Is Verb Agreement The Same Cross-Modally?

One major question in general linguistics is whether the universals among spoken languages are the same as those among signed languages. Two types of universals have been distinguished: formal universals, which impose abstract conditions on all languages, and substantive universals, which fix the choices that a language makes for a particular aspect of grammar (Chomsky 1965; Greenberg 1966; Comrie 1981). It would be intriguing to see if there are modality differences in both types of universals. Fischer (1974) has suggested that formal universals like some syntactic operations apply in both modalities, while some substantive universals are modality specific. Similarly, Newport and Supalla (2000:112) have noted that signed and spoken languages may have some different universals due to the different modalities. In this paper we focus on verb agreement as it provides a window into some of the universals within and across the two modalities. We start with a working definition of agreement for spoken languages and illustrate the difficulty in applying such a definition to signed languages. We then embark on two goals: to investigate the linguistic status of verb agreement in signed language and to understand the architecture of grammar with respect to verb agreement. We explore possible modality differences and consider their effects on the nature of the morphological processes involved in verb agreement. Finally, we return to the formal and substantive universals that separate and/or group spoken and signed languages.