The non-dominant hand perseveration and movement in SZJ locative constructions

In sign languages, signers habitually encode the relations between locative arguments with a complex predicate consisting of several independent morphemes, as shown by Pfau and Aboh (2012) for Sign Language of the Netherlands. In this study, I examine perseverations and movements of the non-dominant hand (H2) in Slovenian Sign Language (SZJ) locative constructions. In SZJ, the H2may be persevered after producing the two-handed Ground in locative constructions. This is shown by the data collected from seven first language SZJ informants, using a Picture Description Task. The referential location as well as the orientation and the handshape of this perseveration may change at the sign-boundary when the one-handed Figure has just been articulated and the one-handed predicate is about to be signed. Before this sign-boundary, the handshape of the persevered H2 refers to the Ground – and is therefore a Ground classifier. After that boundary, the handshape of the persevered H2 refers to the part of the Ground that is relevant for localizing the Figure – and is therefore an axial part classifier that projects aMeasure Phrase