Body as subject
Body as subject
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DOI：
10.1017/s0022226707004768
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发表时间：
2007-11-01
影响因子：
1.1
通讯作者：
Sandler, Wendy
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Meir, Irit;Padden, Carol A.;Sandler, Wendy
人类语言中的主语概念相对于其他论证具有优先地位。这一特殊地位体现在主语的行为中，表现在形态、句法、语义和语篇四个层面。在这里，我们提出的证据表明，主题有一个特权地位，以及在词汇水平上，通过分析动词在三种不同的手语词汇化模式。我们的分析表明，在这些语言中，表示事态的图标符号的子词汇结构表现出一种内在的形式意义对应的模式：签名者的身体始终代表一个参数的动词，主题。与身体相对运动的指针代表事件的所有其他成分--包括所有其他论证。这一分析表明，手语提供了新的证据，支持在人类语言的主体概念的中心地位。它还解决了一个关于手语动词一致性中宾语明显优先的类型学难题，这种优先在口语中通常不存在，其中主语一致性通常排名更高。我们的分析表明，主语论元是由动词的主体来表示的，是动词词汇结构的一部分。因为它总是内在地表现在符号的结构中，主体比客体更基本，并且容忍协议形态的省略。
The notion of subject in human language has a privileged status relative to other arguments. This special status is manifested in the behavior of subjects at the morphological, syntactic, semantic and discourse levels. Here we present evidence that subjects have a privileged status at the lexical level as well, by analyzing lexicalization patterns of verbs in three different sign languages. Our analysis shows that the sub-lexical structure of iconic signs denoting states of affairs in these languages manifests an inherent pattern of form meaning correspondence: the signer's body consistently represents one argument of the verb, the subject. The hands, moving in relation to the body, represent all other components of the event - including all other arguments. This analysis shows that sign languages provide novel evidence in support of the centrality of the notion of subject in human language. It also solves a typological puzzle about the apparent primacy of object in sign language verb agreement, a primacy not usually found in spoken languages, in which subject agreement generally ranks higher. Our analysis suggests that the subject argument is represented by the body and is part of the lexical structure of the verb. Because it is always inherently represented in the structure of the sign, the subject is more basic than the object, and tolerates the omission of agreement morphology.