A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

Completive aspect in DGS is usually expressed by the sign finish that appears sentence-finally and marks an event or action as completed as shown in the example below. There are different variants of finish in DGS as can been seen below.    

 

Variants of finish in DGS

 

 

 

 

 

 

finish occurs with verbs that express an action (example a) or with verbs of saying as sign (example b).

 

a.       term_paper write finish

 ‘I wrote the term paper.’

 

 

 

 

b.      grandmother_3a grandchild_3b story _3asign_3b finish

‘Grandmother signed the grandchild the story.’

 

                                                           (based on Happ & Vorköper, 2006: 292)

 

 

 

Moreover, completive aspect in DGS is indicated non-manually by a head nod that accompanies perception and psych verbs. In the following examplesa) and b), both verbs see and understand are only non-manually marked by a head nod without a manual sign marking completive aspect.

 

                                                        hn

a.       cologne_a e-v-a cathedral ix_a see                                       

          ‘Eva saw the cathedral in Köln.’

 

 

 

                                                                       hn

b.      study^person theory understand                       

         ‘The student understands the theory.’

       (based on Happ & Vorköper, 2006: 294-297)