LSC employs a wide range of devices to encode indefiniteness: it can use determiners and pronouns, the indefinite person, indefinite pronominal compounds, the indefinite pronoun one, and the signs some and any.
A first option available to express indefiniteness involves the use of determiners and pronouns, which, depending on the specificity of the referent [PRAGMATICS 1.4.], it is associated with high or low spatial locations. For instance, in the case below, the index handshape points at a low spatial location, motivating a specific interpretation. That is, the pointing sign is used to denote a particular group within the entire set of cats.
cat ix3pl[down] obedient.
‘Some of the cats are obedient.’
(recreated from Barberà , 2016: 23)
The preceding example involves the use of a pointing sign articulated with an arc-shaped movement. However, the singular form is also valid to produce an indefinite reading.
ix3pl[down] obedient.
‘Some of them are obedient.’
(recreated from Barberà , 2016: 23)
The determiner person, derived from the lexical sign person, can also be used as an indefinite. Depending on the context, the sign can be used as a co-referential pronoun or as an impersonal with an indefinite reading. In the latter case, the pronoun is articulated in a high location.
rs rs
person[up]++ own error recognize never. self ix3pl[down] friend 3warn3 look count1-2-3.
‘One never realizes his own faults. It is his friends who have to warn him.’
(© John Benjamins 2016. Reprinted with permission from Barberà , 2016: 23)
If the sign person is reduplicated, it results in a plural interpretation.
ix balear person[up]+++ speak catalan.
‘In the Balearic Islands, they speak Catalan.’
(© John Benjamins 2016. Reprinted with permission from Barberà , 2016: 23)
A third strategy to express indefiniteness consists in the use of a pronominal compound [MORPHOLOGY 1], formed by the interrogative wh-sign who with either the third person plural personal pronoun or with the determiner some. In both cases, the order of the signs is irrelevant and the mouthing is always the Spanish word alguien ‘someone’, which spreads over the two signs.
Sign ‘someone’ formed with who^ix3pl[up]
Sign ‘someone’ formed with who^some[up]
Another option is the use of the indefinite determiner one[up], which consists in an index sign, resembling the numeral one, but signed in a high location.
Pronoun one[up] signed in a high location
The indefinite one[up] may function as a pronoun in a generic context, as in example (a), and as a determiner preceding or following a noun in an episodic context, as in (b) below.
a) one[up]moment hospital go, always think result worst.
‘When one is admitted to the hospital, always fears the worst results.’
(© De Gruyter Mouton 2013. Reprinted with permission from Barberà & Quer, 2013: 246)
b) one[up]person door knock flash.
‘Someone is knocking at the door.’
(recreated from Barberà , 2016: 25)
Reduplication of the indefinite one[up] is possible with collective and distributive predicates. Importantly, if the plural distributive form of the indefinite is used, the verb must be reduplicated as well.
war city one[up]+++ surround+++.
‘They each surrounded a different city during the war.’
(based on Barberà & Cabredo-Hofherr, 2017)
Finally, the signs some and any can function as indefinites (determiners and pronouns). Both some and any can be signed in high or low locations, but if articulated at low spatial location (glossed as down), they trigger a partitive interpretation with respect to a set.
re
a) ix1 book cl(z): ‘row_of_books’ some[down] old.
‘Some of the books from my shelf are old.’
(recreated from Barberà , 2016: 25)
re
b) ix1 book cl(z): ‘row_of_books’ ix2 choose any[down].
‘Take any book from my shelf.’
(recreated from Barberà , 2016: 25)
The indefinites above are syntactically in complementary distribution. However, they diverge in their semantics, namely in the class of referents they can be applied to. For instance, the compound who^ix3pl only refers to animate entities, that is, to human and animal discourse referents. person[up], in turn, refers exclusively to human referents, while one[up], some and any do not present any constraint on the class of entities they can be applied to, as they are not restricted to a particular kind of entity.
Also, to get an indefinite reading, person[up] and one[up] need to be articulated at a high location, but the remaining signs can be associated to both high and low locations.
Finally, the indefinites one[up] and who^some[up] diverge regarding their number specification. Namely, with the indefinite pronoun one[up], the subject has to be always singular.
china area one[up] cat eat.
‘In China there is someone who eats cats.’ (one person only)
(based on Barberà & Cabredo-Hofherr, 2017)
However, when the pronominal compound who^some[up] is used, the subject need not be singular.
china area who^some[up] cat eat.
‘In China someone/some people ate a cat/cats.’ (can be more than one person)
(based on Barberà & Cabredo-Hofherr, 2017)
On the other hand, the compound who^some[up] is preferentially plural and, therefore, is compatible with collective predicates, while the same is not true for one[up] (which is preferentially singular).
war city who^some[up] surround.
‘They surrounded the city during the war.’
(based on Barberà & Cabredo-Hofherr, 2017)
Indefinite determiners and pronouns referring to non-unique and non-familiar entities, co-occur with non-manual markers that are distinctive for indefinite contexts. The non-manual markers in question include sucking the cheeks in, pulling the corners of the mouth down, and sometimes a shrug.
Non-manuals associated with indefiniteness
(recreated from Barberà , 2012: 238)
Moreover, when the indefinite corresponds to a non-specific discourse referent, non-manuals feature a non-fixed eye gaze towards an upper direction in signing space not tied to a particular spatial location.
Non-fixed eye gaze
(recreated from Barberà , 2012: 301)