Formal Indices and Iconicity in ASL

Abstract

Iconic constraints play an important role in the semantics of sign language in general, and of sign language pronominals in particular (e.g. Cuxac 1999, Taub 2001, Liddell 2003, Lillo-Martin and Meier 2011). But the field is sharply divided among two camps: (a) specialists of formal linguistics (e.g. Neidle et al. 2000, Lillo-Martin 1991, Sandler and Lillo-Martin 2006) primarily attempt to integrate sign language pronominals to universal models of anaphora, giving iconic phenomena a peripheral position; (b) specialists who emphasize the centrality of iconicity (e.g. Taub 2001, Liddell 2003) do so within informal frameworks that are not considered as sufficiently explicit by the formalist side. We attempt to reconcile insights from the two camps within a formal semantics with iconicity (Schlenker 2011a). We analyze three kinds of iconic effects: (i) structural iconicity, in which relations of embedding among loci are directly reflected in their denotations; (ii) locus-external iconicity, in which the high position of a locus in signing space has a direct semantic reflex; and (iii) locus-internal iconicity, where different parts of a structured locus are targeted by different directional verbs, as was argued by Liddell. We suggest that these phenomena can be understood if the interpretive procedure can, at the level of variables, impose an ’iconic mapping’ between loci and the objects they denote.

Many thanks Jason Lamberton and Wes Whalen for help with the ASL data, to Oliver Pouliot for help with some transcriptions, as well as to Igor Casas for discussion of related LSF data (not reported here). Sign language consultants are not responsible for the claims made here, nor for any errors. The present work was supported by an NSF grant (BCS 0902671) and by a Euryi grant from the European Science Foundation (‘Presupposition: A Formal Pragmatic Approach’). Neither foundation is responsible for the claims made here. The research reported in this piece also contributes to the COST Action IS1006.

Contribution of each author: Philippe Schlenker initiated the project and is responsible for all claims and errors. Jonathan Lamberton is a co-author for research in progress reported in Section 3 (iconic effects with directional verbs), and he was an ASL informant for all parts of the project.

Overlap with other works: Section 1 shares material with Schlenker 2011b. Section 2 is almost identical with Schlenker, to appear (with approval from Snippets). The analyses of Sections 3 and 4 are modified versions of ones sketched in Schlenker 2011a.