Practice and review signs for family members and discussing relationships
Tell us about your immediate family in a mini-story
Read about ASL grammar and sentence structure
Please read through the following websites/blogs/resources!
ASL is a bona fide language used by a wide variety of people across America (in parts of Canada), and travelers around the world. Linguists are conducting study upon study on ASL and its usage, comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. More and more Deaf ASL users are connecting via digital means too–the Internet! And ASL has become more standardized as native users share, comment, research, and discuss their own language via social media.
In general, you probably remember learning about English sentence structure - Subject, Verb, Object:
"I threw the ball."
"The car is blue."
"I like chocolate."
English usually sticks to SVO, but can switch to VSO in the case of Y/N questions:
"Are you Bob?"
"Is ASL Class on Zoom?"
"Is she the teacher?"
For ASL, complex sentences (and questions!) will take on a Topic-Comment sentence structure. The topic of the sentence is signed first (along with other set-up grammatical features), and then there is a comment about that topic. During the topic portion, the eyebrows typically arch upwards, and then the eyebrows/face relaxes with the signing of the Comment.
English: "On Friday, we will have two teachers from CSUN join us in our Zoom class!"
ASL: HAPPEN FRIDAY, OUR ZOOM CLASS, #CSUN 2 TEACHERS JOIN-to-here WILL.
"Our Zoom Class" (in blue) is the topic of the sentence. The comment (in brick red) about it is that "2 CSUN teachers will join us" (JOIN-to-here). So all during the signing of the opening time frame AND the Topic, the eyebrows will arch upwards. And when you sign "JOIN-to-here WILL", the eyebrows will relax. You can further support the Comment by affirming (nodding your head) while you sign the Topic. (To negate the Topic, you would ensure the sign choices have a negative meaning/use a negation sign AND you would slowly shake your head NO.)
*Note how the time frame is signed first.
These are the basics for now. More ASL Sentence Grammar will be included later.
QUESTION: Why isn't ASL just "English on the hands"?
ANSWER: Why isn't French, "Egyptian but with French words"? Or why isn't German, "Chinese in German word order"? Because they're not. We don't try to compare/contrast spoken languages, and we should try to force ASL into some box that is painted "English" on the outside.
Languages grow with users who typically live in close proximity, work and live with each other, and must interact (families, villages, towns, cities, countries!). They also borrow from neighboring languages/dialects, change, and can even die out.
Similarly, ASL arose from the Americans who settled and populated the expansive corners of America, but was spotty and isolated due to the sheer size of our slowly growing country, from the 1500s to the 1800s! As we saw in Week 1 with the history of ASL in America, Laurent Clerc (Deaf French Educator!), attempted to teach and share LSF with the gathered American Deaf children at the first School for the Deaf in Hartford, CT, in 1817.
But the children preferred certain sign order, sentence structure, mouthing, and even signs(!) that worked for them. Plus, there were many created and unique signs in use from the kids who may have grown up with no one else to sign to in their family or area. The American School for the Deaf students vetted, discussed, and ultimately decided which signs stayed, which were "not proper", and which just didn't work with the communication framework they all instinctively accepted and liked.
Hearing people know when a common phrase or concept "sounds" right. These American Deaf students knew what looked and felt right when they signed it. They recognized with trial and error (and a lot of borrowing from those who came from Deaf-of-Deaf-of-Deaf... families and established, thriving communities of Deaf sign language users) what types of sentences, signs, mouth movements, facial expressions, emotional content, and repetitions should be part of their new language.
QUESTION: Wait, there were "thriving communities of Deaf sign language users"? Where???
ANSWER: One large community was Martha's Vineyard, an isolated island community off the coast of Massachusetts! Since there was an abundance of Deaf people, and you never knew whom you'd run into out and about doing errands, most family members learned to sign! Thus, it was more common to just sign in public, so that everyone had access. Once you got to know regulars and neighbors, you knew who could hear and who needed sign language. But in common areas, signing was accessible to everyone, so many people on the island opted for general accessibility! (Some linguists are now trying to research and re-create a dictionary of MVSL, Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, signs, since many of the native users have moved away or passed away.)
QUESTION: Why are you capitalizing words in the ASL examples?
ANSWER: This is called "Glossing"; it's a way of documenting the basic sign concepts you would use IF you signed in ASL. English has both spoken and written forms. ASL has historically not had a written form, as it's a 4-dimensional, moving language (and cannot be contained clearly and fully on paper). With the advent of movies and now digital recordings, more and more ASL stories, folklore, jokes, and other historical concepts and sign choices can be archived and reviewed!
Until the widespread availability of a recording camera in your pocket, many linguists used a variety of notation systems (pen/paper or some computer-documented/word-processed) to keep track of all of the signs, facial expressions, movements, placements, etc. of the signs. Even up until 10 years ago, creating a notation system to preserve what was seen (to study, research, and pass on to future generations) was done by hand.
Glossing chooses the generally accepted meaning and connects it to an ASL sign. So BOY would be written down, but you would know to grab the "bill" of a baseball cap 2x, if you wanted to sign BOY.
Creating a Glossing system for yourself is a good way to retain and remember ASL vocabulary, along with working with fluent signers/Deaf people regularly. Learning ONLY from a Glossing/written-down system is not the best way to attain ASL fluency, as it lacks an interactive fluent user to provide feedback, evaluation, and support.
If you choose to Gloss (create a glossary), make sure you also include the "5 Parameters" of signs, to ensure that you're remembering/documenting your vocabulary correctly!
Handshape (HS) - basic shape that the hand(s) form, typically called "Classifiers" (a special name for Handshapes that represent categories of objects)–Index-CL, 5-CL, O-CL, C-CL, etc.
Palm Orientation (PO) - direction that the palm faces– outwards toward the viewer, inward to the signer, to the Dominant or Non-Dominant sides, etc.
Location (Loc) - where the sign is created in your signing space–neutral signing space, near shoulder, near chin, near temple, etc.
Movement (Mvmt) - start point and end point of signs, directionality (towards Dominant/Non-Dominant sides), etc.
Non-Manual Morpheme (NMMs) - All other non-hand-related information. When you're signing MAD, you should look "mad"/"angry" on your face to support and clarify the sign. If you smile while signing MAD, you're giving off mixed signals. The viewer/receiver won't know if you're being funny, sarcastic, or honest! Always attempt to match your internal emotional feeling about what you want to sign with the look and expression on your face, your overall body language, and your nod/head shake.