Cover not available

Article In: Sign Language & Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Semantic classifiers in Polish Sign Language (PJM) and integrated schematic events

ORCiD logo with link | Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
 | Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The aim of this article is to propose a model of classifier predicates in Polish Sign Language (PJM). The model is couched within Cognitive Grammar, a theoretical framework created primarily by Ronald Langacker. We propose that classifiers are best described as expressions of integrated schematic events. Conceptually, they denote a nominal referent involved in some sort of action. The details of the action reside in the semantic specification associated with the form, especially the so-called elaboration sites (e-sites for short). When a classifier is used in a larger expression, some of the e-sites are elaborated by other elements of the expression resulting in a more detailed representation of the event. This analysis does justice to the intuition that in isolation, classifiers are primarily nominal in character, while in a context, they typically denote the referent involved in some sort of activity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Classifying classifiers
  • 3.Integrated schematic events
  • 4.Data and methodology
  • 5.Analysis
  • 6.The role of typologies
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (36)
References
Aronoff, Mark, Irit Meir, Carol Padden & Wendy Sandler. 2003. Classifier constructions and morphology in two sign languages. In Karen Emmorey (ed.), Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages, 53–84. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barberà, Gemma & Josep Quer. 2018. Nominal referential values of semantic classifiers and role shift in signed narratives. In Annika Hübl & Markus Steinbach (eds.), Linguistic foundations of narration in spoken and sign languages, 251–274. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Battison, Robbin. 1978. Lexical borrowing in American Sign Language. Silver Spring: Linstok Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, Joseph Keim, Michael O’Rourke & Matthew H. Slater. (eds.) 2011. Carving nature at its joints: Natural kinds in metaphysics and science. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dupré, John. 1993. The disorder of things: Metaphysical foundations of the disunity of science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dziewanowska, Weronika. 2022. Wariantywność predykacji klasyfikatorowych w polskim języku migowym — badanie pilotażowe. Poradnik Językowy. Towarzystwo Kultury Języka 792(3). 42–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eccarius, Petra & Diane Brentari. 2007. Symmetry and dominance: A cross-linguistic study of signs and classifier constructions. Lingua 117(7). 1169–1201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Januszewicz, Małgorzata. 2014. Wyrażenia lokatywne i klasyfikatory w polskim języku migowym (PJM). In Mariusz Sak (ed.), Deaf Studies w Polsce, 142–155. Łódź: Polski Związek Głuchych Oddział Łódzki.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kendon, Adam. 2017. Languages as semiotically heterogenous systems. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 401. e59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kimmelman, Vadim & Evgeniia Khristoforova. 2025. Classifier handshape choice in Russian Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands. Open Linguistics 11(1). 20250047. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kowalewski, Hubert. 2024. The puzzle of vehicle selection in conceptual metonymies. Leiden/Boston: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krebs, Julia, Evie Malaia, Ronnie B. Wilbur & Dietmar Roehm. 2021. Psycholinguistic mechanisms of classifier processing in sign language. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition 47(6). 998–1011. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Łacheta, Joanna, Małgorzata Czajkowska-Kisil, Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz & Paweł Rutkowski (eds.). 2016. Corpus-based dictionary of Polish Sign Language online. Warsaw: Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw. [URL]
Langacker, Ronald W. 1987. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1991a. Concept, image, and symbol. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1991b. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Descriptive application. Vol. 2. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. Cognitive Grammar. A basic introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2023. Structure, iconicity, and access. In Terry Janzen & Barbara Shaffer (eds.), Signed language and gesture research in cognitive linguistics, 105–126. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lepic, Ryan & Corrine Occhino. 2018. A Construction Morphology approach to sign language analysis. In Geert Booij (ed.), The construction of words: Advances in Construction Morphology, 141–172. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marshall, Chloë R. & Gary Morgan. 2015. From gesture to sign language: Conventionalization of classifier constructions by adult hearing learners of British Sign Language. Topics in Cognitive Science 7(1). 61–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oomen, Marloes. 2022. Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language. In Sara Lenninger, Olga Fischer, Christina Ljungberg & Elżbieta Tabakowska (eds.), Iconicity in cognition and across semiotic systems, 289–328. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perniss, Pamela M. 2012. Use of sign space. In Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach & Bencie Woll (eds.), Sign language: An international handbook, 412–431. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perniss, Pamela, Robin Thompson & Gabriella Vigliocco. 2010. Iconicity as a general property of language: Evidence from spoken and signed languages. Frontiers in Psychology 11. 227. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pfau, Roland & Markus Steinbach. 2023. Morphology in sign languages: Theoretical issues and typological contrasts. In Peter Ackema, Sabrina Bendjaballah, Eulàlia Bonet & Antonio Fábregas (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell companion to morphology, 1445–1483. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sandler, Wendy & Diane Lillo-Martin. 2006. Sign language and linguistic universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schembri, Adam. 2003. Rethinking ‘classifiers’ in signed languages. In Karen Emmorey (ed.), Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages, 3–34. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schembri, Adam, Caroline Jones & Denis Burnham. 2005. Comparing action gestures and classifier verbs of motion: Evidence From Australian Sign Language, Taiwan Sign Language, and nonsigners’ gestures without speech. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 10(3). 272–290. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sutton-Spence, Rachel & Donna Jo Napoli. 2013. How much can classifiers be analogous to their referents? Gesture 13(1). 1–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Świdziński, Marek. 2018. O trzech aspektach naturalności języków migowych. Poradnik Językowy. Dom Wydawniczy ELIPSA 3(792). 7–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taub, Sarah F. 2001. Language from the body. Iconicity and metaphor in American Sign Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilcox, Sherman, Rocío Martínez & Sara Siyavoshi. 2024. Signed language and cognitive grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwitserlood, Inge. 2003. Classifiying hand configurations in Nederlandse Gebarentaal. Utrecht: University of Utrecht PhD dissertation. Utrecht: LOT
. 2012. Classifiers. In Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach & Bencie Woll (eds.), Sign language: An international handbook, 158–186. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue