2.1.5.2. Existentials
Existential constructions in LIS can be produced with the verb exist in sentence-final position accompanied by repeated head nods (hn), protruding lips (lp) and, optionally, lowered eyebrows (le).
le
lp
hn
a. garden dog exist
‘There is a dog in the garden.’
le
lp
hn
b. milk exist
‘There is some milk.’
le
lp
hn
c. mountain snow exist
‘There is snow on the mountain.’
The sign exist can also be dropped. In this case, the same non-manual markers that are usually produced over the sign exist accompany the last sign of the sentence and are often prolonged after it, as shown in the following examples.
le
lp
hn
a. garden dog
‘There is a dog in the garden.’
le
lp
hn
b. milk
‘There is some milk.’
lp
hn
c. mountain snow
‘There is snow on the mountain.’
The same strategies employed to express existence are also used in possessive constructions (SYNTAX 2.1.5.1).
lp
hn
a. l-a-u-r-a ixa child one exist
‘Laura has one child.’
lp
hn
b. l-a-u-r-a ixa child one
‘Laura has one child.’
Since LIS uses the same strategies to mark possession and existence, the following sentence can receive both interpretations, namely, it corresponds to both an existential and a possessive sentence.
office poss(G)1 window one exist
‘There is a window in my office.’
‘My office has a window.’
Different unrelated negative signs can be used to express negative existentials: not (a), nothing (b), none (c). As in possessive constructions, the suppletive sign of exist, exist.not, is also employed (d).
The same non-manuals marking negative sentences (SYNTAX 1.5.2), namely, furrowed eyebrows and a side-to-side headshake (glossed ‘neg’), spread over the negative existential sentence or only over the negative sign.
neg
a. problem not
‘There is no problem.’
neg
b. problem nothing
‘There is no problem.’
neg
c. problem nobody
‘There is no problem.’
neg
d. problem exist.not
‘There is no problem.’
