Entity classifiers (also known as semantic classifiers) express movement or location of entities in space. These constructions often substitute an element that has been previously introduced by a lexical sign.
ix3 car cl(z): âcar parkingâ.
âHe parked the car.â
tree cl(g): âtreeâ+++.
âThere are many trees along the avenue.â
In LSC, the most frequently used entity classifiers handshapes are the following:
cl(B): âpersonâ
cl(Y): âperson standingâ
cl(Y): âperson on a bicycleâ
cl(@): âperson sittingâ
cl(f): âvery fat personâ
cl(q): âanimalâ
cl(y): âstatue / figure / dummyâ
cl(6): âcolumnâ
cl(z): âcarâ
cl(i): âbicycle / motorbikeâ
cl(f): âplaneâ
cl(a): âtrainâ
cl(<): âbusâ
cl(,): âboatâ (1)
cl(,): âboatâ (2)
cl(,): âsailing boatâ
cl(:): âzodiac launchâ
cl(<): âcarriageâ
cl(,): âlorry'
cl(b): âtramwayâ
cl(<): âcoachâ
cl(b): âcable carâ
cl(e): âtrailerâ
cl(e): âcraneâ
cl(<): âcaravanâ
cl(i): âtreeâ
cl(i): âplantâ
cl(f): âtelephoneâ
cl(|): âpaperâ
cl(z): âbookâ
cl(|): âbookâ
cl(s): âcutleryâ
cl(=): âspoonâ
cl(s): âknifeâ
cl(l): âforkâ
cl(l): âplateâ
cl(i): âbirdâ
cl(9): âbig birdâ
(recreated from Quer et al., 2005)
The richness of use of entity classifiers can be appreciated with a particular case: water. In the following examples water is represented in many different ways, thanks to a variety of entity classifiers.
cl(>): âlarge riverâ
cl(>): âtideâ
cl(5): âgeyserâ
cl(d): âfountainâ
cl()): âsprinklerâ
cl(B): âwater pumpâ
cl(>): âwater breaking on rocksâ
cl(B): âsweat beadsâ
cl(?): âshowerâ
cl((): âgiant waveâ
cl(?): âwater from a tapâ
cl(>): âwaterfallâ
(recreated from Quer et al., 2005)