Derivation in Catalan Sign Language (LSC): towards a morphology of LSC

Abstract

This thesis aims to study the morphology of Catalan Sign Language (LSC) from a lexicalist and morphophonological approach, specifically through the process of derivation. The analyses are based on an integrated model featuring different approaches on morphology and grammaticalization of spoken and signed languages. With this goal, a corpus of various LSC resources was built, with 456 signs annotated manually. We argue that depending on the level of analysis, a basic parameter may have the function of a phoneme or a morpheme. Likewise, we consider that LSC, as a natural and complete language, has free and bound morphemes, derived words and morphologically complex units. Based on this assumption, we formulate generic and oriented morphological construction operations, considering that the simultaneous and sequential features of a sign must be treated at the same level of relevance. We describe morphemes that are attached to a base simultaneously, such as the opposition affix <contra>, and sequentially, such as the agentive affix PERSONag, and derived signs formed by reduplication. Finally, we group the analyzed constructions into word families and study how the signs are internally related. This study proposes a novel understanding in a more concise and accurate way the functioning of the grammar and the lexical component of LSC, as well as the way of structuring the meaning while forming a new sign.