LSC signers use alternative interrogatives when presenting more than one option to the addressee and ask him/her to choose one. Although alternative interrogatives look like polar interrogatives, in this case the person asking is not expecting a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ as an answer; he/she is asking the addressee to reply with one of the options offered. When two alternatives are displayed, a movement of head and torso towards the two lateral sides of signing space accompanies the manual signs.
y/n
bl-left bl-right
orange apple like more
‘Do you prefer orange or apple?’
(recreated from Quer et al. 2005)
Instead of that side to side movement, the two alternatives can also be marked with a backward head and torso movement, whereby the movement that accompanies the second alternative is more prominent and emphatic.
y/n
top bl-b bl-b
ix2 eat here ix2 home
‘Are you eating here or are you eating home?
(recreated from Quer et al. 2005)
Alternative interrogatives that contain two options can also be performed using a manual sing that would occur clause-finally. These signs can be one_of_the_two, which_of_the_two or which. See the examples below.
bl-left bl-right y/n
a) orange apple like most one_of_the_two
‘Do you prefer orange or apple?’
bl-left bl-right y/n
b) orange apple like most which_of_the_two
‘Do you prefer orange or apple?’
bl-left bl-right y/n
c) orange apple like most which
‘Do you prefer orange or apple?’
(examples a-c recreated from Quer et al. 2005)