A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

Null arguments are typically topics (old, known information) of the sentences they occur in. The overt antecedent of a null topic [Pragmatics – 4.2.] is introduced in the context before the null argument occurs. A common context for these constructions is the question-answer pairs. Answers to questions usually contain null arguments. In the following question-answer pair, the answer contains a null subject and a null object, both are old, given information since their antecedents (BOY and NOTEBOOK) have been expressed in the question.

                                                                                  y/n

A:   boy_a [ıx(poss)₂ notebook]_b dırty q_part

                  ‘Did the boy dirty your notebook?’

            B.  yes ø_a  ø_b dırty

                  ‘Yes, he dirtied it.’

                                                                           (adapted from Kayabaşı, et.al. in press, 4)

The following example is not a question-answer construction but there is a pair of sentences whose subjects are co-referential. In these cases, typically, the subject of the following sentence is null. gül is introduced in the first sentence and the null subject in the second sentence functions as the topic. This example also shows that null arguments can function as topic continuity devices in discourse [Pragmatics – 4.2.].

  gül_a last week bodrum go.  ø_a a_lot swım.

  ‘Gül went to Bodrum last week. She swam a lot.’

                                                                       (adapted from Kayabaşı, et.al. in press, 3)