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

手语的研究提供了一个窗口，了解语言传递和感知的方式如何影响语言结构的性质。本次研讨会的重点是手语中分类器结构的语法结构和跨语言变化（又名分类器谓词、运动和位置动词和多态动词）。早期的研究表明，这些形式可以作为离散语素的组合来分析，特别是作为由一个或多个运动词根以及其他几个语素编码组成的谓词，例如，所涉及的物体的形状或语义类别（由分类器的手形表示），物体的位置和方向。然而，关于这些形式的句法、形态和音系分析，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分类器，可能涉及手势（而不是语素）成分，并且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不相关语言的手语语言学家，以记录和描述手语中分类器结构的语法结构和语义的异同。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卷载有提交的文件（在讲习班讨论后进行修订）。这样一本书将是有价值的，原因如下：1)它将为符号语言学领域建立一个标准，就目前关于分类器结构的分析和辩论而言，2)它将为口语语言学家提供对人类语言分类器系统本质的更广泛的见解，3)它将增加我们对语言和手势之间关系的一般理解，语法化的本质，以及语言形态对语言结构的影响。

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.