German Sign Language

Signs are made up of a combination of different elements from each of the classes of distinctive features: handshape, hand orientation, location and movement. If one of these elements is changed, it can result in a sign with a completely different meaning. Two signs differing in only one element are deemed to be a minimal pair. German Sign Language uses 32 handshapes, of which six are basic handshapes found in all sign languages.

Two-handed signs are signs which are necessarily performed with both hands. Their formation is in accordance with certain phonotactic limitations, such as the rule of symmetry (when both hands move at the same time, they have the same handshape) and the rule of dominance (if the two hands have different handshapes, only the dominant hand is moved while the non-dominant hand remains passive).

Uninflected lexical signs in German Sign Language have at most two syllables. Syllables consist of two syllabic positions, described as Hold (H) and Movement (M). Holds consist of the handshape together with the hand orientation (together referred to as the hand configuration) at a specific location in signing space. Holds do not contain any change of location (movement from one location to another). Movements, on the other hand, involve a change of location and may involve secondary movements such as wiggling of the fingers. Syllables may then be grouped into the following types: M (the minimal syllable), HM, MH, HMH (the maximal syllable). In the case of HM syllables, for example, the hand configuration of the Movement moves away from the location of the Hold. A syllable of type M can consist of the following specifications: a path movement (from one location to another), a path movement with secondary movement (such as wiggling or twisting), or a secondary movement without path movement. The syllable type H (a segment without a Movement) is not allowed for phonotactical reasons.

An elementary component of lexical signs are non-manual lexical markings, such as movements of eyes (rolling, widening), mouth (puffing, rounding) and face, as well as the whole head (nodding, tilting) and upper body (leaning). These are obligatory accompaniments of a quarter of all lexical signs. Making visual syllables with the mouth is referred to as mouthing.

The unmarked word order in DGS is subject-object-verb, similar to languages such as Turkish, Japanese and Latin, but differing from German.

subject	object	verb
[PRON]2	ARBEIT	SUCH-
"you"	"work"	"search"
You are looking for a job.

subject	object	verb
[PRON]1	BROT	1GEB-2[cl:Brot]
"I"	"bread"	"I-give-you(-something-bread-shaped)"
I give you (the) bread.

If an indirect object appears in the sentence, it stands before the direct object.

subject	indirect object	direct object	verb
[PRON]1	[POSS]1 VATER3	BROT	1GEB-3[cl:Brot]
"I"	"my father"	"bread"	"I-give-him(-something-bread-shaped)"
I give my father (the) bread.

In sentences with chains of verbs, auxiliary verbs and similar usually appear after the full verb, the opposite of English word order.

subject	object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]2	ARBEIT	SUCH-	MÜSS-
"you"	"work"	"search"	"must"
You have to look for a job.

subject	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]1	RADFAHR-	KÖNN-NICHT
"I"	"ride-a-bike"	"cannot"
I can't ride a bike.

subject	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]1	KOMM-	VERSUCH-
"I"	"come"	"try"
I'll try to come.

Subject	object	"full verb"	"Modalverb"
[PRON]1	WOHNUNG	PUTZ-	KEINE-LUST-HAB-
"I"	"apartment"	"clean"	"can't-be-bothered"
I can't be bothered cleaning the apartment.

The Personal Agreement Marker (glossed as "PAM"), which looks almost like the sign for "person" and may be accompanied by the mouthing "auf" ("on"), is a sign used to indicate the location in signing space of animate objects when the verb in the sentence does not do this. It roughly fills the roll of object pronouns, however it seems to function more as an auxiliary verb, inflecting for person where the main verb does not. Although there is considerable variation, especially across dialects, it tends to occur where auxiliaries occur, after the verb, rather than in the object slot. The benefactive marker (glossed as "BEM") is similarly placed.

subject	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]1	LIEB-	[PAM]2
"I"	"love"	"you"
I love you.

subject	object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]1	ARZT3	LIEB-	[PAM]3
"I"	"doctor"	"love"	"him/her"
I love the doctor.

subject	object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]1	BUCH	KAUF-	[BEM]2
"I"	"book"	"buy"	"for-you"
I bought a book for you.

Time expressions (tomorrow, next week) appear at the beginning of the sentence (as a discourse topic).

time	subject	indirect object	direct object	Verb
GESTERN	FRAU3	[POSS]1 SCHWESTER4	BUCH	3GEB-4[cl:Buch]
"yesterday"	"woman"	"my sister"	"book"	"she-give-her(-something-book-shaped)"
Yesterday a/the woman gave my sister a/the book.

Phrases specifying location tend to occur at the beginning of the sentence (after the time information).

time	location	subject	object	verb
GESTERN	UNIVERSITÄT [LOK]A	[PRON]1	MANN NETT	KENNENLERN-
"yesterday"	"university there"	"I"	"man nice"	"meet"
I met a nice man at the university yesterday.

This follows the figure-ground-principle, according to which smaller, more mobile referents (figures) tend to occur after larger, less mobile referents (ground).

ground	figure	verb
WALDA	HAUS	STEH-in-A[cl:Haus]
"forest"	"house"	"house-shaped-object-is-situated-there"
There is a house in the forest.

Sentence adverbs often appear at the beginning of the sentence.

sentence adverb	subject	object	verb
HOFF	[PRON]3	HUND	KAUF-
"hope"	"s/he"	"dog"	"buy"
Hopefully s/he'll buy a dog.

However, adverbs that modify the verb but which cannot be expressed non-manually follow the verb as an extra clause.

subject	verb	adverbial clause
[POSS]1 CHEF	TANZ-,	SCHÖN
"my boss"	"dance"	"beautiful"
My boss dances beautifully. / My boss dances and it's beautiful.

Wh-words (interrogatives) usually occur at the end of the sentence after the verb.

subject	"full verb"	"auxiliary"	Wh
[PRON]2	BESTELL-	WÜNSCH-	WAS
"you"	"order"	"desire"	"what"
What would you like to order?

subject	object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"	Wh
[PRON]2	D-G-S	LERN-	WÜNSCH-	WARUM
"you"	"DGS"	"learn"	"desire"	"why"
Why do you want to learn DGS?

subject	object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"	Wh
[PRON]2	SOZIAL WISSENSCHAFT	STUDIER-	ANFANG-	WANN
"du"	"social sciences"	"study-at-university"	"begin"	"when"
How long have you been studying social sciences at university?

Some signs with a negative meaning tend to occur at the end of the sentence.

subject	object	verb	negation
[PRON]1	[POSS]2 GELIEBTE(R)	KENNENLERN-	NOCH-NICHT
"ich"	"your partner"	"meet"	"not-yet"
I haven't met your girlfriend/boyfriend/partner/husband/wife yet.

subject	"full verb"	"auxiliary"	negation
[PRON]1	ESS-	WÜNSCH-	NICHTS
"I"	"eat"	"desire"	"nothing"
I don't want to eat anything (at all).

However, if the negation is not emphasised, it can also appear in the expected position.

subject	object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"
[PRON]1	NICHTS	ESS-	WÜNSCH-
"I"	"nothing"	"eat"	"desire"
I don't want to eat anything.

Determiners (articles, demonstratives, quantifiers, relative pronouns) follow the noun.

noun	determiner
BUCH	[DEM]A
"book"	"this"
this book

Their function is to set the location of referents within the signing space. If this is indicated instead by directional verbs, determiners can always be omitted, provided they are not required for other reasons (such as showing possession, pluralisation, etc.) There is no distinction between definite and indefinite articles.

Attributive adjectives follow immediately after the noun.

Nomen	Adjektiv
BUCH	NEU
"book"	"new"
a/the new book

The copula to be does not exist in DGS. Predicative adjectives are generally separated from the noun by a determiner.

noun	determiner	adjective
BUCH	[DEM]A	NEU
"book"	"this"	"new"
This book is new.

Compare the preceding sentence to the following noun phrase, in which the determiner follows the adjective.

noun	adjective	determiner
BUCH	NEU	[DEM]A
"book"	"new"	"this"
this new book

Possessive adjectives stand between the possessor and the possession.

Besitzer	Possessiv	Besitz
MANN3	[POSS]3	AUTO
"man"	"his"	"car"
the man's car

Here is an example of a longer but nevertheless simple, unmarked sentence.

time	location	subject	indirect object	direct object	"full verb"	"auxiliary"	Wh
LETZTE-WOCHE	[POSS]1 VATER3 [POSS]3 HAUS [LOK]A	[PRON]2	[POSS]1 MUTTER4	GELD	2GEB-4	WÜNSCH-	WARUM
"last-week"	"my father his house there"	"you"	"my mother"	"money"	"you-give-her"	"desire"	"why"
Why did you want to give my mother money at my father's house last week?

Parts of the sentence which are moved outside of their usual unmarked position are accompanied by non-manual marking.

Sentence elements (with the exception of verbs) can be topicalised by being moved to the beginning of the sentence and marked with raised eyebrows.

topicalised object	subject	verb
eyebrows raised		head shake
FRAU [DEM]A	[PRON]1	MÖG-
"woman that"	"I"	"don't-like"
I don't like that woman. / That woman, I don't like.

Often, a topic doesn't otherwise have any other role in the sentence. In these cases, it represents a limitation of the scope of the sentence. Compare the following three sentences.

subject	object	verb
[PRON]1	ITALIEN	LIEBHAB-
"I"	"Italy"	"adore"
I love Italy.

topic	subject	object	verb
eyebrows raised
LAND	[PRON]1	ITALIEN	LIEBHAB-
"country"	"I"	"Italy"	"adore"
My favourite country is Italy.

topic	subject	object	verb
eyebrows raised
ESSEN	[PRON]1	ITALIEN	LIEBHAB-
"food"	"I"	"Italy"	"adore"
My favourite food is Italian.