A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

Agreement verbs can agree with both of their arguments (double agreement verbs) or only one of them (single agreement verbs) [Lexicon – 3.2.1.]. Double agreement verbs are also categorized into two: forward agreement verbs and backward agreement verbs.

The form of the agreement verb changes depending on the loci of the arguments. These loci may be at or near the actual location of the referents of the arguments physically present in the setting where the sentence is uttered, for example near the location of a person close-by. Alternatively, they may abstractly represent the referents of the arguments that are not physically present but mentioned before in the discourse (see [Lexicon - 3.7. and Pragmatics - 1.1. and 8.1.] for explanations on establishing loci). 

Agreement with the verb’s arguments is typically achieved by a modification of the direction of movement and/or the orientation of the hand. 

 

In the case of modification of the direction of movement, when the verb agrees with both its subject and its object, the movement starts at the location associated with the subject and ends at the location associated with the object. 

 

 

3aask3b

 

Agreement marking is represented with subscripted indices on the left and the right of the verbs. The positions of the indices correspond to the start and end locations of the movement of the verb, i.e. left represents the start and the right represents the end. In forward agreeing verbs, the left-index represents the subject and the right-index represents the object:

 

 

forward agreeing verbs

 

 

1ask2 1 = starting location of the verb movement; subject

‘I ask you.’2 = ending location of the verb movement; object

 

 

In backward agreeing verbs, the left-index represents the object and the right-index represents the subject. The following provide representative examples:

 

 

backward agreeing verbs

 

 

1ınvıte2   1 = starting location of the verb movement; object

‘You invite me.’ 2 = ending location of the verb movement; subject

 

 

In the case of modification of the orientation of the hand, the relevant part of the hand – the palm or the fingertips – are oriented towards the object. 

 

 

 

 

 

2teach1

‘You are teaching me.’

 

 

The following is an example where both the direction of movement and orientation of the fingertips are modified:

 

 

 

3atext3b

‘He texted her.’

 

 

 

 

2ınform1

‘You informed me.’

 

 

In summary, verbs can agree with one or two arguments by (i) by changing the direction of movement and orientation of the hand, (ii) by only changing the direction of movement, or (iii) by only changing the orientation of the hand. 

 

As for spatial verbs, agreement is not marked based on grammatical roles such as subject and object but on the locative arguments of these verbs such as their source and goal arguments. The meaning of most spatial verbs involves transfer of an entity such as in move and in put and these are articulated with path movement. The following illustrates a case where the verb agrees with both of its locative arguments. The starting location of the path movement coincides with the locus of the source, marked with a left-index on the verb put and the final location with the locus of the goal, marked with a right-index on the verb.

 

 

waıter ıx3a two table3b table3c one plate_3c 3c put3b

 

‘The waiter put the plate from this table to that table.’

 

 

Sections 3.1.1.1. and 3.1.1.2. focus on subject agreement and object agreement respectively. Before we focus on agreement with each argument, let us describe the way these two agreement types are represented in the examples.