1.1. Core lexicon
The core lexicon of TİD contains the established signs and it forms the basis of the vocabulary items found in dictionaries such as Güncel Türk İşaret Dili Sözlüğü (Updated Turkish Sign Language Dictionary). These are the words that every signer uses in their daily interactions. The vocabulary items in the lexicon are called lexical items. All the lexical items in the TİD core lexicon are invariably formed with one of the handshapes described in [Phonology – 1.1.1.].
Many lexical items are not dependent on the context that they are used in. They can be interpreted when signed on their own. Some examples are below:
wednesday red
break together
Homonyms: In contrast to the above where signs have meaning independent of the linguistic context they are used in, there are some signs that need to be put into context for their interpretation. These are homonyms, which are signs that have more than one meaning, for example place names and the entities that are typical of those places, or concepts where the name of an entity is used as a substitution for another entity that is related to it (metonymy) [Pragmatics – 9.2.]. Examples for these are given below:
watermelon tongue patıent
diyarbakir (a town) language doctor
As another case, there are some lexical items that are accidentally homophonous, with no semantic, visual, or other associative relation between them:
august – gray
Synonyms: Another aspect of the lexicon is that a concept can have more than one word to express it. These are called synonyms. Some synonyms occur because of the usage conventions in different regions. For example, the name of a day, Tuesday, has different signs in Ankara and in Istanbul:
tuesday (Ankara) tuesday (Istanbul)
Lexical items within the same semantic field: Some signs have meanings that have similar associations, in other words, the concepts that they denote have some kind of affinity. Parallel to this, in some such cases, the semantic affinity carries over to their shapes and the signs denoting these concepts may also contain an element of this affinity. For example, the signs that have to do with cognitive faculties such as ‘remember’ and ‘understand’ and the noun ‘psychology’ are all associated with the mind. This is reflected in the phonological properties of the lexical items that denote these signs, in that they are all signed close to the head.
remember
understand psychology
Similarly, the signs that have to do with emotions tend to be signed with body contact on the torso, sometimes close to the heart, as the emotions that they denote are associated with the heart:
be_sad be_sorry_for
love/like anger
As a final example, some lexical items with socially set negative connotations tend to occur with a squint:
dıfficult old (person) dirty
Idioms and metaphoric expressions: The lexicon contains more than simple words, as the ones we have given above. Some lexical items whose meanings cannot be deduced from the parts, everyday greetings, or terms of social interaction fall into this class:
heart^break
‘be hurt’
head^health^be
‘my condolences’
how_are_you