Gradual and abrupt changes: reflections on Brazilian sign language fingerspelled and compound signs in a constructional usage-based approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31513/linguistica.2020.v16n3a36378Keywords:
Fingerspelled signs, Compound signs, Constructionalization, Libras.Abstract
The constructionalization of fingerspelled and compound signs of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is discussed in this article. Therefore, under the perspective of Usage-based Linguistics (UBL), we adopted the Usage-based Construction Grammar framework (GOLDBERG, 2006; HILPERT, 2014; PEREK, 2015; BYBEE, 2008, 2010), which considers the construction to be the smallest unit of linguistic knowledge, in order to contemplate the way in which new signs are formed in this language, via constructionalization (TRAUGOTT; TROUSDALE, 2013). We then discuss the formation, fixation and change, that is, the way spelled and compound signs are incorporated into the system, via product constructionalization and process constructionalization, as proposed in Cezário & Alonso (2019). Thus, we approach cases of lexical constructionalization in Libras, by abrupt or gradual formation, in addition to aspects related to the phenomenon, such as the role of language borrowing, constructional changes, frequency and the dimensional roles of productivity, schematicity and compositionality of such items. We therefore defend constructionalization as an itemchange and formation process and illustrate that it explains the emergence of new lexical constructions, arising from the processes of typing and morphological composition, as they become new representations stored in the constructicon.
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