LSC personal pronouns can mark number distinctions depending on the path movement of the index sign. In particular, singular pronouns take the form of the pointing sign, which is directed to the area associated with the referent, while plurals are articulated with an arc-shaped movement For instance, in the example below, the first person pronoun incorporates an arc-shaped movement that denotes that it refers to a plurality.
now want ix1pl 1explain2 theme history one woman person3[ipsi] name anna- frank.
‘Now we want to explain the story of Anna Frank.’
(based on Barberà, 2012: 169)
However, if plural referents are understood as a group, it is also possible to express plurality by pointing to an area in the signing space previously associated with the collective referent, just as in the case of singular referents. Therefore, no arc-shaped movement is needed in case the context makes clear that the entire group is being referred to. The examples below illustrate both possibilities when referring back to a plural entity, such as a group of students:
a) ix3 clever.
‘They are very clever.’
(based on Barberà, 2012: 190)
b) ix3plclever.
‘They are very clever.’
(based on Barberà, 2012: 190)
As we can observe, plurality may be encoded both by pointing back to the location of the plural entity with the singular pronominal form (IX3) or by using the plural pronoun (IX3pl), marked by an arc-shaped movement.
Additionally, plurality in LSC pronouns can be expressed by reduplicating the pointing sign, which is successively repeated at different locations within the signing space.
ix1 until_now work boss already three ten_years_agoa five_years_agob nowc ix3a ix3b ix3c relationship++ good.
‘Up to now, I have worked with three different employers: one ten years ago, other five years ago, and now (my current employer). I have had a very good relationship with all of them.’
As in the case of collective plurals, a reduplicated pointing sign can pick up plural referents when understood as groups. In the following example the sign group is overtly expressed and repeated at different locations in the signing space. The reduplicated third person pronouns is directed at those locations in order to refer to all of the groups previously mentioned.
ix1 students three groupa groupb groupc ix3a ix3b ix3c sign_language love.
‘I have three groups of students. All of them (‘the three groups’) love sign language.’
Finally, plural referents can be expressed by incorporating a numeral into the pronominal form.
association cerecusor responsible food drink. association casal responsible organisation. ix2+2+2+2 buy thing++. ix2+2+2 stay sign theme organise how.
‘Cerecusor will be responsible for food and drinks. And Casal will take care of the organisation. You-four go and buy everything. And you-three may stay here and talk about organisational issues.’
(Barberà, 2012: 224)
In the example above, the pronominal incorporates the numeral “four” in the first instance, and “three” in the second one, along with an arc-shaped movement. However, the direction of the movement is not towards the real addressees, because they are not grouped together in sets of 4 and 3, but mixed in the audience. Therefore, even when the addressees are present, the direction of the pronoun does not necessarily select them taking into account their real positions in space. In fact, in this case pronouns are interpreted on the basis of the nouns Cerecusor and Casal, which function as anchors the pronouns are linked to.