On the syntactic level, non-manual signals can be used to mark certain sentence types in sign languages. Examples include yes-no questions, wh-questions, conditionals, negation and topic constructions (Crasborn, 2006; Pfau & Quer, 2010)
Example 1a shows a declarative statement which means ‘Father is on leave every Tuesday’ in HKSL. Example 1b is a yes-no question meaning ‘Is Father on leave every Tuesday?’
Example 1a:
FATHER ON-LEAVE EVERY-TUESDAY
‘Father is on leave every Tuesday.’
Example 1b:
eyebrow raise
head thrust forward
FATHER ON-LEAVE EVERY-TUESDAY
‘Is father on leave every-Tuesday?’
Example 1a and 1b have the same manual signs and word order. The only difference is the non-manual signals which indicate the interrogative nature of Example 1b (i.e., eyebrow raise and forward head thrust). The non-manuals for yes-no questions in HKSL, as in many other sign languages, are obligatory because they are necessary for distinguishing the yes-no questions from the corresponding statements (Tang, 2006). Non-manual markers for yes-no questions tend to be highly similar across sign languages (Zeshan, 2004). It is this particular use of non-manuals in yes-no questions that led to the comparison of non-manuals with prosody in spoken languages. Languages like English and Dutch have specific intonational patterns for yes-no questions (Crasborn, 2006). Non-manuals in sign languages serve a similar function.
In HKSL, wh-questions are marked by non-manual signals as well. However, the non-manuals are different from those marking yes-no questions. Example 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b shows 4 wh-questions in HKSL. All of them are marked by brow furrows and head thrusting forward, which may scope over the entire questions (Example 2a and 3a) or just the sentence-final wh-words (Example 2b and 3b).
Example 2a:
brow furrow
head thrust forward
IX[=you] HOME WHERE
‘Where is your home?’
Example 2b:
brow furrow
head thrust forward
IX[=you] HOME WHERE
‘Where is your home?’
Example 3a:
brow furrow
head thrust forward
BUY BOOK WHO
‘Who bought the book?’
Example 3b:
brow furrow
head thrust forward
BUY BOOK WHO
‘Who bought the book?’
While the non-manual signals for yes-no questions are obligatory, those for wh-questions are optional in HKSL. The optionality of wh-questions non-manual markings is found in other sign languages as well (Zeshan, 2004).
Conditional sentences in HKSL require an obligatory use of non-manuals for the conditional clause. In Example 4, the entire if-clause (i.e., (if) TOMORROW RAIN) is marked by forward head thrust, eyebrow raise, and eyes opening wide.
Example 4:
brow raise
eyes wide-open
head thrust forward
TOMORROW RAIN, PICNIC CANCEL
‘If it rains tomorrow, the picnic will be canceled.’
In many sign languages, negative sentences are marked by side-to-side headshakes (Pfau & Quer, 2010). In HKSL, side-to-side headshakes are only occasionally observed in negative sentences. For sentences involving the negator NOT and NOT-HAVE, what HKSL signers prefer to use is backward head movement and brow furrow, along with different mouth actions such as (i) having mouth corners down and lips pressed tightly together; (ii) mouthing ‘m hai’; and (iii) having protruded, rounded lips (Sze, 2022). Example 5a, 5b and 6 show two negative sentences in HKSL, which involve different negators.
Example 5a:
brow furrow
head tilt backward
mouthing m hai
IX[=he] DEAF NOT
‘He is not deaf.’
Example 5b:
brow furrow
head tilt backward
mouth corners down
IX[=he] DEAF NOT
‘He is not deaf.’
Example 6:
brow furrow
head tilt backward
protruded, rounded lips
IX[=me] BUY CAR NOT-HAVE
‘I have not bought any car.’
These negation related non-manual markers are common in HKSL, though their presence is not obligatory. In other words, it is acceptable if signers negate a sentence without any non-manuals. As shown in Example 5 and 6, the signs preceding the negotor may optionally be marked eyebrow raise, too. The eyebrow raise is likely to perform a contrastive function, marking the scope of negation.
Topic constructions are another kind of sentences that can be optionally marked by non-manuals in sign languages. In HKSL, sentence-initial topics that offer a temporal or spatial framework for the proposition (i.e., core meaning) in the sentence can be optionally marked by eyebrow raising (Sze, 2011)(Example 7 and 8):
Example 7:
brow raise
PAST YEAR 1992, IX[=me] SECONDARY-SCHOOL GRADUATE
‘Back in 1992, I graduated from secondary school.’
Example 8:
brow raise
TAIWAN IX[=there], FRUIT DIFFERENT-KINDS DELICIOUS
‘In Taiwan, there are different kinds of fruit and they are delicious.’
Note that in both examples, there is also an intonational break, i.e., a slight pause and an across-the-board change of non-manual signals, right after the topic phrase.
In other sign languages, topicalization (i.e., moving a phrase to the beginning of a sentence) may require non-manual marking as well. In the ASL example below, the topic non-manual marking includes eyebrow raise, head tilt and the topicalized word CAT being held a bit longer than usual.
Example 9:
t
CAT DOG CHASE
‘As for the cat, the dog chased it.’ (ASL) (Liddell, 1980, p.30)
(‘t’ stands for non-manual markings for topicalisation.)
Our examples discussed in this module and the previous one show that non-manuals are grammatically important elements at different linguistic levels in grammar.
References:
- Crasborn, O. (2006). Nonmanual structures in sign languages. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language & linguistics, 8, 668-672.
- Liddell, S. K. (1980). American Sign Language syntax. Mouton.
- Pfau, R., & Quer, J. (2010). Nonmanuals: Their prosodic and grammatical roles. Sign languages (pp. 381-402).
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511712203.018 . - Sze, F. (2011). Non-manual markings fir topic constructions in Hong Kong Sign Language. Sign language and linguistic, 14(1), 115-147.
- Sze, F. (2022). From gestures to grammatical non-manuals in sign language: A case study of polar questions and negation in Hong Kong Sign Language. Lingua, 267, 103-188.
- Tang, G. (2006). Questions and negation in Hong Kong Sign Language. In U. Zeshan (Ed.), Interrogative and negative constructions in sign languages (pp. 198-224). Ishara Press.
- Zeshan, U. (2004). Interrogative constructions in signed languages: Crosslinguistic perspective. Language, 80(1), 7-39.
