This paper addresses the question of whether the person category is grammaticalized insign language personal pronouns. Building on Berenz’s (1996) Body Coordinates Model,I argue that Catalan Sign Language (LSC) encodes the distinction between first, secondand third person. To formalize the analysis, a set of three binary spatial features ([proximal], [central], [mid]) is assumed. The opposition between positive and negative values in this featural system is claimed to be grammatically relevant in the expression ofperson distinctions, proving that spatial locations are incorporated into the pronominalsystem, just like they are into other aspects of sign language grammars. The main contribution of this study is that it provides a unified account of person marking that makesit possible to straightforwardly capture person distinctions in the three number valuesunder scrutiny in this investigation (singular, dual and multiple plural).

I would like to thank Josep Quer, as well as my informants, Santiago Frigola and Delfina Aliaga. I am also grateful to the audience of FEAST 2020 and the members of the Research in Sign Languages and Syntax and Semantics seminars at UT Austin for their valuable feedback on previous versions of this presentation. This research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO and FEDER, ClauseCombi2FFI2012-36238 and GramRefLSC FFI2015-68594-P, BES2013062848), the Government of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 1478) and the European Union (Horizon 2020 SIGN-HUB 693349).