Re: Some thoughts on mutli-modal (signing / speech) languages and communication.

On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Brett Williams <mungojelly@...> wrote:
> I've been trying to think of examples of a sign taking a vocalized
> affix in English, because I feel sure even that's possible (though of
> course unusual).  The only one I can think of that I feel sure I've
> seen is the sign of making a circle with the index and thumb of one
> hand and penetrating it with the index finger of the other-- I'll call
> it FUCK-- which I've seen take an -ing, as in "Yeah, I heard the two
> of them were [FUCK]ing."
That (and your other affix examples) merits a fat star from me, at
least. It'd be very strained at best; I'd perceive it as very marked
wordplay.

AFAICT none of the ?gestures you mention behave as linguistic signs
other than being referents, at least as they are used in English.

In ASL, their equivalents do. E.g. ASL CRAZY can take modalities, can
itself be referred to, is productive for compounds, etc.

I've never seen English gesture/signs do any of that.

Mind, this is just a descriptive, not prescriptive statement - I
totally support Parker's idea of a language in which they would.

- Sai