DGS competence at the onset of the study

Syntax

Word order. The analysis of Hamida’s DGS productions at the onset of the study reveals that she adheres to the target grammatical constraints. Although file 1 does not contain SOV constructions, in which all elements would be expressed overtly, XV sequences with modifying complements appearing before the verb, such as the ones provided in (250), can be taken as an indication of her adherence to the target OV order. Notice that (250) involves a semi-repetition of propositions, a phenomenon remarked upon previously in the discussion of the narratives of other participants in this study.

Complex sentential constructions. Evidence of complex sentential constructions other than those involving referential shifts (POVs) is rare in Hamida’s file 1. Notice that the subordinated clause in (251), in which we learn that the boy has

Table 3.35: Hamida’s DGS profile.

located the frog he has been searching, is preposed to the existential determiner establishing the location of the frog. Incidentally, in (252) the frog is reported to see that the boy and the dog are sleeping. Note, though, that Hamida does not provide any information on the subject of the main and the embedded clauses in this sequence, which marks the beginning of the restart of her narration of the frog story²⁹. We will come back to this deficit at the narrative level later on.

Referential shifts occur frequently in file 1. Hamida signals and marks POVs non-manually, via changes in body orientation, eye gaze direction, and facial expression. We will discuss several examples in the course of the following sections, where we will also pay attention to several grammatical phenomena in these constructions. The analysis of these constructions makes apparent that POVs are used where this is grammatically required (subcategorisation, reported dialogue). Hamida not only describes activities and emotions of the story characters, but also expresses their remarks and requests. In (253), for example, we learn that the boy seems to be in full command of the situation as he tells the dog that he should not be worried because they are close to the frog’s location.

In previous utterances she introduces the three main characters, that is, the boy, the dog, and the frog but does so without any explicit reference to the initial episode of the frog story.

Interrogation. Finally, we note that Hamida produces several single word interrogative clauses in this narrative containing the wh-words where or what (only in (263d) below she produces the sequence frog where).