1.5.2. Mouthings
Mouthings in LSC are a spoken component that can come from either the Spanish or Catalan counterpart. The word may be totally or only partially expressed. The variation among these two spoken languages is due to the bilingualism situation regarding spoken languages in Catalonia. However, the use of one or the other is often connected to the age of the signer, the region, and/or the school they have attended. There can also be variation between the same signer, who can mouth in spoken Spanish for some signs and in spoken Catalan for others.
Mouthing can be semantically equivalent to the sign it accompanies.
/gato/
cat
A mouthing in LSC can also specify the concrete meaning of the sign in cases of hyponyms. For instance, the sign used for ‘pasta’ and ‘spaguetti’ is the same in LSC differing only in the mouthing that helps disambiguate the concrete meaning of the sign.
/pasta/
a) pasta
/espagueti/
b) spaguetti
Mouthing in LSC can also create minimal pairs like the ones shown below. Some minimal pairs are semantically related, like the signs solution and how, while others are not, like the signs widow and poison.
/solució/
a) solution
/cómo/
b) how
/viudo/
c) widow
/veneno/
d) poison