Topics in Turkish sign language (Türk İşaret Dili – TİD) syntax: verb movement, negation and clausal architecture

Abstract

This study discusses the syntactic structure of Turkish Sign Language (Türk İşaret Dili – TĠD). Specifically, we investigate the IP and CP domains in the clausal architecture of TĠD. Our data suggest that various nonmanual markers cue syntactic domains in this language, i.e. internal movement reorganization for Aspº, head-nod for Tº and head-tilt for Negº. The spread area of these nonmanual markers, then, is explained through proposing a head-movement analysis to the relevant functional heads. The Vº is proposed to move to the functional heads to check the [uV] features of these heads in syntax. The phonological component (PF) associates these nonmanual markers to the manual segments after the syntactic derivation is sent to Spell-Out. An interesting pattern of syntactic grouping is observed in negative structures. For these type of clauses, the two nonmanual markers, i.e. head-tilt and eye-brow-raising function separately. Head-tilt is analyzed as a defining lexical feature of the Negº head. Based on the spread area of this marker, it is proposed to be a morpho-syntactic marker, responsible for both verb-movement due to [uV] in its feature specification and the morphological association of the negative clitic to the verb. The other nonmanual marker for negation is proposed to be a purely syntactic marker. Its spread area tends to include the verb and the internal argument but it tends to exclude the grammatical subject. As a spreading nonmanual marker, eye-brow-raising would be expected to spread over the entire c-command domain of the functional head in which it resides. In that case, the subject would be expected to be under the spread area of eye-brow-raising. However, as the subject is not observed to be marked in this area, we propose that there is subject movement to the specifier position of a higher functional head in the C domain. This head is proposed to be the Finº head. Depending on further data from content questions, we also propose that the C domain is split in TİD syntax, i.e. Finº and Forceº. The exclusion of the grammatical subject under the spread area of eye-brow-raising in negative clauses and the inclusion of the subject under the spread area of the nonmanual marker for content questions is explained through verb-movement to the Forceº head in polar questions due to the [uV] feature which is parasitic on the [Q] feature in this head.