A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

DGS does not have a designated reflexive pronoun. To express that the subject and direct object of a predicate have the same referent, the predicate can be produced on the signer’s body. In the following example, the predicate wash is produced on the signer’s chest, encoding that the washer and the object that is washed are identical.

         p-e-t-e-r wash

         ‘Peter is washing himself.’     

In some cases, reflexivity can be marked with the person agreement marker pam [Lexicon 3.3.4]. In the next example, the fact that the dog loves himself is expressed by pam agreeing with the pronoun self. This pronoun may further emphasize the co-referentiality of subject and object, but it is not a reflexive pronoun per se. Rather, it functions as a demonstrative relative pronoun (signed at the locus of its referent with the fingertip pointing upward).

         poss₁ dog self_a pam_a love a_lot, therefore other dog reject

         ‘My dog loves himself so much, that’s why he rejects other dogs.’