Boja jako element gramatyki polskiego języka migowego: wstępny przegląd danych korpusowych

This paper is an introduction to the issue of buoys, i.e. signs normally produced with the non-dominant hand to ensure a spatial reference point for signs produced with the dominant hand. Simultaneous constructions of this type have been noticed in numerous sign languages, yet their equivalents have not been described in any detail for Polish Sign Language (PJM). The paper presents what can be said about the use of buoys in PJM on the basis of an analysis of a collection of empirical data extracted from the Corpus of Polish Sign Language (KPJM). The research confi rms that certain buoy types (fragment and depicting buoys) are frequent in PJM and can be found in recurring contexts, which speaks for considering them as a part of grammar of this language.