3.5.2.4. Non-manual markers in temporal clauses
The same non-manual markers are used to express all types of temporal relations (simultaneity, anteriority, and posteriority). They are composed of: raised eyebrows (re) spreading over the subordinate clause, chin down (cd) occurring at the end of the subordinate clause, a signing pause at the end of the subordinate clause and, optionally, eye blink between the two clauses. These non-manual markings are obligatory, but they are not unique to this construction, they are rather employed in different types of constructions in LIS. For example, they also mark conditional clauses (SYNTAX 3.5.1) and in the absence of manual signs, a sentence might be ambiguous between a simultaneous temporal clause and a conditional clause.
cd
re
outside rain play impossible_no_way
‘When it rains outside, it is impossible to play.’
‘If it rains outside, it is impossible to play.’
