A linguistic analysis of Japanese Sign Language

What is it about?

This article argues that Role Shift in Japanese Sign Language involves an operator which takes the propositional domain (vP) as its domain, and shifts the Point-of-view from which the reported event is perceived. It is claimed that Quotational Role Shift is a subcase of Action Role Shift where the vP contains a predicate of propositional attitude. The attitude predicate takes a CP complement which in turn contains a second operator that shifts the context for the interpretation of indexicals. The analysis can be extended to account for some crosslinguistic variations reported on the shifted interpretation of locative/temporal expressions in sign languages.

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Why is it important?

The article contains some new observations on the two types of Role Shift. Selected examples are shown in the video available from the publisher.