Carlo Geraci
Biographic Data
| ID | 839581 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carlo Geraci |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carlo |
| FAMILY NAME | Geraci |
| SIGNATURE | GERACI C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2319-1570 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Processing code-blending beyond the lexical level: Evidence for a double syntactic derivation
Bimodal bilinguals master languages in two modalities, spoken and signed, and can use them simultaneously due to the independence of the articulators. This behavior, named code-blending, is one of the hallmarks of bimodal bilingualism. Lexical experiments on production and comprehension in American Sign Language/English showed that blending is not cognitively costly and facilitates lexical access. In this work, we replicated the blending advantag…
Non-signing children's assessment of telicity in sign language
Adults with no knowledge of sign languages can perceive distinctive markers that signal event boundedness (telicity), suggesting that telicity is a cognitively natural semantic feature that can be marked iconically (Strickland et al., 2015). This study asks if non-signing children (5-year-olds) can also link telicity to iconic markers in sign. Experiment 1 attempted three close replications of Strickland et al. (2015) and found only limited succe…
Sign recognition: The effect of parameters and features in sign mispronunciations
We investigate the degree to which mispronounced signs can be accommodated by signers of French Sign Language (LSF). Using an offline judgment task, we examine both the individual contributions of three parameters - handshape, movement, and location - to sign recognition, and the impact of the individual features that were manipulated to obtain the mispronounced signs. Results indicate that signers judge mispronounced handshapes to be less damagi…
Budding the tree. Towards a theory of structure removal
This paper presents a theory of structure removal based on the operation of Bud. Bud is defined as a variant of External Merge. While External Merge always targets the root of a syntactic object, Bud targets a lower projection. The operation is constrained by minimality and is used to provide a novel account to analytic passive, causative constructions in Italian and infinitival constructions like raising predicates. It also offers an elegant way…
Modelling contrast and feature inventory: The nature of [web] in French Sign Language
Feature-based models of sign language use distinctive features to describe the phonological structure of signs. We use near-minimal pairs and phonological phenomena like productivity and neutralisation in French Sign Language to show that the feature [web], which refers to the webbing part of the fingers, should be (re)introduced into the list of phonologically active features. In discussing potential cases of [web] in other sign languages and th…
Iconic Syntax: Sign language classifier predicates and gesture sequences
On the properties of null subjects in sign languages: The case of French Sign Language (LSF)
The typology of subject omission in simple declarative sentences ranges from languages that simply do not allow it like English and French to languages that allow it as long as a minimum degree of topicality is guaranteed like Chinese and Japanese. In between there are various languages in which subject omission is licensed, for example by rich agreement like in Italian and Spanish, or by a particular set of grammatical features like first and se…
Measuring sign complexity: Comparing a model-driven and an error-driven approach
The study of articulatory complexity has proven to yield useful insights into the phonological mechanisms of spoken languages. In sign languages, this type of knowledge is scarcely documented. The current study compares an error-driven measure and a model-driven measure of complexity for signs in French Sign Language (LSF). The former measure is based on error rates of handshape, location, orientation, movement, and sign fluidity in a repetition …
Boundaries in space and time: Iconic biases across modalities
Boundaries in space and time: Iconic biases across modalities
The idea that the form of a word reflects information about its meaning has its roots in Platonic philosophy, and has been experimentally investigated for concrete, sensory-based properties since the early 20th century. Here, we provide evidence for an abstract property of ‘boundedness’ that introduces a systematic, iconic bias on the phonological expectations of a novel lexicon. We show that this abstract property is general across events and ob…
On the cardinal system in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
This paper offers a comprehensive discussion of the cardinal numeral system of Italian Sign Language. At the lexical level, we present the different formational strategies used to generate cardinal numerals and we provide evidence that in the younger generations of signers, the sign one has lost the function of indefinite determiner and is now used as a cardinal only. At the syntactic level, we show that the attested variation in the ordering bet…
Forthcoming articles
The question of form in the forming of questions: The meaning and
The language instinct in extreme circumstances: The transition to tactile Italian Sign Language (LISt) by Deafblind signers
Tactile sign languages used by Deafblind signers are most often acquired by signers competent in a visual sign language who can no longer rely on the grammatical system of the visual language as it is, since some of its features are lost due to the loss of vision. A natural question is which repair strategies are adopted to compensate for the loss of the grammatical features of the visual language that can no longer be perceived. We argue that th…
Visible degrees in Italian Sign Language
The syntax of nominal modification in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
In this paper, we investigate structural aspects of nominal modification in Italian Sign Language (LIS), a language with a relatively flexible word order. In order to tackle the issue, this study combines different approaches, including generalizations from typological universals on word order, their formal counterparts, and a variationist approach to language facts. Data come from the largest corpus of LIS currently available. Despite the absenc…
Variation in Italian Sign Language (LIS): The case of wh-signs
The position of
The syntax of predicate ellipsis in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
Looking for an Explanation for the Low Sign Span. Is Order Involved
Although signed and speech-based languages have a similar internal organization of verbal short-term memory, sign span is lower than word span. We investigated whether this is due to the fact that signs are not suited for serial recall, as proposed by Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla, and Boutla (2008. Ordered short-term memory differs in signers and speakers: Implications for models of short-term memory. Cognition, 107, 433-459). We administered…
Epenthesis in Italian Sign Language
The aim of this study is to provide a detailed account for the phenomenon of movement epenthesis in Italian Sign Language (LIS). LIS displays at least two cases of epenthesis of movement, one affecting signs that involve contact with the body, the other affecting signs that do not (i.e. signs articulated in neutral space). The two cases of epenthesis of movement receive a unified analysis, once the mechanism of selection of the plane of articulat…
Another Way to Mark Syntactic Dependencies: The Case for Right-Peripheral Specifiers in Sign Languages
The occurrence of WH -items at the right edge of the sentence, while extremely rare in spoken languages, is quite common in sign languages. In particular, in sign languages like LIS (Italian Sign Language) WH -items cannot be positioned at the left edge. We argue that existing accounts of right-peripheral occurrences of WH -items are empirically inadequate and provide no clue as to why sign languages and spoken languages differ in this respect. W…
Strategies of relativization in Italian Sign Language
Another Way to Mark Syntactic Dependencies: The Case for Right-Peripheral Specifiers in Sign Languages
The occurrence of WH -items at the right edge of the sentence, while extremely rare in spoken languages, is quite common in sign languages. In particular, in sign languages like LIS (Italian Sign Language) WH -items cannot be positioned at the left edge. We argue that existing accounts of right-peripheral occurrences of WH -items are empirically inadequate and provide no clue as to why sign languages and spoken languages differ in this respect. W…
Strategies of relativization in Italian Sign Language
Epenthesis in Italian Sign Language
The aim of this study is to provide a detailed account for the phenomenon of movement epenthesis in Italian Sign Language (LIS). LIS displays at least two cases of epenthesis of movement, one affecting signs that involve contact with the body, the other affecting signs that do not (i.e. signs articulated in neutral space). The two cases of epenthesis of movement receive a unified analysis, once the mechanism of selection of the plane of articulat…
The syntax of predicate ellipsis in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
Visible degrees in Italian Sign Language
Variation in Italian Sign Language (LIS): The case of wh-signs
The position of
Strategies of relativization in Italian Sign Language
Epenthesis in Italian Sign Language
The aim of this study is to provide a detailed account for the phenomenon of movement epenthesis in Italian Sign Language (LIS). LIS displays at least two cases of epenthesis of movement, one affecting signs that involve contact with the body, the other affecting signs that do not (i.e. signs articulated in neutral space). The two cases of epenthesis of movement receive a unified analysis, once the mechanism of selection of the plane of articulat…
Another Way to Mark Syntactic Dependencies: The Case for Right-Peripheral Specifiers in Sign Languages
The occurrence of WH -items at the right edge of the sentence, while extremely rare in spoken languages, is quite common in sign languages. In particular, in sign languages like LIS (Italian Sign Language) WH -items cannot be positioned at the left edge. We argue that existing accounts of right-peripheral occurrences of WH -items are empirically inadequate and provide no clue as to why sign languages and spoken languages differ in this respect. W…
Looking for an Explanation for the Low Sign Span. Is Order Involved
Although signed and speech-based languages have a similar internal organization of verbal short-term memory, sign span is lower than word span. We investigated whether this is due to the fact that signs are not suited for serial recall, as proposed by Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla, and Boutla (2008. Ordered short-term memory differs in signers and speakers: Implications for models of short-term memory. Cognition, 107, 433-459). We administered…
Variation in Italian Sign Language (LIS): The case of wh-signs
The position of
The syntax of predicate ellipsis in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
The syntax of nominal modification in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
In this paper, we investigate structural aspects of nominal modification in Italian Sign Language (LIS), a language with a relatively flexible word order. In order to tackle the issue, this study combines different approaches, including generalizations from typological universals on word order, their formal counterparts, and a variationist approach to language facts. Data come from the largest corpus of LIS currently available. Despite the absenc…
The language instinct in extreme circumstances: The transition to tactile Italian Sign Language (LISt) by Deafblind signers
Tactile sign languages used by Deafblind signers are most often acquired by signers competent in a visual sign language who can no longer rely on the grammatical system of the visual language as it is, since some of its features are lost due to the loss of vision. A natural question is which repair strategies are adopted to compensate for the loss of the grammatical features of the visual language that can no longer be perceived. We argue that th…
Visible degrees in Italian Sign Language
On the cardinal system in Italian Sign Language (LIS)
This paper offers a comprehensive discussion of the cardinal numeral system of Italian Sign Language. At the lexical level, we present the different formational strategies used to generate cardinal numerals and we provide evidence that in the younger generations of signers, the sign one has lost the function of indefinite determiner and is now used as a cardinal only. At the syntactic level, we show that the attested variation in the ordering bet…
Forthcoming articles
The question of form in the forming of questions: The meaning and
Boundaries in space and time: Iconic biases across modalities
The idea that the form of a word reflects information about its meaning has its roots in Platonic philosophy, and has been experimentally investigated for concrete, sensory-based properties since the early 20th century. Here, we provide evidence for an abstract property of ‘boundedness’ that introduces a systematic, iconic bias on the phonological expectations of a novel lexicon. We show that this abstract property is general across events and ob…
Boundaries in space and time: Iconic biases across modalities
On the properties of null subjects in sign languages: The case of French Sign Language (LSF)
The typology of subject omission in simple declarative sentences ranges from languages that simply do not allow it like English and French to languages that allow it as long as a minimum degree of topicality is guaranteed like Chinese and Japanese. In between there are various languages in which subject omission is licensed, for example by rich agreement like in Italian and Spanish, or by a particular set of grammatical features like first and se…
Measuring sign complexity: Comparing a model-driven and an error-driven approach
The study of articulatory complexity has proven to yield useful insights into the phonological mechanisms of spoken languages. In sign languages, this type of knowledge is scarcely documented. The current study compares an error-driven measure and a model-driven measure of complexity for signs in French Sign Language (LSF). The former measure is based on error rates of handshape, location, orientation, movement, and sign fluidity in a repetition …
Budding the tree. Towards a theory of structure removal
This paper presents a theory of structure removal based on the operation of Bud. Bud is defined as a variant of External Merge. While External Merge always targets the root of a syntactic object, Bud targets a lower projection. The operation is constrained by minimality and is used to provide a novel account to analytic passive, causative constructions in Italian and infinitival constructions like raising predicates. It also offers an elegant way…
Modelling contrast and feature inventory: The nature of [web] in French Sign Language
Feature-based models of sign language use distinctive features to describe the phonological structure of signs. We use near-minimal pairs and phonological phenomena like productivity and neutralisation in French Sign Language to show that the feature [web], which refers to the webbing part of the fingers, should be (re)introduced into the list of phonologically active features. In discussing potential cases of [web] in other sign languages and th…
Iconic Syntax: Sign language classifier predicates and gesture sequences
Processing code-blending beyond the lexical level: Evidence for a double syntactic derivation
Bimodal bilinguals master languages in two modalities, spoken and signed, and can use them simultaneously due to the independence of the articulators. This behavior, named code-blending, is one of the hallmarks of bimodal bilingualism. Lexical experiments on production and comprehension in American Sign Language/English showed that blending is not cognitively costly and facilitates lexical access. In this work, we replicated the blending advantag…
Non-signing children's assessment of telicity in sign language
Adults with no knowledge of sign languages can perceive distinctive markers that signal event boundedness (telicity), suggesting that telicity is a cognitively natural semantic feature that can be marked iconically (Strickland et al., 2015). This study asks if non-signing children (5-year-olds) can also link telicity to iconic markers in sign. Experiment 1 attempted three close replications of Strickland et al. (2015) and found only limited succe…
Sign recognition: The effect of parameters and features in sign mispronunciations
We investigate the degree to which mispronounced signs can be accommodated by signers of French Sign Language (LSF). Using an offline judgment task, we examine both the individual contributions of three parameters - handshape, movement, and location - to sign recognition, and the impact of the individual features that were manipulated to obtain the mispronounced signs. Results indicate that signers judge mispronounced handshapes to be less damagi…
Linguistics (18 works) · Hearing Impairment and Communication (17 works) · Computer Science (16 works) · Mathematics (14 works) · Sign language (12 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Artificial Intelligence (7 works) · Hand Gesture Recognition Systems (7 works)