A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

Displacement of relative clauses is possible in DGS. Relative clauses typically follow the head noun they modify, i.e. they are right-adjacent to the head noun as in example (a) below. In this case, the head noun together with the relative clause typically occupies the sentence-initial position of the main clause (example (b)). However, in certain contexts, the relative clause may occupy the sentence-final position (example (c)). In this case, the relative clause is separated from the head noun it modifies. While the relative clause is situated at the right edge of the main clause (this is indicated by the trace ‘t’ and the corresponding index ‘i’), the head noun stays in its usual sentence-internal position in situ. The syntactic position of sentence-final relative clauses is similar to the syntactic position of sentence-final complement clauses.

a.         ix₁ [ man [ ix(B)₃ cat stroke ]_CP ]_DP like ₁pam₃

                                                                                    re

b.       [ book[ ix(H)₃ poss₁ father read ]_CP]_DP/i ix₁ t_i know  

c.         ix₁ [ man ix₃  t_i ]_DP  like  ₁pam₃  [ ix(B)₃  cat  stroke ]_CP/i

  ‘I like the man who is stroking the cat.’