutral space displaying secondary movement (PHONOLOGY 1.3.2). Particularly, nominal signs displaying repeated alternating movement (a) or involving a change in wrist orientation (b) do not allow to encode size through manual modifications;

a. car SASS(unspread curved open 5): ‘little’

‘Little car’ (diminutive)

b. shoe SASS(flat open 4): ‘big’

‘Big shoe’ (augmentative)

iii) two-handed nouns articulated in the neutral space but displaying a contact between hands.

a. book SASS(G): ‘little_square’

‘Little book’ (diminutive)

b. house SASS(spread 5): ‘big’

‘Big house’ (augmentative)

Simultaneous processes of diminution and augmentation are also semantically constrained. First, nouns referring to animate entities, such as dog, need a SASS to encode size.

dog SASS(unspread curved open 5): ‘little’

‘Little dog’ (diminutive)

Second, abstract nouns cannot convey diminution and augmentation through morphological means. However, the sign party constitutes an exception. As we can see in example (a) below, the manual sign can display a proximalised movement (at the elbow joint) and be marked by furrowed eyebrows (fe) and open mouth (om) to convey the meaning ‘big party’. The manual sign can also display movement distalisation (at the wrist joint) but in this case the distalisation of movement encodes pejorative rather than diminutive features, thus conveying the meaning ‘boring/awful party’. This is further specified through the non-manuals furrowed eyebrows and mouth corners down (md). We report this example in (b) for completeness.

a. party

‘Big party’ (augmentative)

b. party

‘Boring/awful party’ (pejorative)