Agreement marking in Croatian Sign Language

AbstractWe argue that failure to accurately identify sign components led to misconceptions that sign languages (SLs) violate generalizations about spoken-language verb agreement. Because it was assumed that verb phonological path movement (from location A to location B) carried agreement information, it was claimed that (1) only a subset of verbs shows agreement, leading to search for triggers; and (2) object agreement is more common, with subject agreement visible when object is marked. We argue, following Lourenço (2018), that when locations themselves are recognized as marking agreement with arguments (co-localization), the apparent SL anomalies disappear: previously excluded verb signs not containing path movement are now included, as intransitives agreeing with one argument, often subject-only. Instead of searching for agreement triggers, we identify what blocks agreement. Presence of path movement is related to event properties (Wilbur, 2008; 2010). Our analysis supports Lourenço’s model using data from Croatian Sign Language (HZJ).