Duration as a prosodic cue in TİD: Focus realization in the extended domain

Abstract

Prosodic prominence of focused units reflected through a variety of cues, is well documented in all modalities. Yet, the effect of focus in the extended domain is understudied in sign languages. This paper, building on an experimental study on Turkish Sign Language (TİD), investigates prosodic strategies used in narrowly focused and broad focus conditions in an extended prosodic domain. We measured the duration of the signs and the proportion of accompanying nonmanuals in both the pre-focal and post-focal domains, as well as in the focal domain. The results showed that (i) signs in narrowly focused conditions significantly differ from their counterparts in the non-focused and broad focus conditions, and an increase in duration is the focus strategy for signs, (ii) nonmanuals do not necessarily accompany focused signs, (iii) narrowly focused signs yield a decrease in duration as a compression effect in the pre-focal or post-focal domain. We argue that the compression effect cannot be analyzed as a result of givenness. Focus realization in TİD is a trade-off between boosting and deboosting strategies within the extended prosodic domain. © 2025 The Author(s).