Trevor Alexander Johnston
List of John Benjamins publications for which Trevor Alexander Johnston plays a role.
Clause constituents, arguments and the question of grammatical relations in Auslan (Australian Sign Language): A corpus-based study Studies in Language 43:4, pp. 941–996 | Article
2019 This study investigates clause constructions in Auslan. It looks at the alignment of constituent semantic role with constituent position and order in clauses, changes in the morphology of signs according to position and/or role, and the interpretation of omitted arguments. The aim is to… read more
Towards a comparative semiotics of pointing actions in signed and spoken languages Gesture 13:2, pp. 109–142 | Article
2013 Co-speech pointing actions have been under-analysed or ignored in language description and linguistic theory and this has led to an over-interpretation of their role and status in signed languages as signs belonging to particular grammatical classes, such as pronouns, determiners, and locatives. I… read more
From archive to corpus: Transcription and annotation in the creation of signed language corpora International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 15:1, pp. 106–131 | Article
2010 Annotations are an important resource in corpus-based linguistic research. In fact, the most important feature of a modern signed language corpus should be that it has been annotated rather than simply transcribed. Digital multi-media annotation software can now transform language recordings into… read more
The use of space with indicating verbs in Auslan: A corpus-based investigation Sign Language & Linguistics 12:1, pp. 53–82 | Article
2009 One of the most salient and interesting aspects of the grammar of signed languages is their use of space to track referents through discourse. One way in which this has been observed is the spatial modification of lexical verbs to show semantic roles associated with the verb’s arguments. In this… read more
The lexical database of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) Sign Transcription and Database Storage of Sign Information, Bergman, Brita, Penny Boyes Braem, Thomas Hanke and Elena Antinoro Pizzuto (eds.), pp. 145–169 | Article
2001 The form and content of the lexical database of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is described and explained. The type of database utilized and its precise structure (relational or flat, the type and number of fields, the design of the data entry interface, etc.) is first described. This is… read more
On Defining Lexeme in a Signed Language Sign Language & Linguistics 2:2, pp. 115–185 | Article
1999 In this paper we attempt to define the notion of ‘lexeme’ in relation to signed languages. We begin by defining signs as a distinct kind of visual-gestural communicative act, different from other communicative uses of gesture. This is followed by a discussion of the most important categories of… read more