Sign languages use the horizontal plane to refer to discourse referents introduced at referential locations. However, the question remains whether the assignment of discourse referents follows a particular default pattern as recently proposed such that two new discourse referents are respectively assigned to the right (ipsilateral) and left (contralateral) side of (right handed) signers. The present event-related potential study on German Sign Language investigates the hypothesis that signers assign distinct and contrastive referential locations to discourse referents even in the absence of overt localization. By using a semantic mismatch-design, we constructed sentence sets where the second sentence was either consistent or inconsistent with the used pronoun. Semantic mismatch conditions evoked an N400, whereas a contralateral index sign engendered a Phonological Mismatch Negativity. The current study provides supporting evidence that signers are sensitive to the mismatch and make use of a default pattern to assign distinct and contrastive referential locations to discourse referents.

This paper aims to show to what degree relativization strategies in Turkish Sign Language (TİD) are influenced by discourse functions of relative clauses, extending Kubus' study (Kubus, 2016). In his study, Kubus describes various relativization strategies (i.e. internally headed, externally headed and free relatives) and identifies non-manual (i.e. squint, brow raise or slight-headshake) and occasionally additional manual relativizers (i.e. clause initial/final index (IX), AYNI 'same' or different combinations of them). We outline possible reasons for the presence of these competing relative markers and discuss whether the above-mentioned non-manuals should be analyzed as prosodic/pragmatic or syntactic markers. We suggest that the nature of relative clauses in TİD can best be understood at the level of discourse.

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