I love snarky academics
“Question words in subject position can also be displaced to the right in ASL, as shown in the examples in (3):
(3) a. WHO SEE JULIE YESTERDAY?
b. SEE JULIE YESTERDAY WHO?
c. *WHO SEE JULIE YESTERDAY WHO?
This property of displacing question words to the right is unusual. Spoken languages generally (a) displace their question words to the left, as in English; (b) leave them in situ, as in Mandarin Chinese; or (c) put them in a special “focus” position, typically immediately before the verb, as in Hungarian. ASL is not alone in displaying this unusual property. At least Pakistani, Portuguese, and British Sign Languages (historically not related to one another) also move question words to the right, as does Italian Sign Language (at least as one possibility). Linguists dealing with spoken languages have attempted, without notable success, to provide general principles from which it would follow that only leftward displacement (or displacement to focus, or no displacement at all) can take place. The evidence from signed languages suggests that perhaps they should stop trying.”
(Anderson, 2004)

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dictionaryde2 liked this
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catchant said:
haha, I too love it when my readings are subtly sarcastic
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