The phonological phrase in DGS is marked by rhythmic markers such as pauses and holds, and also by the change of non-manuals usually at the right edge of phonological phrases, very often by head nods and eye blinks. As opposed to a more systematic boundary marking at the intonational phrase level [Phonology 2.2.3.], the marking is subtler and generally less markers are at play. Furthermore, the marking often co-occurs parallel to the rightmost sign of a phonological phrase. The spreading of intonational domain markers for sentence types, parts of coordinate and subordinate structures, for instance, may cross a phonological phrase boundary (see example below, where a head tilt backwards accompanies three smaller prosodic units).
b b b b
we, ht-f hs
re ht-b
ix3 come : door open leave : shut_door never gesture annoy
‘When he comes, he leaves the door open and never shuts it. That´s annoying.’
(based on Herrmann, 2010: 9)
For DGS, the literature mostly mentions total spreading instead of partial spreading of the non-manual markers.