List of notational conventions
In this section, we provide the list of the notation conventions used throughout the LIS grammar. In line with common practice in the field of sign language linguistics, the signs in the examples are represented by glosses in small caps. Below the string of glosses, the English translation is reported enclosed in single quotation marks. An example is shown below.
maria dog help
‘Maria helped the dog.’
If the example consists of one single sign and the gloss is transparent enough to infer its meaning, no English translation is provided.
For illustrative purposes, each notation convention is associated with an example applicable to LIS.
Sign reduplication: if a sign is reduplicated, plus signs are added after the gloss.
Example:
house++
‘Houses’
Variant forms: if there are lexical variants of a sign, each variant is associated with a number included between brackets.
Example:
phone(1)
Manual articulators: when the dominant hand (dom) and the non-dominant hand (n-dom) are used independently, the signing production of each hand is shown in a separate line.
Example:
dom: dog
n-dom: ix
‘The dog’
Temporal extention of signs: the duration of a sign is represented by adding a sequence of dashes after the relevant gloss.
Example:
dom: dog beautiful
n-dom: ix--------------
‘The cute dog’
Non-manual markers: non-manuals are indicated by a straight line above the gloss(es). The extension of the line reflects the extension of the corresponding non-manual marking. Above the line, the abbreviation referring to the relevant non-manual is reported.
Example:
wh
which
Mouthing and mouth gestures: the approximate transcription is provided between square brackets and the approximate orthographic representation is given between single quotes.
Examples:
[sss]
not_yet
‘fresco’
fresh
Fingerspelling: if hyphens are interpolated between letters, the gloss refers to a fingerspelled word.
Example:
l-u-c-a
Multi-word glosses: if the gloss identifying a single sign requires two or more words in the glosses, an underscore is interpolated between words.
Example:
not_yet
‘Not yet’
Multi-morphemic signs: if a sign is composed by more than one morpheme (e.g. compounds, incorporation, cases of cliticisation), a circumflex accent is added between morphemes.
Example:
month^two
‘Two months’
Compounds: if the internal composition of a compound is not relevant to the linguistic description, a gloss identifying the whole meaning of the compound is provided (e.g. computer instead of electricity^CL(5): ‘type’). In simultaneous compounds, i.e. compounds in which each hand contributes a separate root, manual articulators are signalled by h1 and h2 included within brackets.
Example:
CL(V): ‘fork’(h1)^CL(5): ‘dish’(h2)
‘Fork’
Suppletive forms: if a sign is composed by more than one morpheme and the morphemes are not segmentable or identifiable, a dot is added in between.
Example:
exist.not
‘There is not’
Pointing signs: pointing signs are generally glossed as ix. If it functions as personal pronoun, the grammatical person is indicated by a subscript number after the gloss. If the pointing sign has another function (e.g. locative, demonstrative), this is indicated between brackets after the gloss.
Examples:
ix1
‘I’
ix(loc)
‘There’
Verbal agreement: the locations relevant to verbal agreement are indicated by subscripts.
Example:
1help2
‘(I) help (you)’
Handshape specification: if a sign is produced with a particular handshape that needs to be specified, the handshape is indicated between brackets after the gloss.
Example:
poss(G)1
‘My’
Location specification: if a sign is produced in a particular location in the signing space, this is indicated as subscripts included in square brackets.
Example:
ix(loc)[ipsi_distal]
‘There’
Classifier constructions: the format representation for classifier constructions is CL(handshape): ‘interpretation_in_English’
Example:
CL(G): ‘brush_teeth’
‘Brushing teeth.’
Size-And-Shape Specifiers: the format representation for SASS is SASS(handshape): ‘interpretation_in_English’
Example:
SASS(flat closed L): ‘little’
‘Little amount’
Discourse stretch: if an example reproduces a communicative exchange between signers, each contribution is signalled by a capital letter followed by a colon.
Example:
A: yes
B: thank_you
‘Yes.’ ‘Thank you.’
