TÜRK İŞARET DİLİNDE GÖNDERİMSELLİK VE İŞARET ALANI
REFERENTIALITY AND SIGNING SPACE IN TURKISH SIGN LANGUAGE

Summary/Abstract: Bringing together visual-spatial modality specific differences in syntax-semantics interface, this study focuses on the use of signing space for referential purposes in Turkish Sign Language (TİD). On the basis of TİD data, it provides an overview of semantic analyses of the use of signing space, starting with the clear-cut distinction between identity space and defective space (i.e. the limited area in front of the signer). In TİD, defective space correlates with both referential (i.e discourse deixis) and non-referential units (i.e pointings in adverbial phrases). Following Costello (2016), the special role of [+identity] ϕ-feature in semantic referentiality is discussed, focusing on the relations between the noun itself and spatial location called “referential locus”. Also, it has been argued that the identity ϕ-feature in TİD occupies a functional head that dominates the NP. Despite the striking similarities in the isomorphic mapping of the space, it is certainly worthwhile to consider the more cross-linguistic data to analyze referentiality phenomenon in sign languages.

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