Workshop on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages, La Jolla, California, April 14-16, 2000

对手语的研究提供了一个了解语言传递和感知的情态如何影响语言结构性质的窗口。本工作坊的重点是手语中量词结构的语法结构和跨语言变异(又名。量词谓词、运动和位置动词以及多态动词)。早期的研究表明，这些形式可以分析为离散语素的组合，具体地说，是由一个或多个运动词根和其他几个语素组成的谓词，例如，所涉及的对象的形状或语义类别(由量词手形指示)、对象的位置和方向。然而，关于这些形式的句法、形态和音系学分析，出现了几个关键问题。一些研究人员认为，这些形式实际上并不涉及通常意义上的量词，可能涉及手势成分(而不是语素成分)，可能是手语所特有的。为了解决目前的争议，研讨会将汇集研究各种无关语言的手语语言学家，以记录和描述手语中量词结构和语义的相似和不同之处。此外，会议将汇集手语和口语语言学家以及手势专家，讨论和分析这些结构的语法和类型学性质。讲习班的一个基本目标是编写一册载有所提交论文的卷(在讲习班讨论后加以修订)。这本书的价值在于：1)它将为手语语言学领域建立一个关于当前关于量词结构的分析和辩论的标准；2)它将使口语语言学家对人类语言中量词系统的性质有更广泛的了解；3)它将增加我们对语言和手势之间的关系、语法化的本质以及语言情态对语言结构的影响的总体理解。

The study of signed languages offers a window into how the modality of language transmission and perception affects the nature of linguistic structures. The focus of this workshop is the grammatical structure and cross-linguistic variation of classifier constructions in sign languages (a.k.a. classifier predicates, verbs of motion and location, and polymorphemic verbs). Early research suggested that these forms can be analyzed as combinations of discrete morphemes, specifically, as predicates consisting of one or more movement roots along with several other morphemes encoding, for example, the shape or semantic class of object involved (indicated by a classifier handshape), the location, and the orientation of the object. However, several critical questions have arisen regarding the syntactic, morphological, and phonological analysis of these forms. Some researchers have suggested that these forms do not actually involve classifiers in the usual sense of the term, may involve gestural (rather than morphemic) components, and may be unique to signed languages. In an effort to resolve the current controversy, the workshop will bring together sign linguists working on various unrelated languages for the purposes of documenting and describing similarities and differences in the grammatical structure and semantics of classifier constructions in sign languages. In addition, the meeting will bring together both sign and spoken language linguists, along with experts on gesture, to discuss and analyze the grammatical and typological nature of these constructions. An essential objective of the workshop is to produce a volume containing the presented papers (with revisions after workshop discussions). Such a book will be valuable for several reasons: 1) it will establish a standard for the field of sign linguistics with respect to current analysis and debate regarding classifier constructions, 2) it will provide spoken language linguists with broader insight into the nature of classifier systems in human languages and 3) it will add to our general understanding about the relation between language and gesture, the nature of grammaticization, and the effects of language modality on linguistic structure.