Modality in Palestinian Sign Language

Abstract

The linguistic features of sign languages are as intricate as those of spoken languages and in many cases, there are common universal features that they share. Modality is one important feature that sign and spoken languages exhibit, yet modality in sign languages differs from spoken languages in certain basic ways: grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic. This research is an attempt to investigate modality in Palestinian Sign Language, in particular, and Arabic Sign Language, in general, using a descriptive approach by looking at the most frequent “modal devices” used in an endeavour to explore how basic modal meanings are expressed in Palestinian Sign Language. Data sources include but are not limited to Palestinian and Arabic Sign Language Dictionaries and sign user informants with various backgrounds. In order to identify the signs that express the meanings and to trace their possible motivations and their relation to other similar signs, data will be compared to some of the current signs that may have developed in the Arab world. The study will also investigate the characteristics of modality to arrive at an understanding to its function and examine how signs express modality in general, in an attempt to provide insights into sign language grammar.

Key words: Modality and Arabic modals, modal signs, PSL, Sign language linguistics.