Biased polar question forms in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) : Two functions of headshake

We identify several polar question forms in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT)through a production experiment in which we manipulate two types of biases: (i) theprior expectations of the person asking the question, and (ii) the evidence available inthe immediate context of utterance. Our analysis in the present paper focuses on formsinvolving headshake. We find that in some cases headshake expresses negation, as expected,but in other cases it fulfils another function, namely, it is part of a sentence-finalphrase either expressing uncertainty or signalling a request for a response from the... Mehr ...