A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

Some transitive verbs display manual locus agreement [Morphology – 3.1.]. When a transitive verb is body-anchored with contact or signed near the body or the head, locus agreement is only with the object. In the following example, for its initial location, look_after, is anchored to the nose setting. Therefore, it does not display agreement with the subject. However, it shows agreement with the referential locus of the theme-object, male_a child_a ix_a.

 

ix₁                          self₁                   male_a                   child_a                       ıx_a                            ix₁

  

look_after_a

‘I looked after my son.’

 

When a transitive locus agreement verb is not body-anchored, it can agree with both the subject and the object. These predicates are called double-agreement predicates. support is an example. Below, support starts at the referential locus of the subject state_a and ends in the referential locus of the object ix₁.

 

 

ix₁ school go want. money there_is_not. state_{a a}support₁

‘I wanted to go to school but I didn’t have any money. The state supported me.’

(http://tidsozluk.net/tr/Desteklemek?d=0345)

 

scold is another example of double-agreement predicates. Below, scold starts at the referential locus of the subject ix_3a and ends at the referential locus of the object ix_3b.

 

ix_3a                                  ix_{3b                                                         3a}scold_3b

‘S/he scolded her/him.’ 

 

Some other transitive agreement verbs are the following:

tease

look_at

scold

order

support

yell_at

order

 

 

A semantically transitive verb can display agreement with the referential locus of a locative agreement. go and come agree with their goal arguments below.

 

friend ix₁ together go_around ix go_a. stuff ix(indef) look_at.exhstv_. all china come_a. ix leave_a. turkey be, _atake₁.

‘I went shopping with my friend. I checked all the stuff. They all come here from China. I left them. If they had been from Turkey, I would have bought them.’

 

A ditransitive predicate can agree with its agent-subject and recipient-object. give is such a predicate. The movement of the agreeing verb starts at the referential locus of the agent-subject, sports federation_a, and ends at the referential locus of the recipient-object, the signer. In the following example, the signer does not express locus agreement with the direct object since it is not referential, i.e., ‘a duty.’

 

sports federation_a volleyball for duty _agive₁.

‘The Sports Federation gave me a duty for the volleyball event.’

(http://tidsozluk.net/tr/%C3%96demek?d=0178) 

When the direct object is referential, locus agreement can start from the referential locus of the direct object, book ix_b below, and end in the referential locus of the indirect object, ix_2c below:

 

ix_1a book ix_b ix_{2c b}give_c

‘I gave you the book.’

(İşsever & Makaroğlu 2018)

 

Classifier agreement can accompany locus agreement as the following sentence shows. The hand moves from the referential locus of the subject to the referential locus of the indirect object. A handling classifier is used for showing agreement with the direct object.

 

_agıve₂CL(z):'give'

 

burcu ix_3a book CL:'thin' _agıve₂CL(z):'give'

‘Burcu gave you the thin book.’

 

Locus agreement can occur with the loci of arguments that are persons. Backward agreement verbs display such locus agreement. In the following sentence with a backwards agreement verb, copy, the loci are for persons; ix_1b is the source-object and ix_2a is the goal-subject.

 

ix_2a always always ix_1b bcopy_a

You always copy (imitate) me.

(İşsever & Makaroğlu 2018)

 

In the following example with the same backwards verb, the loci are for arguments which are things. The hand moves from the source-object, computer_b to the goal-object, hard_disk_c.

 

ix_1a data all computer_b hard_disk_{c b}copy_c

I copied all the data from the computer to hard disk.

(İşsever and Makaroğlu 2018)

 

 

There are three more verbs in TİD which show locus agreement. These are answer 'cevap vermek', ask 'soru sormak' and warn 'uyarmak'. The internal argument in these verbs is incorporated into the verb stem with a handshape that is the initial letter of the corresponding noun in Turkish. The initializations [Lexicon - 2.2.2.1.] in this case are c (for ‘cevap’, answer) in answer, s (for ‘soru’, question) in ask, and u (for ‘uyarmak’, warn) in warn. There is no extra overt direct object argument apart from the incorporated theme in such predicates.

 

ix₁ mother together bank go. bank mother long talk.recıp. then short _aanswer₁. ix₁ confused.

‘I went to the bank with my mother. The banker talked with my mother for a long time. Then, s/he gave a short answer. I got confused.’

 

Some other ditransitive verbs are:

give_gift_to

copy

take

buy

sell

pay_a_debt

carry

send

pay

get

 

The spatial verb move below agrees with its locative source and goal arguments as well as the internal argument. The referential locus of ‘flower’ is established where ‘table’ is, that is on the contralateral side of the signer. This is glossed with an a- index below. This referential locus serves as the source of spatial agreement on move in the last two frames. The referential locus of ‘shelf’ is established on the ipsilateral side of the signer. This is glossed with a b- index below. This referential locus serves as the goal of the spatial agreement on move.

 

one                woman                                    table_a                             flower_a                   there_is

 

take_a                       thırd                                          shelf                                                   _amove_b

‘A woman is moving a flower (pot) from a table to a shelf.’

(Gökgöz in progress)

 

 

neighbor            ix_a                       girl                    at_all                                         ₃₊₁grow_up_.

‘My neighbor’s daughter and I grew up together.’

 

Locus agreement on the unaccusative predicate die.

 

like                    yesterday              new                     learn.                                           die_a.

‘I liked her. Yesterday, I learned she died.’

(http://tidsozluk.net/en/%C3%96lmek?d=0168)

 

Signers can also mark locus agreement on an intransitive unergative predicate as the following example shows. A referential locus on the contralateral signing space is established for ‘robot’ The signer articulates the verb jump at this referential locus, thus showing locus agreement.

 

CL(b):‘jump’_a

 

robot CL:‘exist’_a ix_a circle_tracing. CL(b):‘jump’_a.

‘There is a round robot. (It) is jumping’

(Gökgöz in progress)