A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

As the name suggests, Size-and-Shape-Specifiers (SASS) express the size and shape of entities. They are used to specify nouns of different shapes such as a table, a box, a tent, a book, and a ball and of different sizes such as small, large, or very big. While entity classifiers can be partially iconic, SASSs are always iconic.

SASS come in two types: static SASS and tracing SASS. Static SASS are handshapes that indicate classes of objects with a particular shape. Often the handshape reflects (part of) the outline of the object. The commonly used handshapes for static SASSes in TİD are the C-Handshape or U-Handshape. The following is an example of static SASS:

 

 

box

 

 

small^box

 

 

          large^box 

          (r.f. Dikyuva et al 2016: 157)

 

The tracing SASS involves a movement component by which the outline of the object is traced. There is a distinction among handshapes according to the dimension they refer to. Although the 1-handshape is mostly used to specify different shapes, including 2-D geometrical shapes, the ClawHandshape or Flat-Handshape are generally used to represent 3-D Shapes. Cup-Handshape may refer to round objects such as field glasses or cups:

 

 

 

 

An SASS could be referring to the partial shape of an entity or the whole shape. For instance, in the figure above, the Cup-Handshape refers to a cup. On the other hand, the four sides of a framework are expressed through the L-handshapes produced on both hands in the figure below. The SASS represents the edges and we understand that it is a square or a rectangular shaped object. 

 

 

 

frame CL(C):‘frame_on_the_wall’

‘The frame is on the wall.’

 

O-handshape, C-handshape and 1-handshape are other handshapes that are commonly used to form adjectival classifiers (SASSes). 

 

The following table provides a list of SASS handshapes and their examples:

 

 

The list of SASS handshapes and their examples (r.f. and adapted from Kubus 2008)