A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

LIS agreement verbs mainly inflect to mark plurality of the object. In contrast, a plural subject is marked by numerals and quantifiers. To convey plurality of the object, agreeing and spatial verbs can display specific morphological modifications: i) they can incorporate an arc movement from the contralateral to the ipsilateral side of the signing space to convey the meaning ‘all’, as exemplified in (a); ii) one handed-signs can be articulated as two-handed signs (b); and iii) they can be reduplicated in different locations in space, as exemplified in (c), to convey distributivity features. Reduplication applies to the articulation of the verb an indefinite number of times (usually three).

         a.       give_arc

         ‘Give to all.’

         b.       dom:    give_arc

                   n-dom: give_arc

         ‘Give to all.’

         c.       give_distr

         ‘Give to each one.’

When the object is a sign articulated in the signing space, which can be reduplicated to convey plurality, the verb can show overt agreement with it by being reduplicated in the same loci dedicated to the plural object, as in the example below.

         man many house_a++ burn_a++

         ‘Many men burnt many houses.’