The building blocks of American Sign Language What

The building blocks of American Sign Language

What is a Language? A system of symbols and grammatical signals that change across time. Members of a community share and use this language to interact and to transmit culture.

Spoken Languages Ø The basic building blocks of English are sounds. These sounds (vowels, consonants) are combined to form words. Words are combined to form sentences, which are combined to form stories, etc. “st op” st + o + p Ø If we change one of the building blocks, the word and the meaning changes: e e

The Five Parameters of ASL: • HANDSHAPE – There are 45 different handshapes in ASL • LOCATION – The location (where on the body) of each sign can change, and add grammatical information. • MOVEMENT – The direction that the sign moves (away from the body, towards the body) carries specific information. Repetition of movement can have grammatical information. • PALM ORIENTATION – Each handshape can change orientation; the palm can face out, down, up, etc. • FACIAL EXPRESSION – Many signs in ASL require a non-manual signal in order to be produced correctly. Others simply require the emotive facial expression to match the meaning the signer is trying to convey.

Sign Parameters – The parts of a sign It is important for new signers to realize that even a slight alteration of ONE of the parameters can produce an un-intended sign.

Try to sign them … ASL Sign Parameters English equivalent glosses HANDSHAPE (HS) RESTAURANT TWIN ARIZONA PALM ORIENTATION (PO) MOVEMENT (MOV) LOCATION (LOC) FACIAL EXPRESSION (NMS) SCHOOL STOP SOME SUMMER LATE PROOF REJECT UGLY DRY NOT-YET

Sign: Lousy What are the Parameters for the sign: LOUSY? Hand in shape of a 3 HS: _____________ At the nose LOC: _____________ Down & out MOV: _____________ PO: Faces non-dominant _____________ side FACE EX: ___________ Disgust (Non-Manual Signal) Emotion or Grammar?

Sign the following words with a partner… What are the changes in Parameters? Write the changes on the charts on your handout.

Parameters: HANDSHAPE, LOCATION, MOVEMENT, PALM ORIENTATION, FACIAL PARAMETER CHANGE: EXPRESSION PAPER SCHOOL MOVEMENT LIKE LATE FOOTBALL TELL WHITE NOT YET WRESTLING ANSWER PARAMETER CHANGE: HANDSHAPE PARAMETER CHANGE: FACIAL EXPRESS PARAMETER CHANGE: MOVEMENT PARAMETER CHANGE: PALM ORIENT.

Parameters: HANDSHAPE, LOCATION, MOVEMENT, PALM ORIENTATION, FACIAL EXPRESSION MY CHAIR SUMMER TRAIN RED YOURS SIT DRY SOON CUTE PARAMETER CHANGE: PALM ORIENT. LOCATION PARAMETER CHANGE: MOVEMENT PARAMETER CHANGE: LOCATION PARAMETER CHANGE: PALM ORIENT. PARAMETER CHANGE: HANDSHAPE

Parameter Practice

Your homework… You will pick eight (8) signs from any of your vocabulary lists. Write them in – on your “Parameter worksheet” SIGN__________ HS – LOC – MOV – PO – NMGS –

Examples: SIGN_____ NAME HS – (2 h) N LOC – neutral space MOV – dominant N hand taps top of other PO – Face each other NMGS – none DEAF SIGN_____ HS – index (#1) LOC – head MOV – ear to mouth PO – in toward body NMGS – none

OOPS! I almost forgot to tell you! This is a small group (2 -3) activity!