Sentential negation in South African Sign Language: A case study

• Published in: Literator Vol. 37; no. 1; p. 1
• Main Authors: De Barros, Courtney, Siebörger, Ian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Potchefstroom AOSIS (Pty) Ltd 28.11.2016
• Subjects: Binding; Case studies; Clauses; Function words; Government and binding theory; Negation; Principles and parameters approach; Sign language; Syntactic analysis; Syntax; South Africa
• ISSN: 0258-2279; 2219-8237
• DOI: 10.4102/lit.v37i2.1285

As with other sign languages, South African Sign Language (SASL) expresses negation using both manual and non-manual features. In this case study, naturalistic data provided by two native signers of SASL are analysed to show the syntactic relationship between these two sets of features. Using a Principles and Parameters approach and Government and Binding Theory, we investigate the syntactic scope of negation in our SASL data. We observe that side-to-side headshake, as a non-manual feature, appears to be the chief clausal negator in SASL, with a clause-final manual negative particle, NOT, playing a secondary role. We describe the negative headshake as a featural affix which is base-generated in the head of NegP and triggers V-to-Neg raising. The negative particle NOT appears to be base-generated in the Specifier of NegP. Suggestions for further syntactic research on SASL are provided.