Compounds in Colombian Sign Language
- Marianne Dieck
, - Luisa Fernanda Naranjo Orozco
Abstract
This article analyzes the formal strategies underlying the formation of compounds in Colombian sign language, based on a corpus collected between 2018 and 2022 with deaf signers from Medellín, Colombia. It is a descriptive study that compares compositional patterns with those of other sign languages, such as those presented in Pfau (2016) and Meir et al. (2010). In the corpus, we find sequential and simultaneous compounds. Sequentials may present changes in their constituents, which imply a formal fusion, such as the shortening of one of the signs, the anticipation of the passive hand, and the extension of the passive hand, a strategy not usually mentioned in the literature. We have noted the existence of endocentric and exocentric compounds. In sequential endocentrics, the core is performed first and then the determinant. In simultaneous endocentrics, the tendency observed is that the passive hand performs the core and the active hand performs the determinant.
Keywords
Colombian sign language, morphology, composition, sequential compounds, simultaneous compounds
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