A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

We see in [Syntax - 1.3.2.2] that head tilt is a very common non-manual marker in commands. When the verb is a plain verb [Lexicon – 3.2.1.] such as play, the head tilt is forward.

                                            ht-f

                 ball                           play

        ‘          Play ball!’                                                                                 

   (r.f. Özsoy et al 2015: 4)

However, when head tilt is co-articulated with an agreement verb [Lexicon – 3.2.2.], its direction parallels the direction of the movement of the hand towards the goal/theme argument. The following example has a backward agreement verb take. In contrast with the example with the plain verb play above, the direction of head tilt is sideward, paralleling the direction of the verb which is from the ipsilateral side of the signer to neutral space in the frontline of the signer.

ix₃                                loan                                                              take

          ‘Let him borrow some money.’                                          

 (r. f. Özsoy et al. 2015: 5)

The direction of the head tilt paralleling the movement of the hands in agreeing verbs is unique to imperatives. The following is a declarative with the same verb take.

ix₂                                                    loan                                              take

‘You borrowed some money.’                                            

  (r. f. Özsoy et al 2015: 10)