Agreement Verbs in Turkish Sign Language (TİD) from the Perspective of Templatic Morphology

Abstract

One of the peculiarities of sign languages is that verbs are listed in the lexicon according to agreement types that are categorized by tripartite verb classification of Padden (1983, 1988, 1990): (i) plain verbs, (ii) agreement verbs, and (iii) spatial verbs. However, Padden’s classical classification does not clearly present the mutually exclusive criteria between the verb types in that transitions between the types have been frequently observed. In this study we aim to show that verb types are related to the combination of roots with specific verbal templates within TİD data, by following the view that SLs are similar to Semitic languages in exhibiting morphological [root + template] combination (Liddell, 1984; Fernald & Lillo-Martin, 2006). We analyze the root as an underspecified lexical and phonological core that becomes a pronounceable/signable verb in combining with verbal patterns/templates in the lexicalization process and suggest that TİD has six different verbal templates which can be characterized in terms of agreement.

Keywords

• verb classes
• agreement
• sign language
• templatic morphology
• TİD