A Grammar of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT)

Diminutive markers attach to nouns to express that the entity that is referred to is small, while augmentative markers express that the entity is big/large. Additionally, they can add more abstract evaluative meanings, e.g. notions of endearment or disapproval, respectively. For NGT, only small-scale research is available, but it has revealed some clear patterns.

            Non-manual diminutive MORPHOLOGY 5.2 markers are tongue protrusion (often combined with sucked-in cheeks) and squinted eyes (often combined with frowned eyebrows). These non-manuals can attach to nouns and size-and-shape specifiers (see). In Video a., the noun hair  – articulated with the #-hand on the head –is marked by sucked-in cheeks and squinted eyes, which results in the meaning ‘short hairs’. 

 

Video a. The noun hair marked by sucked-in cheeks and squinted eyes ‘short hairs’. (CNGT0094, S001, 05:25.360)

It is interesting to investigate whether the attachment of the diminutive markers is limited to nouns with certain characteristics, such as a specific semantic category (e.g. only concrete or animate nouns) or phonological features (e.g. only nouns that are articulated in neutral space). For NGT, we found no such limitations. The noun hair, from Figure a. above, is a concrete and inanimate noun, and body-anchored. A second example is the abstract and inanimate compound noun deaf^world ‘deaf world/deaf community’, the head of which (world) is signed in neutral space, and marked by squinted eyes (see Figure b.). A third example is the concrete and animate noun bird (vogel), which is, again, body-anchored, and marked by squinted eyes and frowned eyebrows (see Figure c.). 

Non-manual augmentative markers are puffed cheeks, wide-open eyes (often combined with raised eyebrows), squinted eyes and a backward bodylean. These non-manuals attach to nouns and size-and-shape-specifiers. An example of the concrete inanimate noun meat is shown below. The noun itself is accompanied by squeezed eyes, while the SASS following the noun is accompanied by squeezed eyes and puffed cheeks. In Figure e., the animate noun wolf is visualized, which is marked with wide eyes.

The non-manual markers are not obligatory, and there is no clear pattern as to which non-manual marker is used in which context. The nouns in this dataset were frequently unmarked, but accompanied by adjectives or size-and-shape-specifiers that did receive non-manual marking. Indeed, the adjectives small and large can also be accompanied by non-manual markers that are identical to the diminutive and augmentative (respectively) markers described above, but these are considered to be lexically specified, i.e., phonological. Additionally, the data suggest that the non-manual signals interact with several other elements; firstly, it could be that the presence of manual lexical markers influence the presence of non-manual markers. Secondly, the tongue and cheeks are important articulators in the diminutive and augmentative (respectively), but these may interfere with mouthings, which also often accompany nouns (see MORPHOLOGY 2.2.2 for a similar observation). A third reason might be that prosody is interfering with grammatical function, which could also explain that, for example, both wide and squinted eyes are found to sometimes mark the augmentative on the noun.