Pointing and Placing: Nominal Grounding in Argentine Sign Language

MARTÍNEZ, ROCÍO ANABEL; WILCOX, SHERMAN

Cognitive Linguistics

DE GRUYTER MOUTON

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2019 vol. 30 p. 85 - 121

This article presents a Cognitive Grammar analysis of two strategies for nominal grounding in Argentine Sign Language: pointing and placing. Grounding is a semantic function, indicating the epistemic status of clausal or nominal referents. The central problem of nominal grounding is the identification of a referent in our mental universe. We argue that pointing is a construction consisting of two symbolic components: a pointing device which directs attention and a Place. Places are symbolic structures consisting of a schematic semantic pole and a phonological pole, a location in signing space. In Placing, signers produce a sign at a Place. We identify two types of Placing constructions serving distinct functions: Placing-for-Creating, which creates a Place, and Placing-by-Recruiting, which associates lexical content with an existing Place. Using data from LSA discourse produced by native signers, we demonstrate how these strategies implement nominal grounding. We further explore characteristics of each strategy such as directive force and their use in reference point constructions.