ASL 2 Advanced Grammar remember test next Thursday

ASL 2 Advanced Grammar (remember, test next Thursday over all culture/grammar) Welcome! Lecture day- please clear off your desks- no phones needed; need comp. books for “Where’s Waldo”

+ Classifiers in ASL General Overview of Classifiers 2012

Iconic signs and Classifier Descriptions *Many non-signers believe signing is “gestures in the air”- no!!! *There are some elements of ASL that are more iconic than others, and appear “gesture-like”- such as classifiers- but they are a part of the grammar *ASL has a complex grammatical system and has a structure more similar to spoken Chinese than English *One examples is the classifier system

What are classifiers? *Classifiers have no meaning on their own- they must be used in conjunction with their noun *English has very few classifiers- (tons=? Stack=? ) example: tons of homework, stacks of paper (and we can avoid using classifiers if we choose to do so) *In spoken Chinese-Must use them: Flat objects (table, paper, bed) vs. thin objects, etc. *In ASL, we have a similar required system *Classifiers show, for example, the shape, description, and number of items *In ASL, classifiers (classifier predicates) are required for certain expressions

Lexicalized signs vs. Loan Signs Lexicalized signs- #fun, #what, #style True loan signs- from another language, eg. CHINA, KOREA, etc.

Reduplication Seen in several Noun-Verb Pairs in ASL Verbs-move slow and once Nouns-undergo reduplication: repeated and faster Examples: To-Fly vs. Airplane To-Sit vs. Chair

Non-Manual Signals in ASL include anything conveyed beyond the use of hand signs NMS

ASL NMS Face Upper Body Mouth (oo, mm, cha, cs, “th”, . . . ) *mouth morphemes often show “intensity” or “degree” Eyes (eye gaze, squint, . . . ) Eyebrows (raised, lowered…) Nose (e. g. crinkled=yes) Tongue (e. g. Not-Yet) Shoulder Shrug (e. g. shy, …) Head Role Shift movement Etc…

5 Parameters in ASL

HANDSHAPE PALM ORIENTATION MOVEMENT LOCATION NON-MANUAL SIGNALS Parameters: can be compared similar to individual sounds

Minimal Pairs: Two words or signs that are identical except for ONE change; & this changes the meaning (minimally distinctive) English- Pat, Bat, Sat ASLFATHER, MOTHER, FINE (location) NAME, WEIGHT, KNIFE; SCHOOL, PAPER, CLEAN (movement) HOME, DEAF, YESTERDAY (handshape) LATE, NOT-YET (non-manual signal) THING, CHILDREN (palm orientation)

ASL Uses Space!!! Know what is Neutral Space in ASL, and the different “planes” we generally use when signing Deixis- know this concept (establishing referents)In ASL, we generally do this through indexing (pointing) and eye gaze

Movement ASL can use both non-manual signals and movement in space to simultaneously add meaning “on top of” signs, Movement changes to indicate person, number, etc. - often through certain verb types Links to Wikipedia: http: //en. wikibooks. org/wiki/American_Sign_Language/Grammar_1 http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/American_Sign_Language_grammar Movement can change meaning: e. g. MORNING; EVERY-MORNING; ALL-MORNING

Verb Types in ASL p. 37 SN Level 2 Plain/Uninflectedbasic verb e. g. TO-LIVE, TO-DIE, TO-UNDERSTAND Inflecting Verbs e. g. THROW-UP (may have a plain/uninflected form, e. g. TO-THROW-UP (once) Recurring Inflection: repetitions (e. g. several times a day, every Monday) Continuous Inflection: repeated circular movement (e. g. continuously with little interruption- the whole hour, all morning, all week long) Spatial/Agreement Verbs (person, number) e. g. TO-SHOW, TO-GIVE, etc…

Almost The End! Great Job! Almost…-Double Letters in Fingerspelling - two slides, then done!!!