The Co-Utterance Analysis: An Account of Simultaneity in Sign Languages

Abstract The literature shows that skilled bimodal bilinguals can simultaneously utter a sentence in a sign language and in a spoken language. This shows that the simultaneous production of two sentences is cognitively possible. Since in sign languages multiple articulators, i.e., the two hands and eye gaze, work with some degree of autonomy, we propose that it is possible to co-utter two or more coordinated clausal units (more specifically, vPs) internal to the same sign language. This happens if the co-uttered vPs convey different aspects of the same complex conceptual message. We claim that not only can two vPs be co-uttered, but also two constituents internal to the same sentence can be. This allows us to develop a new approach to Role Shift. We discuss structural constraints on co-utterance (e.g., mutual c-command) and the consequences for theories of linearization, comparing those which claim that syntactic structures are inherently provided with a linear order (based on asymmetric c-command configurations) and those that assume that order is imposed only when syntactic structures are shipped to the phonological component.