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Variable “subject” presence in Australian Sign Language and New Zealand Sign Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2011

Rachel McKee ,
Adam Schembri ,
David McKee  and
Trevor Johnston
Rachel McKee
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
Adam Schembri
Affiliation:
La Trobe University
David McKee
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
Trevor Johnston
Affiliation:
Macquarie University
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Abstract

This article reports the findings of parallel studies of variable subject presence in two closely related sign language varieties, Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). The studies expand upon research in American Sign Language (ASL) (Wulf, Dudis, Bayley, & Lucas, 2002) that found subject pronouns with noninflecting verbs to be more frequently unexpressed than expressed. The ASL study reported that null subject use correlates with both social and linguistic factors, the strongest of which is referential congruence with an antecedent in a preceding clause. Findings from the Auslan and NZSL studies also indicated that chains of reference play a stronger role in subject presence than either morphological factors (e.g., verb type), or social factors of age, gender, ethnicity, and language background. Overall results are consistent with the view that this feature of syntactic variation may be better accounted for in terms of information structure than sociolinguistic effects.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , October 2011 , pp. 375 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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