A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

In negative clauses, negation follows the verb. Manual negation is often accompanied by a non-manual negation: the head moves by turning to the right and to the left.

         An aspect that should be deepened is the interaction between the aspectual marker done (SYNTAX 2.3.1.2) and the negative markers. The aspectual marker done is in a postverbal position. No negative element can co-occur with done. So, done is not acceptable in negative sentences.

         As to sentences with modals, the negative elements are after the modals, as in the example below.

                                                                           neg

         gianni contract put_signature be_able^not

         ‘Gianni cannot sign the contract.’ (adapted from Geraci, 2006b: 102)

In LIS, the right periphery of the sentence (the area after the verb), can be very crowded: it can host negative elements, wh-signs, modals, and done. We saw that done is not compatible with negation and we described the interaction of negative elements and modals.

         Wh-signs follow the verb, the aspectual markers and the modals (SYNTAX 2.3.2.1). If negative elements are present, they follow the verb but precede wh-signs, as can be seen in the following example.

                                                                  neg

         a.            gianni put_signature not_yet q_artichoke

         ‘What did Gianni not yet sign?’

                                                        neg

         b.            put_signature nothing ix_2pl who

         ‘Who of you has not signed anything?’