engleski

Croatian Sign Language Nonmanuals – A Look at the Current State

After more than 15 years of research, progress has been made to define the grammar of Croatian Sign Language (HZJ), that is, understand the features defining its manuals, as well as nonmanual components. Linguistically significant nonmanuals are distinguished from affective nonmanual markers (e.g. disgust, disbelief or surprise), which are used by signers just as they are used by speakers. Differentiating between the two types of markers is not always straightforward, but there are certain distinguishing criteria. The scope and the timing of linguistic nonmanual is constrained relative to the manual sign(s) they accompany in a way that affective markers are not (Pfau & ; Quer, 2010). The aim of this paper is not just to describe the repertoire of nonmanuals found in HZJ. Rather, we present similarities, and differences between sign languages, with a focus on HZJ. The data comes from the HZJ Corpus, collected at the Sign Language and Deaf Culture Research Laboratory, at Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb. We will address various grammatical functions of nonmanual markers in HZJ. Nonmanuals are grouped together according to their role at different linguistic levels ; phonological, morphological, syntactic, and pragmatic. As for the phonological level, Šarac Kuhn, Alibašić Ciciliani and Wilbur (2006) provide an inventory of nonmanual characteristics, asserting that they do not contribute to the formation of every sign but are still considered to be a separate phonological characteristic, and organized them into eight groups: mouth shape, eyegaze, position of eyebrows, blink, head movements, head nods and head shakes, body movement (shift), and body lean. Those nonmanuals are further described according to their role in HZJ as follows: in interrogatives (Šarac Kuhn & ; Wilbur, 2006) ; in negation (Hrastinski, 2010) ; in licensing word orders (Milković, Bradarić-Jončić & ; Wilbur, 2006) ; in topics (Slamić, 2015) ; in pronouns (Alibašić Ciciliani & ; Wilbur, 2006) ; in adjectives (Korunek, Milković & ; Wilbur, 2013) ; in adverbials (Mikšić, 2014) ; in aspectual marking (Dukić, Milković & ; Wilbur, 2010), and more. Although much work remains to be done in identifying, and analyzing relevant nonmanual markers, we claim that they are an essential part of HZJ grammar. According to Pfau & ; Quer (2010), in natural signed discourse, nonmanual markers are all over the place.

Croatian Sign Language ; non-manual markers

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