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Impersonal human reference in Sign Languages
Edited by Gemma Barberà and Patricia Cabredo Hofherr
[Sign Language & Linguistics 21:2] 2018
► pp. 284–306
Special issue articles

R-impersonals in Hong Kong Sign Language

 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
This paper discusses R-impersonals in Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL). As evidenced in our questionnaire and conversation data, R-impersonals in HKSL typically make use of null forms, the non-specific indefinite determiner (i.e., onedet-path (someone)/onedet-path (anyone)), distinguished by non-manual markers), and, occasionally, the Chinese character sign human/person. HKSL does not show impersonal uses of personal pronouns (e.g., they, you) which are commonly found in spoken languages. The nominal strategies are determined by the contexts and the referential properties of the impersonal referents, and they differ in the use of space in representing the impersonal referents in subsequent discourse. R-impersonal referents encoded by onedet-path (someone)/onedet-path (anyone) are associated with an area of the upper part of the ipsilateral side of the signing space, but they can still be assigned to a specific locus if the subsequent discourse requires locative information. Impersonal referents introduced by null forms or the Chinese character sign human/person are typically not spatially anchored.
Keywords: Hong Kong Sign Language, R-impersonals, indefinite determiners, null arguments
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research questions and methodology
  • 3.Findings
    • 3.1Findings of the questionnaire data
      • 3.1.1Existential plus episodic contexts
      • 3.1.2Existential contexts that are generic or involve a generalizing/habitual predication
      • 3.1.3Universals
      • 3.1.4Others
    • 3.2Findings of the conversation data
  • 4.Use of space in impersonal constructions
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00021.sze
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2020. The communicative importance of agent-backgrounding: Evidence from homesign and Nicaraguan Sign Language. Cognition 203 ► pp. 104332 ff. DOI logo

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