Plain verbs

Plain verbs such as the DGS verbs listed in (30) (cf. Happ & Vorkoper 2006: 136, our transl.) are lexically specified for their beginning/ending positions (Herrmann & Steinbach 2007: 155; Sandler & Lillo-Martin 2006: 24). These verbs do not exhibit overt realisation of agreement. However, they can be inflected for aspect (cf. (31)).

(30) buy, work, believe, lie, pay, play

Furthermore, when they occur in constructions that require a reference to a location a spatial locus must be established via a spatial index (in example (32)). This marks a difference to spatial verbs that establish loci unambiguously (cf. section

3.1.3.3 below), compare example (33)) (Happ & Vorkoper 2006: 138, our transl.):

However, Happ & Vorkoper (2006: 210) remark that some plain verbs in DGS can establish loci for person or location, although not in an unambiguous way. Examples (34) and (35) (Happ & Vorkoper 2006: 206, our transl.) illustrate that agreement marking in this sub-group of plain verbs is optional: whereas in (34) the two instances of the verb buy agree with the spatial loci associated previously with two different locations (in this case, shops), buy remains uninflected in (35).

According to Happ and Vorkoper (2006: 208) agreement in these weak agreement verbs is weak because it cannot be determined unambiguously whether the agreement involves a person or a location. Hence, reference maintenance is not possible at the discourse level because of the ambiguity mentioned.