A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

The present section offers a broad overview of the research carried out so far on the phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatics of LIS.

            One of the most important studies on LIS, which is considered as a reference for subsequent studies, is La Lingua dei Segni Italiana (‘Italian Sign Language’), edited by Virginia Volterra in 2004 (previously in 1987 La Lingua Italiana dei segni). This work includes the very first studies investigating the structure of LIS, offering an overview of its main properties. Another work which provides broad linguistic descriptions of LIS is Fondamenti di Grammatica della Lingua dei Segni Italiana (‘The Basis of Italian Sign Language’), which was written by Carmela Bertone in 2011. It represents a disclosure grammar and constitutes a structured toolset for LIS courses and people approaching the study of LIS.

            In particular, La Lingua dei Segni Italiana provides the first description of LIS phonology (PHONOLOGY 2). The traditional approach used to identify minimal pairs and classes of phonemes is based on four parameters: handshape, place of articulation, orientation and movement. Other key works about phonological studies are Russo Cardona & Volterra (2007) and Lerose (2011).

            Corazza & Volterra (2008) identified several handshapes: those productively used to create minimal pairs in LIS, a group of handshapes used exclusively as classifiers, and another group of handshapes used only for initialized signs, namely as alphabet letters.

            Verdirosi (2004) identified the different locations where it is possible to produce signs. These locations can be divided into three principal categories: neutral space, body and face parts.

            Radutzky & Santarelli (2004) identified orientations that can be assumed by the hands and classified movements grouped into different categories.

            In 2004, Franchi supported the introduction of facial expressions as a fifth parameter, responsible for the creation of minimal pairs. Subsequently, a great number of studies investigated this parameter (Fontana, 2008; Ajello, Mazzoni & Nicolai, 2001; Fontana & Raniolo, 2015; Conte, Santoro, Geraci & Cardinaletti, 2011).

            As for the Morphological system, LIS displays both simultaneous and non-simultaneous processes, involving manual and non-manual signs. Various morphological processes are attested. Signs modify their articulation in order to convey: i) plurality (MORPHOLOGY 4), ii) verbal agreement (MORPHOLOGY 3.1), iii) tense (MORPHOLOGY 3.2), iv) adjectival (LEXICON 3.4), and v) adverbial information (LEXICON 3.5).

            Morphological phenomena could be summarized in: i) compounds, ii) derivation, and iii) nominal and verbal inflectional processes. Recently, the mechanism of compounding (MORPHOLOGY 1) was studied by Geraci (2009a) and Santoro (2016). Derivational phenomena (MORPHOLOGY 2) as evaluative morphology, namely diminutives, augmentatives, pejoratives and amelioratives, have been investigated by Fornasiero (in prep.), while features distinguishing nominal and verbal expressions have been analysed by Pizzuto (2004).

            Verbal inflection started to be investigated in LIS by Pizzuto, Giuranna & Gambino (1990), later studies have been carried out by Corazza (2000) Pizzuto (2004) Geraci, Mantovan & Aristodemo (2016). In particular, verbal tenses (MORPHOLOGY 3.2) and aspects (MORPHOLOGY 3.3) have been addressed by Zucchi (2009) and Zucchi, Geraci, Cecchetto and other scholars (2010). Adverbs and their verbal modification (LEXICON 3.5) have been studied by Lerose (2008, 2009).

            Classifiers in LIS have been analysed in the past by Pizzuto (1986), Pizzuto, Giuranna & Gambino (1990) and Corazza (1990). Formal analysis of the semantic proprieties of classifiers was proposed in Cecchetto & Zucchi (2006). Mazzoni (2008) provided a detailed description of the classifier system (MORPHOLOGY 5).

            Studies on syntax grew year by year, especially since 2000. Word order in LIS has been studied by Laudanna & Volterra (1991), Cecchetto, Geraci & Zucchi (2006), and Branchini & Geraci (2011). LIS allows for a somewhat flexible word order, although native signers clearly prefer the subject object verb (SOV) order (SYNTAX 2.3).

            In contrast to the basic word order of constituents, the distribution of sentential complements is more fixed and restricted in LIS. These structures and their relation to parsing and short-term memory have been investigated in Geraci, Gozzi, Papagno & Cecchetto (2008) and Geraci & Aristodemo (2013).

            Variation in syntax was also studied by Mantovan (2015), in relation to nominal expressions. In this case, variations have been studied with a focus on linguistic and sociolinguistic factors which can affect the realisation of signs.

            In LIS, syntactic analysis also concerns functional elements, i.e. modals, aspectual markers and negative markers which all appear post-verbally in the final part of the sentence (SYNTAX 2.3.1.2). The same behaviour was found in negative sentences (SYNTAX 2.3.1.4) investigated in Geraci (2006).

            Interrogatives (SYNTAX 1.2) have been studied in Cecchetto, Geraci & Zucchi (2006), Bertone (2011), and Bayley, Geraci, Cardinaletti, Cecchetto & Donati (2012). One feature of LIS concerns the position of wh-signs in content questions where they occupy the right periphery of the sentence.

            Imperatives (SYNTAX 1.3), a previously understudied topic, have been recently investigated in Donati, Barberà, Branchini, Cecchetto, Geraci & Quer (2017).

            As for coordination (SYNTAX 3.1), it was recently analysed in Aristodemo, Geraci & Santoro (2016). By contrast, many studies have been carried about subordination, and in particular about relative clauses (Cecchetto et al., 2006, Branchini & Donati, 2009, Brunelli, 2006, Branchini 2014) (SYNTAX 3.4) and conditional clauses (Barattieri, 2006, Bertone, 2011, Aristodemo, 2009) (SYNTAX 3.5.1).

            So far, few studies have been conducted on pragmatics in LIS; one of these was carried out by Brunelli (2011). He analyses information structures (PRAGMATICS 4), like focus and topic phenomena by giving preliminary accounts of their realisation and syntactic positions, according to a specific formal linguistic theory, for this reason his analysis addresses an audience specialized in linguistics studies. More recently, a study focusing on types of sentence topics has been carried out by Calderone (in prep.) (PRAGMATICS 4.2). Other relevant studies about pragmatic issues have been addressed by Celo (2000) and Pizzuto (2009) who studied cohesion; Cuccio & Fontana (2011) and Geraci (2014) who studied the function of the signing space; Amorini (2008); Cuccio & Fontana (2012) and Russo Cardona (2004) who investigated figurative meaning, such as metaphors and metonymy, and by Gianfreda (2011), who analysed the communicative interactions among signers.

            Thanks to different research groups in Italy, the number of studies on LIS is growing year by year, however, much topics remain to be investigated. The following table summarizes some relevant studies conducted on LIS over the last 30 years.

            Table: Overview of relevant studies carried out on LIS