A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

2.4.2. Types of verbs that can license null subjects

Null subjects can be licensed by plain, spatial and agreement verbs. In the following, the transitive plain verb love licenses a null subject, which is understood to refer to the signer.

 

go_out+++ ømuch love one month after ø1  marry

‘After going out for a month, I loved a lot, and got married.’

                                                        (http://tidsozluk.net/tr/Sevmek?d=0046)

 

A spatial verb can license a null subject. The following example is from the following large discourse.

 

“The man borrowed a lot of money, did not pay the installments. They took everything away by force. The man protested and wanted to jump off the bridge. He got on the bridge. The police were ready. They talked to him for a long time. Everything was straightened out. He started to work again and after working for a long time, he slowly paid back his debt.”

                                                                    (http://tidsozluk.net/tr/Atlamak?d=0724)

 

The null subject in the following example refers to “the man”/“he” in the story.

 

øbrıdge  get_on

‘He got on the bridge.’ 

                                                                                 

Agreement verbs can license a null subject.  In the following example, the backward agreement verb buy and forward agreement verb gıve have null subjects. Both of the null subjects refer to the signer. 3a in the example represents the locus of the source of buy in the signing space.

 

                                                                          _________eg:3a

                                                                          ________________ht:3a to 3b

ıx1 sıblıngb pencıl lose  ø1  CL(>):‘five’ buyø1 ø3b  1gıve3b

‘Mysibling lost his/her pencil.  I bought five (pencils) and gave them to him/her.’    

                                                                                          (http://tidsozluk.net/tr/Vermek?d=0018)      

                                                                                 

List of editors

Meltem Kelepir

Copyright info

© 2020 Kadir Gökgöz, Aslı Göksel, Demet Kayabaşı, Meltem Kelepir, Onur Keleş, Okan Kubus, Aslı Özkul, A. Sumru Özsoy, Burcu Saral, Hande Sevgi, Süleyman S. Taşçı

Bibliographical reference for citation

The entire grammar:
Kelepir, Meltem (ed.). 2020. A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD). 1st ed. (SIGN-HUB Sign Language Grammar Series). (https://thesignhub.eu/grammar/tid) (Accessed 31-10-2021)

A Chapter:
LastName, FirstName. 2020. Syntax: 3. Coordination and Subordination. In Kelepir, Meltem (ed.). 2020. A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD). 1st ed. (SIGN-HUB Sign Language Grammar Series), 230-237. (https://thesignhub.eu/grammar/tid) (Accessed 31-10-2021)

A Section:
LastName, FirstName. 2020. Phonology: 1.1.1.2. Finger configuration. In Kelepir, Meltem (ed.). 2020. A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD). 1st ed. (SIGN-HUB Sign Language Grammar Series), 230-237. (https://thesignhub.eu/grammar/tid) (Accessed 31-10-2021)

LastName, FirstName. 2020. Syntax: 3.1.2.1.3. Manual markers in disjunctive coordination. In Kelepir, Meltem (ed.). 2020. A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD). 1st ed. (SIGN-HUB Sign Language Grammar Series), 230-237. (https://thesignhub.eu/grammar/tid) (Accessed 31-10-2021)