A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

Existence and possession [Syntax 4.2] are closely related concepts and DGS uses the same sign there for both existential [Syntax 2.1.5.2] and possessive constructions. there relates a possessor to its possessum and may either precede or follow the possessum.

 

a.       professor there dictionary

         ‘The professor has a dictionary.’

 

                                  

 

 

b.      professor dictionary there

         ‘The professor has a dictionary.’

 

 

 

 

The possessive predicate may show agreement with the possessor:

 

         there₁ apple

         ‘I have an apple.’

 

 

 

In some varieties of DGS, there expresses both alienable and inalienable possession. Alienable possession involves things that one may own and give away, such as a dictionary or a shoe. Inalienable possessions, on the other hand, cannot be given away and include body parts, diseases, or family members (kinship terms).

 

         teacher there nose

         ‘The teacher has a nose.’

 

 

 

 

Other varieties of DGS use a formationally similar sign sch to mark both alienable and inalienable possession.

 

a.       sch₁ car

          ‘I own a car.’

 

 

 

 

b.        sch₁ sniffles

          ‘I have the sniffles.’

 

 

 

 

DGS uses suppletive negation in possessive and existential constructions, meaning that the positive and the negated form of the possessive or existential are not morphologically related. Instead of using the sentential negator not or a negative headshake by itself [Morphology 3.5, Syntax 1.5], the form of the possessive predicate indicates negation. The suppletive negative is glossed without and is accompanied by the lexical non-manual ‘phh’.

                                              

         t-i-m dog without

         ‘Tim doesn’t have a dog.’