Numeral incorporation in two libras signs based on productions by deaf signers from Pernambuco and Paraná

Abstract

In several sign languages, including American Sign Language, ASL (Liddell, 2003), and Libras (Brito, 1995, Quadros and Karnopp, 2004; Dedino, 2012, among others), there is a set of signs that can incorporate numerical or quantificational information. This incorporation consists of replacing the hand configuration of some signs with one of those used in cardinal numerals. In general, this process does not go beyond the numeral four. However, both among the signs and among the signers there is variation in the number up to which the incorporation can occur (Dedino, 2012; Author, year). The objective of this work, an excerpt from the Author's (year) master's dissertation, is to report the results of the analysis of the incorporation of numerals in Libras used in Pernambuco and Paraná. Specifically, in this article, we report the results obtained for two signs of this language, namely, MONTH and WEEK. The data were elicited from four deaf signers (two men and two women) from each region, totaling eight informants. The results show variation related to the sign (whether they are incorporated or not), as well as in relation to the numeral up to which incorporation was observed in the production of the same sign by different subjects (inter-subject variation) or by the same signer (intra-subject variation). We were not, however, able to find variation that could result from the different Brazilian regions considered here.