Come on, no need to repeat yourself, come on! The composite nature of framing repetition

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of identical and non-adjacent doubling – which can be schematised as A-B-A, and is referred to here as framing repetition (FR) – in French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB), examining what it reveals about the integration of multiple semiotic resources in meaning-making. Drawing on a corpus of conversational and narrative data from ten signers, the study combines quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyse the frequency of FRs, the forms they mobilise, and their semiotic composition. The results show that FRs are a pervasive, regular, and systematic structuring device, used by all signers and in both genres. They operate at multiple levels of discourse organisation, from intra-clausal segments to full turns or narrative episodes, and integrate a wide array of semiotic resources, often in combination. More specifically, FRs function as a structural pattern that, among other roles, integrates linear sequences of descriptive and depictive modes of expression. By demonstrating how such a widespread and regular pattern is realised through heterogeneous resources, the study underscores the need to treat the full spectrum of expressive means as a single, integrated repertoire. Indeed, the study of FR use in LSFB shows that there is no empirical basis for systematically treating so-called gestural elements – i.e. spontaneous, non-conventional, depictive ones – as distinct from so-called linguistic elements – i.e. conventional and descriptive ones, as both contribute to the realisation of FRs. More broadly, the findings support a comparative semiotic approach to signed and spoken languages, accounting for how signers and speakers dynamically integrate available semiotic resources.