A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

DGS belongs to the class of languages which use postnominal head-internal relative clauses. The relative clause follows the head noun it modifies and it is introduced by a relative pronoun occupying the sentence-initial position. This is illustrated by the following example: the head noun book precedes the relative clause ix( H) poss₁ father read. The relative pronoun ix(H) [Lexicon 3.7.6] appears in sentence-initial position. In addition, the relative pronoun is accompanied by a non-manual marker, typically raised eyebrows (on non-manuals, see [Syntax 3.4.6]).

                                                 re

         [ book (ix₃) [ ix(H)₃ poss₁ father read ]_CP ]_DP

         ‘the book which my father is reading’

(based on Pfau & Steinbach, 2005: 512)

Relative clauses can modify subjects and objects of the matrix clause. In addition, the relative pronoun itself can receive different grammatical functions in the relative clause. We find the following combinations of grammatical role assignment:

a.       head noun: subject        relative pronoun: subject

b.       head noun: subject        relative pronoun: object

c.       head noun: object          relative pronoun: subject

d.       head noun: object          relative pronoun: object

Irrespective of the grammatical function the relative pronoun receives, it always occupies the sentence-initial position of the relative clause. In this respect, relative pronouns equal topics that also occupy the sentence-initial position at the left periphery (see [Syntax 2.3.3.3]). Similar to topicalization, this movement to the sentence-initial (topic) position is typically marked by the non-manual marker raised eyebrows as illustrated in the example above (see [Pragmatics 4.2]).