Agent-backgrounding in Turkish Sign Language (TID)

Abstract

This paper investigates agent-backgrounding constructions in Turkish Sign Language (TID). TID displays many of the agent-backgrounding strategies reported in the literature that signed (and spoken) languages employ (Barbera & Cabredo Hotherr, this volume). Use of non-specific indefinite pronominals is a major strategy, and this paper is the first study that identifies these forms in TID. Moreover, we show that TID has ways of marking clusivity distinctions of indefinite arguments, and has a special sign that derives exclusive indefinite pronominals, OTHER. We argue that (i) whereas lateral-high R-locus is unambiguously associated with non-specificity, non-high (lateral and central) loci are underspecified in terms of specificity; (ii) the R-locus of indefinite arguments observed in agent-backgrounding contexts in TID consists of two spatial features [+high] and [+lateral] which express non-specificity and exclusivity. This study further shows that clusivity, usually associated with personal pronouns, must be extended to indefinite pronouns.