Phonologically identical noun-verb pairs in Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) : Form and context

Sign languages feature pairs made up of semantically and formally related nouns and verbs, some of which are phonologically identical, and others phonologically distinct. The latter exhibit a distinction based on temporal characteristics of movement (length and frequency). However, this distinction is not constant and tends to disappear in context, yielding identical phonological forms for the noun and verb. This raises the following question: what criteria make it possible to identify the grammatical category (i.e., noun or verb) of a sign? In order to answer this question, I have analyzed a corpus of natural and spontaneous discourse. I have identified all phonologically identical N/V pairs from our corpus and described the members of these pairs in terms of specific semantic and morphosyntactic criteria. Our results show that the category of a sign can be identified with the help of morphosyntactic criteria, of which the most salient is use of space.