4.1.1. All-new focus
Sentences called all-new focus or presentational focus provide only new information, such as in opening lines of conversations, i.e., usually out-of-the-blue declarative sentences. As they consist of only new information, they are called broad focus, when answering a very general question, such as ‘What happened?’.
A: What happened?
B: Alisa bought a book about sign languages.
In DGS, these sentences exhibit a regular intonation pattern and contour with no particular prosodic markings. At the end of such regular sentences, eye blinks may occur as intonational phrase boundary markers. A sentence boundary may also be marked by lengthening of the sign, pauses, lowering of the hands, and a general change in facial expressions. In DGS, there is no single marker that is obligatory to mark a sentence, but the boundaries are prosodically indicated in one way or the other.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.