PULM-UP in Russian Sign Language

Voprosy Jazykoznanija. 2026. No. 2. P. 44–76.

Svetlana Burkova

This study examines the form, function, and linguistic status of PALM-UP in Russian Sign Language (RSL), revealing a unified discursive mechanism underlying its seemingly diverse functions. Analysis of its occurrences in spontaneous narratives demonstrates that all PALM-UP uses share the core metaphor of “information as an object placed on an open palm”. The form occurs in two primary spatial configurations: a lateral variant tied to the signer’s egocentric space (e.g., expressing opinions or lack of knowledge) and a presenting variant oriented toward communicative space (e.g., addressing the interlocutor or introducing referents). PALM-UP in RSL narratives exhibits variable syntactic behaviordepending on contextual conditions, particularly the ability to form independent discourse units(paraclausal or regulatory). Certain non-manual markers accompanying PALM-UP and their combinations(eyebrow and eye movements, head/body shifts) show systematic correlations with its pragmaticfunctions, while lip configuration (tight and stretched) appears to be an obligatory component ofPALM-UP’s inherent structure. The analysis further demonstrates that PALM-UP in RSL has the linguisticstatus of a sign (rather than a gesture), albeit a special one: it functions similarly to discourse markers in spoken languages.

Keywords: discourse, sign languages, co-speech gestures, discourse marker, visual modality