As with polar interrogatives, content interrogatives are also co-articulated with a bundle of non-manual markers. The most common non-manual markers are forward lean of the head, shoulders and the upper torso, non-neutral eyebrow position (raised, lowered, or furrowed eyebrows), slight backward tilt of the head (chin up) and a very small, fast, single or repetitive headshake.
fbl
ht-b
hs
fe
where work ix2
‘Where do you work?’
The non-manual markers and their spreading domains are subject to variation. Non-neutral eyebrow position exhibits the highest variation: A content interrogative may be articulated with raised or lowered brows, with variation among signers as well as within a single signer. Moreover, some signers retain neutral eyebrow position in this type of interrogatives.
Non-manual markers also differ in their prominence. As can be seen in the figure above, whereas the forward lean of the head, shoulders and the upper torso and the raised and furrowed eyebrows are very prominent, the others are more subtle: even though the shoulders are moved forward, the head is slightly tilted backwards and the chin is tilted slightly upwards contrasting with the forward head tilt and the downwards movement of the chin in polar interrogatives. The headshake is also small, short and tense, and it is more subtle than the headshake in negatives [Syntax – 1.5.2.1.] which is larger and slower.
The spreading domains of these non-manual markers also differ. In the utterances of some signers, whereas forward body lean, head backward (chin up) and brow raising/lowering spread over the entire question, headshake occurs with the question sign and may spread over an adjacent sign, and forward body lean may occur towards the end of the question. The following is an example.
re
ht-b
fbl
hs
where work ix2
Moreover, if there is a topic [Pragmatics – 4.2.], these non-manual markers may exclude the topic. In the following example, the phrase vacation after ‘after the vacation’is the topic of the question and it is excluded from the spreading domain of the non-manual markers of the content question.
wh
vacation after what do ix2
‘What are you doing after the vacation?’