An empirical investigation of sign language plural marking in Zimbabwe Sign Language

This study examines Zimbabwean Sign Language (ZSL), the primary visual-gestural language used by the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community in Zimbabwe. Most studies that have been undertaken on sign language (SL) in Africa, and specifically in Zimbabwe, concentrated more on sociolinguistic aspects of the language and not on grammar. The purpose of the study was therefore to provide a theoretical analysis and description of ZSL plural structure. The study was qualitative in nature and used intuition and observation of data extracted from ZSL videos downloaded from websites and Facebook pages of organisations and institutions for the Deaf in Zimbabwe as data collection strategies. The theta theory and speech act theory guided data analysis. Pluralisation constructions were multimodally presented using text and clipped videos taken from Deaf community monologues and dialogues which were obtained from pragmatic contexts online. Only discourses that could provide answers to research questions were selected using purposive sampling. The study found and described various plural marking strategies of ZSL. Data showed five methods to form pluralisation in ZSL, namely numeral incorporation, pluralisation by sweeping across the signing space, plurality by the use of number signs, reduplication and non-manual intensifiers. The study concluded that ZSL is a distinct and fully fledged language different from spoken languages and other SLs as demonstrated by the comprehensive morphological description generated through research. The detailed description of plural marking in ZSL serves as foundation for further theoretical linguistic research and as an essential reference for interpreters, translators, teachers and students in SL studies.