Visible Logical Variable:Frontiers in the Semantic Research of Pointing in Sign Language
In recent years,there has been a growing interest in sign language research,particularly from a semantic perspective.Reference has always been one of the core issues in the field of linguistic theory.Theories of reference in linguistics are generally based on hypotheses or observations of a type of spoken language.For example,syntacticians use"empty pronouns"(i.e.,PRO)to refer to pronouns that do not have explicit phonetic realization.In English,sentences such as"Adama promised Eve PROa to control the situation"imply that the empty pronoun is located in the non-finite clause introduced by to,and there is a coreference relationship between the empty pronoun and Adam.Linguistics conventionally use a subscript letter(a in this case)to represent the coreference relationship.In contrast to spoken language,sign language is perceived through vision,and its grammar is rooted in spatial and visual information.The visibility of the articulatory gestures enables the provision of additional evidence for certain theoretical assumptions.In this study,we describe and discuss new findings regarding the anaphoric function of pointing,based on observations of Chinese Sign Language.Firstly,we briefly describe the form and function of pointing in sign language to help distinguish pointing in perceiving people's gestures.We focus on pointing when it is used in anaphora,arguing that pointing is a pronoun.As such,it is constrained by the binding theory and co-varies with the antecedent that governs it.We verify the semantic phenomena by asking 7 native signers to complete sentence acceptability judgments on a 1-7 Likert scale.It is found that pointing in sign language behaves similarly to pronouns for being ambiguous in sloppy and strict readings.Secondly,we argue that pointing in sign language and pronouns in spoken language have the same grammatical mechanism,that is,the pointing form in sign language that directs our attention to a spatial position(or"loci")can be regarded as a pronoun in language.Two key questions are explored to highlight the contribution of sign language research:1)The form of sign language pointing with loci provides visual confirmation of the existence of logical variables in linguistics,which is elusive so far in spoken language.2)Pointing as a pronoun in sign language also supports the hypothesis of generalized pronouns,suggesting that pronouns can refer not only to entities(name,noun)but also to time and modality.Finally,based on the insights gained from sign language,this study suggests the need for both cross-linguistic and cross-modal research.The importance of conducting empirical studies employing psycholinguistic experimental methods is discussed and emphasized.
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