A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

The obligatory non-manual markers used to mark the antecedent clause in factual conditional clauses are: raised eyebrows (re), chin down (cd) at the end of the antecedent clause, a signing pause and eye blink between the antecedent and the consequent clause and, optionally, body lean forward (bl-f) over the antecedent clause. The consequent clause is not marked by specific non-manual markers.

         The following example shows the alignment and spreading of the non-manual marking in a factual conditional clause.

                                                       cd

                                                   bl-f

                                                      re

         protest continue_va_va politician police meet

         ‘If the protest continues, the politicians will meet the police.’  

The non-manual markers used in factual conditional clauses are very similar to those used in temporal clauses (SYNTAX 3.5.2.4). For this reason, in the absence of manual markers, a sentence like the one below might be ambiguous between a factual conditional clause and a temporal clause.

                                 cd

                             bl-f

                               re

         outside rain play impossible_no_way

         ‘If it rains, it is impossible to play.’

         ‘When it rains, it is impossible to play.’