A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

The classifiers used in TİD, including those that are lexicalized, are discussed in [Morphology – 5.]. Here we want to mention a few cases where a classifier occurs as part of a lexical item, in particular, the honorific classifier that is not only a lexical item on its own but appears as one of the components in a number of lexical items.

The honorific classifier in TİD that denotes persons who are held in high esteem, e.g. directors, heads of companies, states, etc. and distinguishes such persons from those who have no particular status within a given context, is expressed with the handshape where the thumb is in vertical position, and uses an upward movement:

Honorofic Classifier in TİD                           chıef/presıdent

The handshape of the honorific classifier can also be one of the components in other signs, where the honorific classifiers denote not only a person in a high position, but also the more specific lexical items dırector and prıme mınıster, or a place which stands out among other places as in capıtal (of a country). In the case of dırector and prıme mınıster, the location of the sign is assimilated to the previous sign, and in capıtal, only the handshape and the movement are retained.

 dırector

prıme mınıster                                                                                               capıtal (of a country)