This book is the first to explore how much of knowledge based on research on spoken languages
needs to be refined in the light of the growing field of sign linguistics. Drawing upon a broad
cross-linguistic perspective the contributors focus on topics of general theoretical interest:
linearity and arbitrariness principles definition of units and levels of analysis expression
of grammatical categories semantic relations and cohesion mechanisms. The book is of interest
to language typologists theoretical and descriptive linguists scholars in the fields of
semiotics anthropology gesture studies and cognitive sciences at large.
