A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

Declarative sentences are the most common sentences and express statements, facts or opinions. In DGS, a simple declarative sentence consists at least of a subject and a predicate as in (a) or of subject, object and predicate as in (b) [Syntax 2.2.]. The word order [Syntax 2.3.] in (a) is SV and the order in (b) is SOV. With body-anchored plain verbs as in (c), SVO order is found as well. The nonmanuals accompanying declaratives are neutral unless something is emphasized or negated.

 

a.       last year poss₁ grandmother die

         ‘My grandmother died.’

 

 

b.      woman sweet cake bake

         ‘The woman bakes a sweet cake.’

 

 

 

c.       girl little ix_3a like poss_3a doll

         ‘The little girl likes her doll.’

       

 

 

Declaratives can be simple sentences as above or complex sentences involving a coordinate structure as below [Syntax 3.1.].

 

          e-v-a eat then continue work                                                      

         ‘Eva eats and then continues working.’

                                           

(based on Happ & Vorköper, 2006: 540)

 

 

 

Furthermore, positive or affirmative declaratives (a) are distinguished from negative declaratives (b). The negative declarative in (b) involves a nonmanual headshake which accompanies the predicate to negate the sentence [Syntax 1.5].

 

a.       woman flower buy

         ‘The/a woman buys a flower.’

          

                                       hs

b.      woman flower buy 

         ‘The/a woman doesn’t buy a flower’