6.2 Noun class
In 4.2.2, above, we noted that in the case of spoken languages, the grammatical category of gender or noun class may be marked on the noun itself as, for example, in Spanish or Italian where the morphological markers on nouns serve to signal feminine and masculine gender/noun class overtly. We also noted that in some languages, e.g. in German or French, gender appears on the articles.
Estonian Sign Language, in contrast, does not mark nouns for belonging either to masculine or feminine class. Instead, it exhibits nominal categorization realised by a set of signs which covers a variety of semantic domains (e.g. shape, size). According to the present data, these signs typically follow the noun in the noun phrase and either name the class to which the entity denoted by the noun sign belongs, or indicate some fundamental or characteristic feature of the entity which the preceding sign denotes. Henceforth we will refer to these signs as noun classifiers. As an illustration, consider example (56) where the sign for SHAWL is followed by a sign glossed as SQUARE; the latter is produced with index fingers outlining a vertical square. (The gloss under consideration is marked with initial CL (‘noun classifier’)):
| (56) |
WARM SHAWL CL:SQUARE (TO-PUT-OVER-SHOULDERS) ‘[Marina] put a warm shawl over her shoulders.’ |
In example (57), the noun sign PARK is followed by a sign glossed as AREA, also produced with index fingers, but outlining a horizontal squarish-roundish shape:
| (57) |
ESCAPE PARK CL:AREA (THERE READY HORSE SLEIGH) ‘[the girl] escapes to the park where a horse and a sleigh are waiting.’ |
Another example could be brought to illustrate overt classification on the basis of shape and size: in example (58), the sign FISHING-ROD is followed by a sign classifying it overtly according to its salient property, cf.:
| (58) |
FISHING-ROD CL:LONG-THIN (FISH-CATCH) ‘(to catch fish with) (a) fishing rod.’ |
The present data also displays noun phrases where signs for proper names are followed by signs denoting a superordinate category of the preceding sign. See example (59), where the sign JUNIPER is overtly categorised as ‘bush’:
| (59) |
JUNIPER CL:BUSH (ROOT-LONG[PL]) ‘The juniper has long roots.’ |
As we can see from the examples presented above, entities denoted by lexical items in ESL noun phrases are overtly marked for shape and size.
With respect to the classification on the basis of shape and size by size-and-shape specifiers (SASSes), we could state that this type of classifier also serves to create new concepts; especially when accompanied by a certain mouth pattern, as for example:
| (60) |
hands: PIG CL:SMALL mouth: põrsas piglet ‘(a) piglet’ |
| (61) |
hands: HEN CL:SMALL mouth: tibu chicken ‘(a) chicken’ |
The idea of forming a new concept is supported by the context of the example (61) where, in addition to the noun classifier indicating size and shape, an adjectival post-modifier denoting size (TINY) occurs in the narrative:
| (61’) |
ONCE LIVE HEN CL:SMALL TINY ‘Once upon a time there lived a small chicken.’ |
A noun classifier which marks the nominal superordinate category (or noun class) of its preceding noun sign is exemplified in (62). In that example, the sign for the name of the bird CROW is immediately followed by a classifying sign BIRD. In the same example, the signs denoting ‘gooseberry’ are marked overtly for shape, viz., ‘ROUND-SMALL’:
| (62) |
CROW CL:BIRD BEAR BERRY CL:ROUND-SMALL TAKE-ONE-BY-ONE-WITH-PEAK[PL] ‘(A) crow is pecking/eating gooseberries’ |
On the basis of the present data, the use of noun classifiers suggests that marking nouns as belonging to a certain semantic class per se might not be their primary or only function in ESL. In the data of the present study they are likely to occur when a new discourse referent is introduced and they appear to provide an explanatory feature of the (new, or supposedly unknown) noun/sign. (Furthermore, we cannot ignore the fact that half of the data is taken from the videotaped narratives for primary school children.) The sign for the noun CROW (in (62)) was used without a noun classifier when the adults communicated with one another, and the noun BARROW in (25) is not normally accompanied by a sign indicating shape (i.e. noun classifier) unless the shape is emphasised, according to one of the informants.
The tendency for noun classifiers in ESL noun phrases to occur when a new entity or a new topic is introduced into the discourse could be illustrated by the following examples. The example (63) comes from the narrative where an account of the main events of a signer’s favourite film was given, and serves to exemplify how one of the participants is introduced into the discourse:
| (63) |
T-THOUSAND CL:ROBOT (HUMAN-LOOKING SHINING) ‘(A) robot, (named) T-Thousand, has the appearance of a human being and it shines’ |
In the subsequent discourse, the sign which functions as the classifier, ROBOT, is omitted and the proper name is presented alone; indicated in bold, cf.:
| (64) |
FACTORY THERE (HUMAN-)FROM-HIGH-FALL-DOWN T-THOUSAND FROM-HIGH-FALL-DOWN MELT ‘In the factory, the T-Thousand falls down from on high and melts away.’ |
On the whole, it seems that exploring the discourse functions of noun classifiers in Estonian Sign Language can provide us with interesting results. These results will probably prove more interesting when compared to similar studies carried out on other sign languages and on those spoken languages which have extensive noun class systems. For example, Bergman and Wallin (1998) have studied the discourse function of noun classifiers in Swedish Sign Language, the results of which are in line with the findings that Hopper has pointed out in Malay, the spoken language with noun classifiers. Namely, Hopper shows that in Malay noun classifiers “give nouns a prominence in the discourse and that a classifier can be seen to “foreground” (in some imprecise sense) physical objects and indicate that they are PART OF the discourse rather than incidental props” (Bergman & Wallin 1998:8).
As for noun classifiers in Swedish Sign Language, Bergman and Wallin (1998:8) write that “they are used in noun phrases that are referring and specific, and only when introducing important discourse referents that are likely to be mentioned again.”
A proposal for future research then is to carry out a similar discourse analysis of noun classifiers in the ESL noun phrases in order to observe whether the tendencies pointed out on the basis of the present data are in line with what has been found in other sign (and spoken) languages.