In such constructions, the non-manual wh-marking cannot extend over the NP in subject position. The non-manual subject marking always accompanies some manual item, and starts slightly before the start of the signing. Non-manual subject marking may also involve removal of the eyes, and may be followed by a few quick head nods.
In the case of the structure shown in 21 below, in which an NP has moved to subject position, the non-manual marking about the item in subject position consists of raised eyebrows, head tilted back, sometimes also slightly to the side, and eyes opened wide. At the last point of signing the item in subject position, the head moves down in a nod. In the case of base-generated topics, there are at least two different non-manual tags (tm2 and tm3) that can accompany the component in topic position.
The different non-manual markers are related to different functions and meanings of the items in the subject position. This non-manual marking is named Topic Marking 3 (trn3)17 and is shown in Figure 5. The same non-manual marking (tm3) also allows base-generated topics to form a core reference with the subject of the verb.
The clear non-manual markings provide important evidence about the structure of the sentences containing these topics.
TEACHER REQUIRE JOHN MUST LIPREAD MOTHER 'The teacher requires that John must lipread Mother.'
Thus, it can be seen that there are at least three different nonmanual markers that accompany subjects in ASL. Topics that are moved may carry only one type of non-manual tag, tmI, and this non-manual tag may not be carried by base-generated topics. Base-generated topics may carry different kinds of nonmanual markers, tm2 or tm3, depending on their function in the discourse, but none of these nonmanual markers may be carried by shifted topics.
An investigation of these different nonmanual markers in sentences with regular verbs, viz. to those requiring overt lexical objects, it allows us to distinguish between moved themes (tml) and stem-generated themes (tm2 and tm3) associated with an argument in object position. The distribution of these markers in sentences containing subjects related to the subjects of the sentence is consistent with that observed for objects. In the case of sentences containing embedded clauses, immediately to the left of the embedded clause is the topic position, in which topic-marked constituents can appear.
TEACHER REQUIRE JOHN, MUST LIPRFAD MOTHER
TEACHER REQUIRE MOTHER, JOHN MUST LIPREAD
As shown in the sentences below, arguments of an embedded clause can also move to the subject position of the main clause, but only if the embedded clause is infinitive.
TEACHER REQUIRE JOHN LIPREAD MOTHER 'The teacher requires lohn to lipread Mother.'
JOHN, TEACHER REQUIRE LIPREAD MOTHER , John, the teacher requires to lipread Mother.'
MOTHER, TEACHER REQUIRE JOHN LIPREAD 'Mother, the teacher requires lohn to lipread.'
TEACHER REQUIRE JOHN MUST LIPREAD MOTHER 'The teacher requires that John must lipread Mother.'
SO,47 shows that the object of a finite embedded clause cannot move to the subject position of the higher clause. Sentence 42, however, on the reading where the embedded clause is non-finite, is shown below. Actualization from subject position of the non-finite embedded clause is allowed, as in :JJ,22 and from object position as shown in 51.
Confirmation of this claim that arguments may not be extracted from finite embedded clauses comes from sentences with verbs that require tense complements. Extraction of both subject and object position from the embedded 'clause to the embedded subject position is possible. However, extraction of subject and object position from the embedded clause to the matrix subject position is ungrammatical.
In ASL, there is thus a difference in the extraction options for arguments from finite and non-finite embedded clauses. Arguments may not be moved to the subject position of the main clause out of a finite nested clause. JOHN MUST LIP-READ MOTHER, TEACHER DOESN'T DEMAND 'If John has to lip-read mother, the teacher doesn't require (it).'.
JOHN MUST TALK TO THE MOTHER, THE TEACHER REQUIRES 'The mother must speak for John, the teacher asks (her).' Furthermore, it has also been claimed by Coulter (1979) that sentences having the conditional functions and when clauses (like 63 and 64) are also CPs occurring in subject position.
In this case, the order of the subjects in relation to each other does not affect the grammar of the sentence. Sentence (f) shows two subjects created from the base, one of which is coordinated with one of the arguments of the verb. However, 70, in which the order of the topics is reversed, and the topic related to one of the arguments immediately precedes the clause, is found by the informants to be ungrammatical.
If the order of the subjects is reversed, as in 72, it makes no difference to the meaning of the sentence. The order of the two points in subject position does not affect the grammar or meaning of the sentence. They can occur in either order, except in the case where one of the subjects is in a class: member of the class relation to one of the arguments of the verb.
If the order of the arguments is reversed, as shown in 76 and 77, sentence 76 with the moved subject closest to the CP is marginally acceptable, but 77 is completely. Thus, a sentence containing two subjects, both marked with tm 1, is never grammatical, regardless of the order of the subjects. The order of the verb's arguments relative to the order of the subjects is irrelevant.
Subjects formed from bases marked with tm2, if neither is coreferent with an argument of the verb, can be freely ordered in relation to each other. Semantically, tm3-marked items function to bring to the forefront of discourse information that is specific enough for the audience to comprehend. A fuller discussion of the different meanings that articles in subject position can have can be found in section 4.4.
There is a sort of implicit connection between the subject, VEGETABLES, in 13 and one of the arguments: CORN. 11 it should be noted that tm2 can be used if the subject is related to an argument of the sentence in a class: member of the class relation (as in 29) or if the subject has a specific referent (as in 30). However, if the subject is coreferential with an argument of the verb, it must be definite or specific, not merely general.
This provides evidence that the ditic is the object argument of the verb, since an NP marked by tm2 must be base generated in subject position. However, notice in this case that the unique subject of the sentence is "John's mother's friend's daughter:.
