Coordination and ellipsis
In my PhD dissertation I provided, in the first part, a thorough description and an exhaustive formal syntactic analysis of conjunctive, disjunctive and adversative coordination in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). Coordination Phrase (CoP) is proposed as the category for the three types of coordination, assuming that the conjuncts are specifiers and complements of CoP in a right-branching coordination structure. The specific derivation for each types of coordination is then applied.
In the second part I focus on the properties of ellipsis in LSC, in particular on gapping. In LSC it shows similarities with VPellipsis, especially because it can appear also in subordination. Moreover, the availability of only distributed scope negation (¬A&¬B) and the presence of contrastive topic and contrastive focus require a large coordination structure, that is, CP coordination. In order to derive gapping, I propose movement of the arguments to TopP and FocP followed by the deletion of TP at PF, with [E] feature in the head of FocP.
Zorzi, G. (2020). Coordinació conjuntiva, disjuntiva i adversativa en llengua de signes catalana (LSC). Dossier: “Darrers avenços en la recerca sobre la llengua de signes catalana (LSC) / Recent advances in research on Catalan Sign Language (LSC)”. Revista d’Estudis Catalans / Zeitschrift für Katalanistik 34: 79-109. https://doi.org/10.46586/ZfK.2021.79-109
Zorzi, G. (2019). Coordination and gapping in Catalan Sign Language. Sign Language & Linguistics 22: 1. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.00031.zor
Zorzi, G. (2018). Coordination in Catalan Sign Language: a syntactic account for conjunction. FEAST 2: 132-142. https://doi.org/10.31009/FEAST.i2.11
Zorzi, G. (2018). Gapping vs VP-ellipsis in Catalan Sign Language. FEAST 1: 70-81. https://doi.org/10.2436/20.8050.03.7
Zorzi, G. (2018). Coordination and gapping in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). PhD dissertation. Pompeu Fabra University. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/665045
The notion of contrast in coordination and subordination
I am collaborating with Alexandra Navarrette-Gonzalez (Basque Center On Cognition, Brain and Language – Pompeu Fabra University) on the impact that contrast has on coordination and subordination, and on clauses that syntactically look like coordination, but are interpreted as subordinate clauses. The description and analysis is done from a pragmatic-syntactic point of view and we look at Catalan Sign Language. This work introduces a set of criteria that can be used to identify the presence of contrast in coordination and subordination and also present new data on contrast and clause marking in different types of coordinate and subordinate clauses in LSC (conjunctive, adversative, concessive and hypothetical clauses).
Navarrette-Gonzalez, A., and Zorzi, G. (submitted). Contrast as a separate notion: evidence from coordination and subordination in Catalan Sign Language. New insights on the markers of contrast, coordination and subordination.
Interpretation of indexical expressions under ellipsis and role shift
In collaboratation with David Blunier (University of Geneva) we studied the interpretation of indexicals I, you and here (IX1, IX2 and IX(HERE)) under role shift and ellipsis in Catalan Sign Language, supporting a model where ellipsis is a form of entity-retrieving mechanism in discourse, similar to discourse anaphora in general. We propose that the different readings of indexicals can be resolved against QUDs in the discourse structure or can be allowed by phi-feature being ignored in the ellipsis site.
Blunier, D., and Zorzi, G. (2021). Catalan Sign Language ellipsis, role shift, and the QUD. FEAST. Formal and Experimental Advances in Sign language Theory 4: 25-37. https://doi.org/10.31009/FEAST.i4.03
Classifiers and depiction
I am currently part of two projects that investigate classifier constructions: Whole-Entity Classifiers in Sign Languages: A Multiperspective Approach (PI: Vadim Kimmelman, University of Bergen) and DEPICT (PI: Benjamin Donald Anible, HVL and NTNU).
The Whole-Entity Classifiers in Sign Languages: A Multiperspective Approach (PI: Vadim Kimmelman, UiB) is funded by the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. It focuses on the study of whole-entity classifiers in different sign languages and from different linguistic perspectives. The main question is to establish what are the linguistic factors that influence the choice of different classifier verbs. My contribution to the project is to study LSC through a corpus study and I have been collaborating with the LSC Lab at Pompeu Fabra University. The results of this work will be published on a special edition in the journal Open Linguistics (“Classifier handshape choice in sign languages of the world”).
In the DEPICT project I am working in WP5 – Depiction in deafblind interpreting, focusing on the description and analysis of depictive strategies in the signing of deafblind individuals and interpreters who use tactile Norwegian Sign Language.
Content questions in Catalan Sign Language
I am currently collaborating with Josep Quer (ICREA – Pompeu Fabra University) on content questions in LSC, with a particular focus on wh-cleft sentences. The goal for this research is two-folded: provide a description of how wh-questions are expressed in LSC and a syntactic analysis of simple and more complex wh-structures. In the analysis of these structures, we are particularly interested in the impact the context has on the syntax of questions.
Sign language assessment
Between 2016-2020 I collaborated within the SIGN-HUB project contributing to the development of experimental assessment tools to test language competence in sign languages focusing on lexical and syntactic tasks. For the lexical tasks (comprehension with phonological distractors and comprehension with semantic distractors) I have been working on Catalan Sign Language (LSC), French Sign Language (LSF) and Italian Sign Language (LIS); for the syntactic ones (comprehension of wh-questions, relative clauses, verbal agreement and role shift) on LSC.
Zorzi, G., Aristodemo, V., Giustolisi, B., Hauser, C., Donati, C., and Cecchetto, C. (2023). Assessing Lexical and Syntactic Comprehension in Deaf Signing Adults. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, enad022, https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enad022
Zorzi, G., Giustolisi, B., Aristodemo, V., Cecchetto, C., Hauser, C., Quer, J., Sánchez Amat, J., and Donati, C. (2022). On the reliability of the notion of native signer and its risks. Frontiers in Psychology 13:716554. https://doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.716554
Aristodemo, V., Giustolisi, B., Zorzi, G., Gras, D., Hauser, C., Sala, R., Sánchez Amat, J., Donati, C., and Cecchetto, C. (2022). On the nature of role shift: insights from a comprehension study in different populations of LIS, LSC and LSF signers. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-022-09539-0
Hauser, C., Zorzi, G., Aristodemo, V., Giustolisi, B., Gras, D., Sala, R., Sánchez Amat, J., Cecchetto, C., and Donati, C. (2021). Asymmetries in relative clause comprehension in three European sign languages. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 6(1): 72. 1–36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1454