A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

Null arguments of a verb (typically, subjects and objects) are pronominal [Lexicon - 3.7.] arguments that are phonologically unexpressed in a clause.

In the answer of the question-answer pair below, neither the subject (referring to BOY in the question) nor the object (referring to notebook in the question) of the plain verb dırty is an overt nominal. The null arguments in the examples are represented with the symbol ø.

(1)                                                                              y/n

A:   boy_a [ıx(poss)₂ notebook]_b dırty q_part

                  ‘Did the boy dirty your notebook?’

            B:  yes ø_a ø_b dırty

                  ‘Yes, he dirtied it.’

                                                                           (adapted from Kayabaşı, et.al. in press, 4)

The null pronouns above are interpreted as definite pronouns [Pragmatics - 1.2.], namely, as he and it, respectively referring to the subject and the object of the question clause.

Arguments of both plain [Lexicon –  3.2.1.] and agreement verbs [Lexicon – 3.2.2.] can be realized as null pronouns. Null arguments can be licensed by verb agreement [Morphology - 3.1.] and/or by a topic [Pragmatics –  4.2.].