Keywords
word families
basic parameters
derivation
affixes
Abstract
This research is based on the study of phonomorphemes and word families in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). On the one hand, we provide a formal expression of a series of LSC phonomorphemes, that is, basic parameters that provide minimal meaning to the sign (morphemes) and, at the same time, are necessary for its adequate articulation (phonemes). We group them into extended and nuclear word families, adapting the phonological analysis model of Fernald and Napoli (2000). Unlike previous research in other sign languages (Fernald and Napoli, 2000; Johnston and Schembri, 1999; Meir, 2012; Tobin, 2008), we provide an alternative morphological analysis of word families in LSC following the prosodic model (Brentari, 1998). In our analysis we consider the internal structure and the formation of the word family with the same root. We study how compounds, derived and inflected signs are constituted by the same root. Thanks to this model, we have detected a series of morphological procedures in LSC which have not yet been described, such as inflectional reduplication, in ALWAYS-THE-SAME, or affixes with an intensity function, in the non-manual marker of EXCESS-OF-LIGHT. The signs under study have been manually collected from signed recordings of natural speech, glossaries, and dictionaries in LSC. This research offers the possibility of detecting new bound morphemes, whether derivational or inflectional, as well as distinguishing affixation from compounding in LSC. The detection of morphophonemes can also be used for pedagogical purposes and provides a better morphological comprehension of LSC.
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