RESEARCH TOPICS
CLASSIFIERS CONSTRUCTIONS AND DEPICTION
I have been part of a project called Whole-Entity Classifiers in Sign Languages: A Multiperspective Approach (PI: Vadim Kimmelman, University of Bergen). This project was 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”).
Zorzi, G., Veiga-Busto, R, Barberà, G., Navarrete-González, A., Quer, J. (2025). ‘Choice of classifier handshape in Catalan Sign Language (LSC) A corpus study. Open Linguistics.
I am also currently working a funded project called DEPICT (PI: Benjamin Donald Anible, HVL and NTNU and Gro Hege Saltnes Urdal, HVL). 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.
Zorzi, G., Saltnes-Urdal, G.H., Raanes, E. (2025). New insights on depiction in Tactile Norwegian Sign Language interpreting. Lingua 316:103887. 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103887
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.
Quer, J., and Zorzi, G. (2025). Cleft wh-questions as a type of non-canonical questions in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). In Gonçalves Morgado, C. M., Brito, A. M. B. de ., Mineiro, A., Costa, J. A., Moita, M., & Gomes Teixeira Anachoreta, V. (2025). Portuguese Sign Language and other sign languages: Studies on morphosyntax, semantics and lexicon. https://doi.org/10.21747/978-989-%209193-50-5/pora2
DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY IN TACTILE SIGNED LANGUAGES
I am currently collaborating with Laura Volpato (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) on the development of an adaptation of the “play back” method for data collection when working with tactile signed languages.
THE GRAMMAR OF NORWEGIAN SIGN LANGUAGE
I have been recently collaborating with Maren Martinussen Sørhaug (University of Bergen, HVL) in the description of the grammar of Norwegian Sign Language using the grammar model in the SignGram BluePrint (Josep et al. 2017).
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.
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
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
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
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PROJECTS
CURRENT
2025-2026
Collaboration within the international consortium working on the “Annotation standard for Non-Manual elements in visual communication (ANM)” project, guided by the University of Amsterdam. https://nonmanuals.net/
2024-2029
Partner within the International Research Network (IRN) “TypologyAcrossModalities (TypMod)”. P.I: Patricia Cabredo Hofherr (CNRS & Paris 8).
2021-2025
Collaborator within the project “Signed Language Depiction as an Engine for Promoting Inclusion, Communication, and Translation (DEPICT)” (WP5 – Depiction in deafblind interpreting). PI: Benjamin Anible (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Gro Hege Saltnes Urdal (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences). https://www.hvl.no/en/research/prosjekt/depict/
Non-funded projects:
“Biased wh– questions in Catalan Sign Language”, in collaboration with Josep Quer (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies and Pompeu Fabra University).
“Contrast in coordination and subordination in Catalan Sign Language”, in collaboration with Alexandra Navarrete-González (BCBL – Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language).
“Data collection methodology in tactile signed languages”, in collaboration with Laura Volpato (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice).
“The grammar of Norwegian Sign Language”, in collaboration with Maren Martinussen Sørhaug (University of Bergen, HVL).
PREVIOUS
2022-2023
The Whole-Entity Classifiers in Sign Languages: A Multiperspective Approach (PI: Vadim Kimmelman, UiB) funded by the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
2016-2020
Collaborator within the Horizon 2020 SIGN-HUB project (“Preserving, researching and fostering the linguistic, historical and cultural heritage of European Deaf signing communities with an integral resource”). Funded by the European Commission within Horizon 2020 Reflective Society 2015, Research and Innovation actions.