A Grammar of Catalan Sign Language (LSC)

Attributive adjectives specify a quality of the noun they accompany. They can combine with a noun within a noun phrase. In LSC some attributive adjectives are body-anchored, like  or beautiful, as shown in the examples below.

a)     interesting

b)    book interesting

            ‘interesting book.’

c)     beautiful

d)    painting beautiful

‘beautiful painting.’

Other qualities that attributive adjectives specify are provenance or colour, as shown in the examples below, which are also body-anchored.

a)     japan

b)    tea japan

‘japanese tea’

c)     red

d)    chair red

‘red chair’

Some attributive adjectives are articulated in neutral signing space, that is, in the space in front of the signer’s body. The adjectives shown in the examples below are attributive adjectives articulated in neutral signing space, which specify the size or dimension of the entities they describe.

a)     tall

b)    man person tall

‘tall man’

c)     short

d)    man person short

‘short man’

e)     big

f)     house big

‘big house’

g)    house very_big

‘very big house’

h)    small-b

i)      dog small-b

‘small dog’

j)      bag small-b

‘small bag’

k)    thin

l)      person thin

‘thin person’

m)   fat

n)    person fat

‘fat person’

In LSC adjectives can be also expressed with non-manual markers only, that is without an overt lexical sign. A preliminary investigation shows that some restrictions apply to the kind of elements non-manual adjectives may combine with. For instance, as shown in the examples below, non-manual adjectives are easily combinable with classifier constructions rather than with nouns. In the cases where they combine with a noun, it is a form in which the handshape of the noun and that of the classifier construction coincide (house). The most common non-manuals functioning as adjectives are protruded tongue to indicate smallness (examples b, c, e, and h), and puffed cheeks to indicate bigness (examples a, d, f, and i); the higher degree of bigness is marked by a different non-manual marker that consists in biting the bottom lip while articulating the sign that is being described, as shown in (g) below. Also, when possible, there is a subtle modification of the manual classifier sign, for instance, in examples (c), (e), and (h) the manual sign is slightly articulated in a smaller size than usual, and the same happens in examples (d) and (i) where the manual signs are articulated with a different handshape than the one used for representing a medium size nose or person.

                                         _pc

a)      cl(:): ‘big house’

                                       _pt

b)      cl(:): ‘small house’

                                            _pt
c)      cl(I): ‘small nose’

                               _pc

d)      cl(?): ‘big nose’

                                           ^pt

e)      dog(@) cl: ‘small dog’

 

                                               _pc
f)       dog(q) cl: ‘big dog’

                                    _bbl
g)      cl(i): ‘big tree’

                                 _pt

h)      cl(i): ‘small tree’

                                                          _pc
i)       person cl(f): ‘fat person’

Size and Shape Specifiers [MORPHOLOGY 5.2] provide information about the nouns they depict; thus, they are used as adjectives too. In the examples below there are some size and shape specifier constructions that provide information about the shape of different entities: a table, a ball, a road, a door, or also about some other physical properties, like the texture of the peach skin or the floor.

a)     table cl(b): ‘rectangular’

‘rectangular table’

b)    table cl(b): ‘round’

‘round table’

c)     table cl(b): ‘square’

‘square table’

d)    ball cl(>): ‘round’

‘round ball’

e)     ball cl(>): ‘ellipsoidal’

‘ellipsoidal ball’

f)     road cl(,): ‘curved’

‘curved road’

g)    road cl(,): ‘straight’

‘straight road’

h)    door cl(,): ‘arc’

‘arched door’

i)      peach cl(,): ‘velvety’

‘velvety peach skin’

j)      floor cl(,): ‘rough’

‘rough floor’

When it comes to specify the size in terms of bigness or smallness, different adjectives are used in LSC, which depend on the size of the entities they describe. What is considered big or small is relative to the real size of the entity and our perception, thus, different size and shape specifiers are used in LSC depending on the medium size of the entity they describe. For instance, for rather small entities like a nose, the sign small-g_is is used to represent a small nose and the sign big(L) is used to represent a big nose, both articulated body-anchored, like exemplified below.

a)     nose small-g_is

‘small nose’

b)    nose big(L)

‘big nose’

For very tiny entities, like some insects, the sign small(I) is commonly used to represent an insect that is particularly tiny, while the signs big(L) and big_index+thumb are used to represent big and huge insects, respectively. All these signs are articulated in neutral signing space, as can be observed in the examples below.

a)     small(I)

b)    fly small(I) [VIDEO NEEDS TO BE RECORDED]

‘small flies’

c)     big(L) [VIDEO NEEDS TO BE RECORDED]

d)    fly big(L) [VIDEO NEEDS TO BE RECORDED]

‘big flies’

e)     big_index+thumb

f)     fly big_{index+thumb [VIDEO NEEDS TO BE RECORDED]}

‘huge flies’