A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

As mentioned above, when a forward agreeing verb involves a path movement, the first location slot of the verb coincides with the locus of the subject argument (probably established earlier in the discourse). The following is an example of a forward agreeing verb with subject agreement:

 

 

 

 

2send1

‘You sent (it) to me.’

 

 

In backward agreeing verbs, the final location slot coincides with the locus of the subject.  

 

 

 

 

1steal2

‘You stole from me.’

 

 

See [Lexicon – 3.2.2] for a list of backward agreeing verbs attested in TİD so far.

 

When the subject is 1st person singular, the path movement of the verb starts on or near the signer’s body. When the subject is 2nd person singular, it starts in the central space in a locus near the addressee as in the examples above. 

When a transitive verb is body-anchored, that is, when the starting location is on the body of the signer, then the verb may or may not agree with the subject. say is a body-anchored verb but even when the subject is non-first-person, it is possible to mark the verb with subject agreement, as in the following example:

 

 

3asay3b

 

‘She3a said to him3b.’