Doubling in RSL and NGT: Towards a unified explanation

In this paper, I discuss doubling in RSL and Sign Language of the Netherlands (further NGT, for Nederlandse Gebarentaal). In both sign languages different constituents (including verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and whole clauses) can be doubled. I will show that doubling in both languages has common functions and exhibits similar structure, although there are differences with respect to what kinds of constituents can be doubled. On this basis, a unified explanation for many doubling phenomena on both discourse and clause-internal levels is provided, and it is claimed that the main function of doubling both in RSL and NGT is foregrounding of the doubled information. I will also discuss a possible diachronic relation between discourse doubling and clause-internal doubling in terms of grammaticalization.