Morphological Reduplication in Zimbabwean Sign Language

This study presents an analysis of morphological reduplication in Zimbabwean Sign Language (ZSL), an officially recognized yet under-documented language. Despite reduplication being a fundamental morphological process across sign languages for encoding grammatical and semantic functions, its specific manifestations in ZSL remain unexplored. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, this study employed digital ethnography and native-speaker intuition to analyze a corpus of naturalistic ZSL videos sourced from Deaf organizations and institutions. Data was analyzed through the theoretical lenses of Theta theory and Speech Act theory to elucidate the relationship between form, meaning and function. The study concludes that reduplication in ZSL is not merely a repetitive gesture but a core, rule-governed grammatical mechanism whose form is motivated by semantic structure. These findings make a significant contribution to the linguistic documentation of ZSL and have profound implications for sign language typology, demonstrating how understudied languages can reveal unique morphological innovations. Furthermore, this study provides an essential foundation for applied domains, including ZSL pedagogy, curriculum development and creation of more accurate linguistic resources for the Deaf community in Zimbabwe.