2.1.2.1. Overt noun phrases
It is very common for LIS to realize arguments as noun phrases, both as common nouns and proper names. When this happens, they occupy their argument position in an unmarked word order (SYNTAX 2.3), as shown in the example below.
l-u-c-a elephant like
‘Luca likes elephants.’
However, overt noun phrases may also appear in non-argument positions as an effect of syntactic modification induced by discourse factors, such as topic or focus (PRAGMATICS 4). When this happens, noun phrases are always produced with a specific non-manual marking signalling their production in a different position. The following sentence shows an object noun phrase produced at the beginning of the sentence, as an effect of topicalisation.
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elephant l-u-c-a like
‘As for elephants, Luca likes them.’
The same argument, when composed of more than one sign, may occur as a discontinuous constituent, that is, part of it appears in its argument position, while another part occurs in a non-adjacent position in the sentence. In the example below, the signs vegetable all form one constituent but, due to topicalisation of the noun phrase vegetable, the quantifier all is separated from it and it is produced in object position (SYNTAX 4.4.2).
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vegetable l-u-c-a all like
‘As for vegetables, Luca likes them all.’
In the following example, the signs friend nobody form one constituent, however only the noun phrase friend appears in object position, while the negative quantifier nobody occupies the position in the sentence devoted to negative elements (SYNTAX 1.5.1.2.1).
neg
l-u-c-a friend invite nobody
‘Luca didn’t invite any friend.’
Similarly, in the following example, the signs book which form a single constituent, but only the noun phrase book occupies the object position, while the sign which occupies the common position in the sentence devoted to wh-phrases (SYNTAX 1.2.3.5).
wh
student book buy which
‘Which book did the student buy?’
