The picture below shows a commonly abstract use of the signing space area.
Figure: Abstract representation of the signing space (recreated from Bertone, 2011: 120)
The black dots named A, B and C represent the articulation points in space. In particular, the location A is characterised by the [+ proximal] feature and indicates a position closer to the signer or the signer himself/herself (for this reason it also specifies the first person). The location B is characterised by the [- proximal] feature and refers to the interlocutor’s position, identifying the second person. The location C is characterised by the [+ distal] feature and relates to a position far away both from the signer and the interlocutor, thus indicating the third person. The remaining locations of the signing space, which are not associated with any referent, represent neutral and undetermined points.
The abstract use of the signing space fulfils morphological and syntactic functions, realising referent-location associations and verb agreement. According to this type of use, locations in the signing space are arbitrarily chosen in order to set discourse referents and realise the arguments of the verbs (PRAGMATICS 1.1). The establishment of a locus in space does not convey any specific semantic meaning, neither it affects the truth condition of the sentence. It means that the spatial loci can be moved in space, and these changes do not determine any consequence in the meaning of the sentence. This phenomenon is shown in the two sentences below.
a. man ixb woman ixa book 3bCL(flat open 5): ‘give_book’3a
‘The man gives the book to the woman.’
b. man ixa woman ixb book 3bCL(flat open 5): ‘give_book’3a
‘The man gives the book to the woman.’
Crucially, the meaning of the two examples above is the same. The exact point in space in which the discourse referents (‘man’ and ‘woman’) are localised is not relevant, as long as the verb is directed from the location associated with the subject (man) to the location associated with the indirect object (woman).
Although these locations are interchangeable, LIS seems to have a preference in setting the subject and the object position. The subject is generally localised on the ipsilateral side of the signer, while the object is localised on the contralateral side of the signer. Ipsilateral refers to the area closer to the side of the dominant hand, while contralateral corresponds to the area more distant from the side of the dominant hand, considering the horizontal axis, as shown in the picture below.
Figure: Mapping of syntactic structures onto spatial positions (recreated from Geraci, 2014: 125)
Localising an entity in the signing space also allows to anaphorically refer back to the same entity within a discourse. In these cases, spatial location is called referential locus (or R-locus) and fulfils the anaphoric function of reference-tracking (PRAGMATICS 2). The reference occurs via a first introduction of the entity in the discourse and its association with a referential locus in space. The chosen location may be used by the signer to mention that entity again in the discourse. This strategy allows the interlocutor to retrieve an entity which was previous located in the same point in space. The retrievability is favoured by manual and non-manual cues pointing to the spatial location where the entity was located. The sentences below, (a) and (b), show how it is possible to refer back to a previously introduced referent. Specifically, in sentence (a) the strategy used to favour retrievability is manual, i.e. a pronoun realised by pointing the extended finger toward the relevant R-locus (LEXICON 3.7). Sentence (b) shows an example of non-manual referring-back strategy, which occurs via eye gaze (eg) pointing toward the relevant R-locus.
a. dog ix(dem)a hunger strong. man CL(G): ‘walk’. ix3a CL(F): ‘eyes_move’ go_away sad
‘The dog is starving. A man walks by. He (the dog) follows him with his eyes, but the man goes away, and the dog is sad.’
eg: a eg: a
b. woman beautiful-int CL(G): ‘walk’a ix1 look_at like ix1
‘A very beautiful woman is walking by. I look at her, I like her!’
The same syntactic function of the signing space is conveyed through the use of possessive pronouns (LEXICON 3.7.3). In such case, the use of the signing space results distinctive in unambiguously referring to a specific entity. In the example below, the possessive pronoun is directed to the R-locus where gianni was previously signed, and it unambiguously expresses co-reference. This sign indicates that the cat can belongs to Gianni (not to Mario) because of the specific use of the signing space.
giannia know ixb mariob ixb cat poss3a like ix3a
‘Gianni knows that Mario loves his cat.’
LIS also seems to account for the increasingly larger amount of entities through the increasingly higher use of space. Therefore, a little amount of people indicated by the articulation of a predicative classifier ‘all go’ is generally located in the lower part of the frontal plane within the signing space. This is shown in the example below, where the predicate classifier ‘all go’ refers to the family.
park pe yesterday ix1 ix1pl family CL(spread curved open 5): ‘group_move’
CL(5): ‘all_go’
‘Yesterday all my family went to the park.’
On the contrary, a big amount of people, like a crowd in a demonstration, is referred to through the articulation of the same predicative classifier ‘all go’, but this time realised in the upper part of the frontal plane of the signing space. This is shown in the example below.
one^year^last park person++ protest CL(5): ‘all_go’
‘Last year, lots of people went to the park to protest.’