Wh-questions in Catalan sign language

• Autores: Celia Alba de la Torre
• Directores de la Tesis: Joana Rosselló Ximenes (codir. tes.), Josep Quer (codir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Pompeu Fabra ( España ) en 2016
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Carlo Cecchetto (presid.), Cristina Baus (secret.), M. Carme Picallo i Soler (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Lingüística
    • Lingüística sincrónica
      • Sintaxis y análisis sintáctico
  • Ciencia política
    • Sociología política
      • Lenguas
  • Psicología
    • Psicología experimental
      • Procesos de la memoria
  • Sociología
    • Comunicaciones sociales
      • Signos
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
• Resumen

  • This dissertation offers a characterization and an analysis of wh-questions in Catalan Sign Language (LSC), which show the particularity of placing wh-expressions canonically in sentence final position. This feature, specific to Sign Languages, has been difficult to deal with from traditional models, which have often considered that wh-movement is universally to the left and which have also often assumed that syntactic structure encodes information about the linear order of linguistic elements. The dissertation also argues that syntactic hierarchy and linear order are two different objects with a limited impact over one another, and that the latter is mainly dependent on the mechanisms of linguistic processing and, specifically, on Working Memory. In that sense, the hypothesis that the difference in the placing of wh-elements between Sign Languages and Spoken Languages is due to differences in Working Memory is put forwards. To explore it, the results of two experiments with Deaf and hearing participants are discussed.

    The dissertation is structured as follows: in chapter 1 I present an introduction of the main challenges of the issue and the goals of the dissertation. In chapter 2 I present the state of the art of wh-questions in Sign Languages. In 3 I present a description of wh-questions in LSC and a proposal for their analysis. In chapter 4, I present a state of the art of the topic of Short Term Memory in spoken and signed modalities, and two experiments carried out with Catalan speakers and LSC signers. Chapter 5 is devoted to the role of Working Memory differences in the differential pattern of wh-questions between modalities. Chapter 6 presents conclusions.

    Selected references: Baddeley, A. (2007). Working memory, thought, and action. Oxford University Press.

    Bavelier, D., Newport, E. L., Hall, M., Supalla, T., and Boutla, M. (2008). Ordered short term memory differs in signers and speakers: Implications for models of short term memory. Cognition, 107(2):433–459.

    Cecchetto, C., Geraci, C., and Zucchi, S. (2009). Another way to mark syntactic dependencies: the case for right-peripheral specifiers in Sign Language. Language, 85(2).

    Cecchetto, C. (2013). Backward dependencies must be short. In Biberauer, T. and Roberts, I., editors, Challenges to Linearization, page 57. Mouton de Gruyter.

    Geraci, C., Gozzi, M., Papagno, C., and Cecchetto, C. (2008). How grammar can cope with limited short-term memory: Simultaneity and seriality in sign languages. Cognition, 106:780–804.

    Neidle, C., Kegl, J., Bahan, B., Aarons, D., and MacLaughlin, D. (1997). Rightward Wh-movement in American Sign Language. In Beerman, D., LeBlanc, D., and van Riemsdijk, H., editors, Rightward Movement. John Benjamins.

    Petronio, K. and Lillo-Martin, D. (1997). Wh-Movement and the Position of Spec-CP: Evidence from American Sign Language. Language, 73(1):18–57.