A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

The movement within a lexical sign [Phonology - 1.3.] forms a syllable and there are three such movement types.

 

In TİD, the signs many, maternal_aunt and forgıve are all single syllable signs. many is a single syllable sign with aperture changing movement [Phonology - 1.3.2]: the hand moves from one handshape configuration [Phonology - 1.1.1.] to another.

 

many

 

In contrast, in maternal_aunt there is a setting change: the hand moves from one setting to another in a major location [Phonology - 1.2.].

 

maternal_aunt

 

Finally, in forgıve, there is orientation change [Phonology - 1.3.2]. The hands move from one position of the palm and fingertips to another [Phonology - 1.1.2.].

 

forgıve

 

How many syllables there are in a sign is counted by counting the lexical movements [Phonology - 1.3.] in that sign. All of the syllables above are single syllables, also known as monosyllables. There are also signs which include two syllables such as baby. Such signs are called bisyllabic signs.

 

Bisyllabic sign baby, two movements–two syllables

 

Syllables can differ in another way. They can be light or heavy. If a syllable has only one movement type, it is a light syllable. many, maternal_aunt, and baby above are light syllables. In contrast forgıve (above) is a heavy syllable. It has two changes, a path movement [Phonology - 1.3.1.] and an orientation changing wrist movement [Phonology - 1.3.2.]. lose (below) is an example of another sign with a heavy syllable. It is articulated with a path movement where the two hands start together in the neutral space in front of the signer’s torso and move away from each other to a distance parallel to the shoulders. During this path movement, a simultaneous secondary movement occurs and this time it is a handshape change from an open hand configuration where the corresponding fingertips of the two hands touch each other to a closed handshape.

 

lose, heavy syllable, path movement and handshape change

 

As mentioned above, some signs in TİD contain one syllable, which is illustrated by maternal_aunt above. TİD also has signs with two syllables such as baby. On the other hand, a sign can be smaller than a syllable. An example of such a sign is turkey (the country). This sign is static. It doesn’t have a defining movement. In this and other such signs, movement is added to the sign. In the case of turkey, this added movement, called epenthetic movement, takes the sign to the forehead from any other position from where a preceding sign ends.

 

turkey, a sign without lexical movement

 

Sometimes a syllable and a morpheme overlap. maternal_aunt is a single syllable sign and it is a single morpheme because it has a meaning. But this is not always the case. baby is also a single morpheme but it has two-syllables. look_at (below), is composed of two morphemes although it is a single syllable word. The two morphemes on this verb are the verb root and the end point of the movement used for object agreement [Morphology - 3.1]. Finally, the sign turkey (above) is smaller than a syllable but it still has a single meaning and therefore it is a morpheme.

 

look_at, one syllable but two morphemes

 

Some compounds [Morphology - 1] may be reduced to a single syllable while having two morphemes. Below shampoo has a [squeeze] morpheme and a [hand-for-hand] morpheme.

 

shampoo, a compound with a single syllable but two morphemes

 

Initialized signs [Lexicon – 2.2.2.1.] also have syllable structure. In initialization, a movementless/static letter from the manual alphabet [Phonology - 1.1.3.] becomes a sign with a lexical movement [Phonology - 1.3.]. hıgh_school is an initialized sign. Although it is not defined for a movement when it serves as a letter of the manual alphabet [Phonology - 1.1.3.], the letter L acquires a circular path movement [Phonology - 1.3.1.] when it is used as an initialization in hıgh_school. The resulting sign has two syllables because it has two circular movements.

 

           

hıgh_school, example of an initialized sign, only the first syllable is shown

 

The agentive and the associative suffixes, -c-ı and -l-ı respectively, [Morphology - 2.1.1.1.], are heavy single-syllable items. In these, a path movement and a handshape change occur during the articulation from the first letter to the second.

 

Fingerspelled suffix -c-ı, path movement and handshape change

 

          

Fingerspelled suffix -l-ı, path movement and handshape change

 

Although the handshape change from the first letter to the second is articulated during a path movement, and thus a syllable is formed, the borrowed suffixes -c-ı and -l-ı/-l-u still violate a phonological constraint. This constraint is the selected finger constraint which forbids the independent movement of fingers within a single syllable.

Compounds [Morphology - 1] may also be monosyllabic or bisyllabic. For instance, the compound jacket (ceket) is formed with a letter C combined with the sign coat. The C-Handshape is imposed on the lexical path movement [Phonology - 1.3.1.] of coat, which is from the shoulder setting to the mid torso setting of the body major location [Phonology - 1.2.]. The resulting compound is a monosyllabic sign.

 

The letter C

 

coat

 

jacket