Sara Cañas

I got my BA in Applied Languages and my MA in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). Currently, I am pursuing my PhD within the Translation and Language Sciences program and I am part of the LSC Lab in the UPF. As a predoctoral researcher, I also teach Spanish Language, Language and Cognition and Documentation in the BA in Translation and Interpretation and in Applied Languages at UPF.

My research focuses on polar interrogatives in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). The doctoral thesis I am conducting is intended to be a significant contribution to the study of sign language grammars in general, since it aims to provide a formal description and an adequate classification for polar interrogatives in LSC. My research also aims to show how polar questions can be performed in different communicative situations and, moreover, to show which are the specific grammatical features that trigger different interpretations. I have a special interest in knowing the specific functions of the YES-NO sign and the ones of the non-manual components that appear in these structures. I consider that this research will be of particular importance for the semantic and pragmatic, as well as syntactic, knowledge of the LSC.