Reformulation is remarkably frequent in discourse and has been the subject of much work in spoken languages, both on written and oral data. Because of its metalinguistic nature, combined with its general aim of clarifying an expression, the act of reformulation offers a window to the way speakers process and adjust their expression in discourse. However, to date, the study of reformulation has hardly taken into account the now increasingly recognized multimodal and semiotically composite nature of language. This study aims to revisit the notion of reformulation from a multimodal perspective by comparing the use and semiotic composition of reformulations in the discourse of speakers and signers, as well as in the productions of interpreters. In doing so, we lay the foundations for a comparative study of discourse in signed and spoken language that accounts for the multimodality and semiotic complexity of language practices in different human ecologies.

For years, the study of spoken languages, on the basis of written and then also oral productions, was the only way to investigate the human language capacity. As an introduction to this first volume of Languages in Contrast devoted to the comparison of spoken and signed languages, we propose to look at the reasons for the late emergence of the consideration of signed languages and multimodality in language studies. Next, the main stages of the history of sign language research are summarized. We highlight the benefits of studying cross-modal and multimodal data, as opposed to the isolated investigation of signed or spoken languages, and point out the remaining methodological obstacles to this approach. This contextualization prefaces the presentation of the outline of the volume. 

This paper provides the first contrastive analysis of a coherence relation (viz. addition) and its connectives across a sign language (French Belgian Sign Language) and a spoken language (French), both used in the same geographical area. The analysis examines the frequency and types of connectives that can express an additive relation, in order to contrast its “markedness” in the two languages, that is, whether addition is marked by dedicated connectives or by ambiguous, polyfunctional ones. Furthermore, we investigate the functions of the most frequent additive connective in each language (namely et and the sign SAME), starting from the observation that most connectives are highly polyfunctional. This analysis intends to show which functions are compatible with the meaning of addition in spoken and signed discourse. Despite a common core of shared discourse functions, the equivalence between et and SAME is only partial and relates to a difference in their semantics.

In this article, we present the first study on PALM-UP from the perspective of discourse markers in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). In the sample extracted from the LSC Corpus, we observed that PALM-UP is polyfunctional. It frequently expresses non-connective purposes, that is, it is used to punctuate discourse or to participate in the exchange between signers. We have not found correspondences between the hand-shape of PALM-UP (one handed or two handed) and its functions. We have neither observed any combination of nonmanuals that allows us to distinguish one function from the other. This finding underlines the importance of context in order to assign a specific function to this discourse marker.

This paper presents a pilot investigation of two discourse markers, namely PALM-UP and SAME, in French Belgian Sign Language and Catalan Sign Language. The two discourse markers are studied from a cross-linguistic and a cross-generational perspective using two comparable samples of argumentative productions. The analysis shows that the two discourse markers are highly polyfunctional. Although they have language-specific functions, most of these functions are shared between the two languages. Furthermore, the use of the two discourse markers is idiosyncratic in both sign language datasets. In the small-scale pilot study described in this article, factors such as age or level of education do not seem to influence the usage of the two discourse markers in question.

Many deafblind people use tactile sign language and interpreters in their daily lives. Because of their hearing and sight status, the role of interpreters does not only involve translating the content expressed by other deaf or hearing people, but it also involves conveying environmental information (i.e., multimodal communication regarding what is happening at a given moment to be able to understand the context). This paper aims to contribute to the field of tactile sign language interpreting by describing how two Tactile Swedish Sign Language interpreters convey environmental information to two deafblind women in a particular situation, that is, a guided visit to a cathedral by a hearing Norwegian speaker. We expect to find various strategies including the use of haptic signs (i.e., a system of signs articulated on the body of the deafblind person aimed to provide environmental and interactional information). After summarizing the small amount of existing research on the issue to date, we present our data and how they were annotated. Our analysis shows that a variety of strategies are used, including Tactile Swedish Sign Language, using locative points to show locations with some type of contact with the body of deafblind individuals, depicting shapes on the palm of the hand of deafblind individuals, using objects to depict shapes, touching elements of the cathedral with the hands or with the feet such as surfaces, and walking around. Some of these strategies are more frequent than others and some strategies are also used in combination, whereas others are used in isolation. We did not observe any use of haptic signs to convey environmental information in our data, which calls for further research on which criteria apply to use this strategy in a particular situation.

This paper studies the position of two discourse markers, namely PALM-UP and SAME, and the existence of a possible functional paradigm in French Belgian Sign Language. The position is investigated at three different levels: the clause, the basic discourse unit and the turn. The positions in which PALM-UP can appear in the basic discourse unit and the turn are more varied than the positions in which SAME can be found. Most functions of the two discourse markers predominantly appear in a particular position, whereas other functions have a great deal of variation. Most subjective meanings (i.e., related to the signer) expressed by the two discourse markers appear in left peripheral positions, but intersubjective meanings (i.e., related to the addressee) are not restricted to right peripheral positions. The two discourse markers in this position will predominantly occur with a directed gaze towards the addressee, but those in the left periphery occur with either an addressed or a non-addressed eye gaze.

Este artículo estudia la posición de dos marcadores del discurso, PALM-UP e IGUAL, y la posibilidad de que exista un paradigma funcional en lengua de signos catalana (LSC). Para ello, presentamos las funciones de estos dos marcadores en LSC; la metodología de segmentación en oraciones, unidades discursivas básicas y turnos; y las posiciones posibles a estos tres niveles. También formulamos la hipótesis de que las funciones subjetivas (esto es, relacionadas con el emisor) se encontrarán en posiciones de la periferia izquierda, mientras que las funciones intersubjetivas (esto es, relacionadas con el receptor) se hallarán en la periferia derecha. Los resultados del análisis de nuestra muestra, que consiste en 1 hora de diálogos producidos por 6 signantes y que hemos extraído del Corpus de la LSC, indican que PALM-UP e IGUAL aparecen en diferentes posiciones. Algunas funciones se sitúan predominantemente en una posición de la oración y de la unidad discursiva básica, mientras que otras presentan más variación. La hipótesis sobre las periferias y el tipo de funciones que en ellas se encuentran se confirma parcialmente: la mayoría de las funciones subjetivas aparecen en posiciones periféricas de la izquierda, pero las funciones intersubjetivas no se restringen a posiciones periféricas de la derecha.

This paper provides a description of the distribution of buoys across genres and of their possible functions as discourse markers in French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB). We selected a sample of dialogic genres—argumentative, explanatory, narrative and metalinguistic—produced by different signers from the LSFB Corpus. In our dataset, buoys are unequally distributed across genres, and list and fragment buoys are the most frequent. Apart from a pointer and a point buoy, only some list buoys have discourse-marking functions, including enumeration, alternative and addition. On the basis of the distribution of all types of buoys, the narrative dialogic genre is the most different as compared to the other three genres. It is characterised by a lower frequency of list buoys and a higher frequency of fragment buoys. When focusing on discourse-marking buoys, the explanatory genre attracts the higher number of tokens, which we relate to the higher degree of preparation as compared to the other genres.

This paper focuses on the use of three discourse markers – namely list buoys, PALM-UP and SAME – across genres in French Belgian Sign Language. Our sample contains argumentative, explanatory, metalinguistic and narrative dialogues produced by six signers. We present a functional description of the three discourse markers and their distribution across genres. PALM-UP and SAME are highly polyfunctional, whereas list buoys express fewer functions in the dataset. In our sample, there are few differences in frequency of use of the three discourse markers and their functions across genres.

Qu’est-ce que les marqueurs de discours peuvent nous dire sur les genres et réciproquement ? Une étude de corpus sur la langue des signes de Belgique francophone (LSFB)

Cet article étudie l’utilisation de trois marqueurs de discours — les balises-liste, le palm‑up et le signe aussi — à travers les genres en langue des signes de Belgique francophone. Notre échantillon est composé de dialogues argumentatifs, explicatifs, métalinguistiques et narratifs qui sont produits par six signeurs. Nous présentons une description des fonctions des trois marqueurs de discours et de leur distribution à travers les quatre genres. palm-up et aussi peuvent exprimer des fonctions variées, tandis que les fonctions des balises-liste sont plus restreintes. Dans notre échantillon, nous observons qu’il y a peu de différences dans la fréquence d’utilisation des trois marqueurs de discours et de leurs fonctions à travers les genres.