4.1.1. All-new focus
Sentences called all-new focus or presentational focus provide only new information, such as in opening lines of conversations, i.e., usually out-of-the-blue declarative sentences. As they consist of only new information, they are called broad focus, when answering a very general question, such as ‘What happened?’.
A: What happened?
B: Alisa bought a book about sign languages.
In DGS, these sentences exhibit a regular intonation pattern and contour with no particular prosodic markings. At the end of such regular sentences, eye blinks may occur as intonational phrase boundary markers. A sentence boundary may also be marked by lengthening of the sign, pauses, lowering of the hands, and a general change in facial expressions. In DGS, there is no single marker that is obligatory to mark a sentence, but the boundaries are prosodically indicated in one way or the other.