3.1.1 Types of clausal coordination
In LSC there are three main ways of combining one or more constituent using different types of coordinators, manual or non-manual [LEXICON 3.9]:
(i) conjunction, using a sign or non-manual markers with the meaning of and,
(ii) disjunction, using a sign or non-manual markers with the meaning of or,
(iii) adversative coordination, using a sign or non-manual markers with the meaning of but.
An example for each type is presented below: in (a) conjunction, in (b) disjunction and in (c) adversative coordination.
bl-right
re eb re hth
a) marina dance jordi[ipsi] chat[ipsi].
‘Marina danced and Jordi chatted.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 106)
fe, sq
ht-left /o/ ht-left ,bl-b
b) marina work[contra] vacations.
‘Marina will work or will go on vacation.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 106)
re
bl-f
c) jordi very-tall but basketball play very-bad.
‘Jordi is very tall, but he is very bad at playing basketball.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 107)
In (a) and (b), conjunction and disjunction respectively are expressed using juxtaposition, where no overt marker is used. Coordination and disjunction are mainly realized using this strategy. This is not the case for adversative coordination, which can also be productively expressed using the sign but. Disjunction, differently than conjunction, often displays the use of the Spanish/Catalan-based mouthing /o/for ‘or’. The three types generally need anyway the use of non-manual markers such as body lean or head tilt and the use of space to localize each conjunct. In conjunction it is also possible to use buoys [LEXICON 1.2.3] to express a list of elements or events, but also to put them in temporal order.
Moreover, conjunction through juxtaposition mainly expresses simultaneous events, while sequential ones, if the pragmatic context is not very explicit, need to be separated by the temporal adverb then [SYNTAX 6.4.2.1] or by buoys with O-handshape [PHONOLOGY 1.1.3]. In the following examples, (a) features two simultaneous or atemporal events and in (b) two sequential ones are conjoined using juxtaposition. In (b), though, pragmatics compensates for the absence of a temporal adverb. In (c), instead, buoys with a O-handshape is used. It is glossed as list-x-O, where x represents the number of the finger selected, starting from the index till the pinky finger. In (c), to mark the two conjuncts, there is alternation between body lean towards the ipsilateral side of the space and a centered neutral position of the body.
bl-right
re eb re hth
a) marina dance [jordi chat][ipsi].
‘Marina danced and Jordi chatted.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 144)
bl-left bl-right
re re shn
b) marina cake make jordi sell.
‘Marina made a cake and Jordi sold it.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 145)
re pc pc bl-right, ht-right pc bl-right, ht-right
c) day time saint george list-4 palm-up list-1-Obbook buy list-2-Oc rose buy
pc pc bl-right, ht-right
list-3-Od friendi 1give3i book list-4-Oe rose 1give3j.
‘On Saint George’s day, I bought a book, then I bought a rose, then I gave a book to a friend and then the rose to another one.’
Simultaneous events can also be expressed through the simultaneous use of both hands and a buoy of one of the two verbs. In (a) below, walk and eat are signed at the same time, the former verb with the dominant hand and the latter with the non-dominant one. In (b), watch, signed with the non-dominant hand, is held while stir keeps its movement.
bl-right ht-left/right, eg-left/right
a) dh: walk[ipsi] walk[ipsi]------
ht-left
ndh: cl: ‘eat’ ----
‘I was walking and eating (looking around)’.
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 112)
ht-right
b) dh: marina cook cl:cook--- cl: ‘stir’
eg-left
ndh: watch[contra]-----------------
‘Marina was cooking and watching (something).’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 112)
As for adversative coordination, there are three main types: contrastive, corrective and counterexpectational, exemplified in (a), (b) and (c), (d), respectively.
ht-right re, sq ht-left, bl-left ht-right, bl-left
a) giorgia cake chocolate very good but [fruit cl (5): ‘fruits’+++ burn][ipsi].
‘Giorgia baked a very good chocolate cake, but burnt a fruit cake.’
(© Alexandra Navarrete-González & Giorgia Zorzi 2019. Reprinted with permission from Navarrete-González & Zorzi, 2019)
re hs bl-right
b) [marina room study not][contra] [ix-(loc) garden play][ipsi].
‘Marina is not studying in her room, she is playing in the garden.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 138)
re hs re, ht-b
ht-right ht-right
c) jordi beer cl: ‘drink’ not but sangria yes.
‘Jordi did not drink beer but sangria.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 139)
re
bl-f
d) jordi very-tall but basketball play very-bad.
‘Jordi is very tall, but he is very bad at playing basketball.’
(© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018b: 107)
Sentence (a) expresses the contrast between the two constituents; in examples (b) and (c) the first conjunct is corrected and substituted with the second one and, finally, the expectation created by the first conjunct in example (d) is cancelled in the second one.
In the following sections, the manual and non-manual markers used to express the three different types of coordination just described will be presented.