Is there an underlying constituent order in human languages?
The case of a new sign language
Carol Padden
(Department of Communication and Center for Research in Language, University of
California, San Diego)
There are no genuine cases of new spoken languages (pidgins and creoles descend from contact
between two or more languages), but there are a small number of new sign languages which appear
to have developed with little or no influence from another spoken or sign language. One such case
is Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) which first appeared about 70 years ago in a village in
southern Israel. The village has since had three generations of deaf signers, numbering about 125
in a total population of 3500. The sign language is used by both deaf and hearing members of the
village in all manner of natural discourse. Among our first discoveries about the new language was
its reliable use of constituent order: Subject-Object-Verb, among signers of the second generation.
This particular order is unlike those of other languages in the region: colloquial spoken Arabic
and Hebrew (both SVO), and Israeli Sign Language (mostly SVO). In this talk I present evidence that
this pattern of word order found in ABSL is in fact syntactic, and not broadly pragmatic or
organizational. Next, I review claims about underlying word order in proto-language and other types
of communicative systems such as gesture and review how the notion of "word order" is discussed in
these different claims. Finally, I show data from the third generation of ABSL signers – teenagers
and children who have more contact with other communities – indicating that their use of
constituent order is changing from that of older signers. At stake is our understanding of the
relationship between constituent order in human languages and ordering strategies used broadly for
human communication.
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