1. A Typological Look at the Lack of Classifiers in Hawai‘i Sign Language
Samantha Rarrick
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
This Study
Handshapes found in Lexical Items
Results
Handshape
Category
Meaning
Examples
Size and shape
Small and round
‘grapes’
‘watch’
Large and round
‘orange’
‘coconut’
Cylindrical
‘can’
‘bottle’
Whole entity;
body
Long, thin object;
long, thin body
‘cherry’
‘snake/eel’
Whole entity
Pair of long, thin objects
‘compass’ ‘chopsticks’
Surface;
Vessel/Vehicle
‘book’
‘canoe’
Handling
Handheld object
‘eraser’
‘watermelon’
Pinchable object
‘eat-pineapple’
‘sheet’
Writing instrument
‘pencil’
‘color’
Body part
Paw
‘dog’
‘rabbit. jumping’
Claw
‘monster’
‘tiger’
Hawai‘i Sign Language (HSL) is a critically-endangered isolate language indigenous to the Hawaiian islands
Research up to this point has not found classifiers in HSL
A lack of classifiers is typologically rare in sign languages
The handshapes found in lexical items fall into 4 semantic categories:
Size & shape
Whole entity
Handling
Body & body part
Instead of incorporating the handshape of the noun, HSL typically changes to the handshape of the verb
‘a cup falls’
‘I give X a box’
‘I was walking, was hit by a car, and fell over’
In HSL, these handshapes are not used extensively
Clear grammatical difference compared to ASL
No handshape can clearly be incorporated into motion and location verbs, and therefore cannot be called a classifier
The closest thing is vehicle/vessel handshape
For this handshape, the signers were not sure how to create movement meanings
Background
HSL is highly endangered (Lambrecht et al. 2013) with less than 10 elderly signers remaining
This language is not related to American Sign Language (ASL) and exhibits a variety of grammatical difference, especially with respect to classifiers
HSL has handshapes which fall into similar semantic categories as classifiers across sign languages
BUT none has formed both location and motion predicates
They instead occur primarily in lexicalized signs
Methods
Data were elicited from 2 native signers of HSL as part of ongoing documentation, description, and conservation of this language
These signers are also signers of ASL
Lexicalized signs were found during the development of language-learning handbooks
Signers were given a category, like ‘fruits’ or ‘transportation’ and asked to provide relevant signs
Motion and location incorporation restrictions were found during elicitation sessions
Signers were asked to interpret sentences like ‘a cup falls’, or ‘I throw an eraser’
They were also asked to describe events, such as someone being given a book or a car accident
In instances where the signer did not incorporate the handshape of the noun, signers were provided with options with and without incorporation and asked which was more grammatical
Signers were also asked about these types of constructions and denied their existence in HSL
Motion & Location Restrictions
Conclusions
Handshape Category
Handshape
Location
Motion
Size & Shape
Small and round
Yes No
Large and round
Cylindrical
Whole Entity
Long and thin
Surface
Vehicle/Vessel ?
Handling
Pinchable object
Handheld object
Writing Instrument
Body &
Body part
Pointed Digits
Hands
Long, thin Body
Classifiers have not yet been found in HSL
HSL’s incorporation restrictions for these handshapes are rare typologically
Looking at AdaSL, it may be especially rare to disallow motion predicates with size & shape predicates
To best understand sign languages typologically, more research on minority languages is needed
Classifiers & Typology
Classifiers are found in many sign languages
They are used extensively in ASL
They used to be considered universal
Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL) also doesn’t have classifiers (Nyst 2007)
The closest thing is a handling handshape
Selected references
Lambrecht, Linda; Earth, Barbara; Woodward, James “History and Documentation of Hawaiʻi Sign Language: First Report”. 3rd International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation. University of Hawaiʻi: Honolulu.
Nyst, Victoria. 2007. A descriptive analysis of Adamorobe Sign Language (Ghana). Utrecht: LOT.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to James Woodward for guiding my research and to Linda Lambrecht for sharing her language