Antonymy in Russian Sign Language


2024. №1, 60-84

Violetta E. Gusakova
Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia; ve_gusakova@mail.ru
Svetlana I. Burkova
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia; burkova_s@mail.ru

Abstract:

The article discusses signs-antonyms in Russian Sign Language from the point of view of how visual modality in which this language exists affects their internal structure. The article shows that the correlation between the structure and semantics of antonymous gestures in Russian Sign Language is built primarily on iconicity and the use of three-dimensional space. This reveals the uniqueness of antonymic relations in sign languages in comparison with those in spoken languages.

Keywords
antonymy
iconicity
Russian Sign Language
sign languages
visual modality

For citation:

Gusakova V. E., Burkova S. I. Antonymy in Russian Sign Language. Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 2024, 1: 60–84.

Acknowledgements:

The current research was a part of the research within the State Assignment “Kinetic and vocal aspects of communication: parameters of variation” (project No FMNE-2022-0015) at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.