Meaning of Grammatical Non-Manual Signals: in American Sign Language

1. Meaning of Grammatical Non-Manual Signals: in American Sign Language Brenda Liebman Aron

2. Non-Manual Signals in ASL • Non-manual signals (NMS) or markers (NMM) consist of the various facial expressions, head tilting, shoulder raising, mouthing, and similar signals that we add to our hand signs to create meaning. • There are grammatical NMS, transition markers, mouth morphemes, emotional markers, backchannel feedback & prosody et cetera • My focus for this presentation is on grammatical non-manual signals.

3. Grammatical NMS • Statement • Topic Comment Structure vs. Topicalization • Wh-question • Yes-no question • Rhetorical question • Negation • Conditionals • Relative Clause • Adverbs

4. Grammatical NMS: Statement • Usually statement sentences in ASL do not signify any non-manual signal. This is also called declarative sentences. i.e.,(sentences in caps are in ASL) Subject-verb-object • I HAVE CAR. • I have a car. • I NEED BUY BOOK. • I need to buy a book.

5. Grammatical NMS:Topic Comment vs. Topicalization • Topicalization is not the same thing as topic-comment. • Topic Comment means stating a topic and then making a comment. • Topicalization means you are using the object of the sentence as the topic. • You can use topic comment sentence structure by using topicalization. • In ASL, it was thought that ASL is predominantly topic-comment or uses Object-Subject-Verb. Recent research has shown it was not true. T-C is usually used to introduce a topic however most of our syntax is S-V-O or other structures. • See examples of NMS in topic-comment structures on the next slide.

6. Grammatical NMS: Topic Comment • Examples of Topic Comment Sentence Structures: *comment is also called predicates-which is a word or phrase that says something about a topic. • In T-C, the eyebrows are raised and head tilted forward slightly ___t____c__(subject-object) 1. CAR? SOLD! “Remember my car, it is finally sold! _t__c__(subject-adjective) 2. HE TALL. He’s tall. __t______c__(object-subject-verb) 3. MONEY? She-GIVE-me. She gave me money. • .

7. Grammatical NMS: Topicalization __time_____topic__comment_ • WEEK-PAST I WASH MY CAR. • __t_______comment________ • MY CAR, I WASH WEEK-PAST. • Remember the eyebrows are raised and head tilted slightly forward. • Using the object of your sentence as the topic of the sentence is called topicalization. • In this example, “my car” becomes the subject instead of “me”. The fact that I washed it last week becomes the comment.

8. Grammatical NMS: Wh-word questions • Wh-word questions are questions that cannot be answered with just a yes or no responses and uses interrogative signs like WHAT, WHO, WHEN, WHERE, WHICH, WHY, WHATS-UP, HOW, HOW-MANY, FOR-FOR” Usually wh-word occur at the end of the sentence, but also occur at the beginning. • NMS wh-word questions are: • brows furrowed, • head tilted forward slightly, • Eye contact made with the person being asked the question • and hold the last sign until a response is received • See examples on next slide:

9. Grammatical NMS: Wh-word questions • Example of wh-word questions: ____________wh-q_ 1. YOUR NAME WHAT? ________point_wh-q_ 2. WOMAN (there) WHO? ____topic______________wh-q 3. YOU GO CALIFORNIA FOR-FOR? Why are you going to California?

10. Grammatical NMS: Yes-No Questions • Yes-no questions are questions that receives a yes or no responses. ASL does not have a sign for “DO” therefore it is embedded in the NMS structure. • NMS for y/n-q: Eyebrows raised • Head tilted slightly forward • Eye contact made with the person being asked the question • And hold the last sign until a response is received. • See examples on next slide.

11. Grammatical NMS: Yes-No Questions ______y/n-q__ 1. YOU TEACHER? Are you a teacher? _point_ y/n-q___ 2. YOU HAVE GUM? Do you have gum? point____________point y/n-q 3. YOU KNOW WHO HER? Do you know who she is?

12. Grammatical NMS: Rhetorical Questions • Rhetorical questions are not true questions since the addressee is not expected to respond but rather provide a way for the signer to introduce and draw attention to the information s/he will supply. Rh-questions are accompanied by • A brow raise, • Head slightly tilted • A wh-word question usually occurs with this type of question. • In other words, rhetorical questions differ from Wh-questions is that the eyebrows are raised for rh-q and furrowed for wh-questions. • Often new ASL signers would use rh-q in almost every sentence. That is not the norm for most ASL signers. We only use rh-q in specific instances. • See examples on next slide.

13. Grammatical NMS: Rhetorical Questions _________________rh-q________ 1. I FLY CALIFORNIA WHY VISIT BROTHER. rh-q_____ 2. I GO CALIFORNIA HOW FLY. ________________rh-q_________ 3. I GO CALIFORNIA WHEN NEXT-WEEK. ________________rh-q________________ 4. I GO CALIFORNIA REASON MY BROTHER WEDDING. (not a wh-word question)

14. Grammatical NMS: Negation • Negation in ASL are is usually accompanied by a headshake, • Brows furrowed • Sometimes the body is tilted backwards • and/or adding the sign: NOT, NO, NONE, CAN’T, DENY, REFUSE, DON’T, *DON’T WANT, DON’T LIKE, DON’T UNDERSTAND etc. • Negative expressions do not always require a sign showing negation i.e., __neg____ 1. ME HAPPY. I am not happy. _ neg____________ 2. PRESENTER BIG-WORDS ME not-UNDERSTAND. I cannot understand the presenter because he used a lot of complicated words.

15. Grammatical NMS: Conditionals • Conditionals express a condition upon which the topics being discussed depend. An example of a conditional sentence in English is: “If it rains tomorrow, the game will be cancelled.” Conditionals in ASL are usually accompanied by • Raised eyebrows, • A head tilt; • A short pause between if and then • Can be constructed in ASL with NMS & without the use of signs to show the conditional • See examples on next slide

16. Grammatical NMS: Conditionals _cond_____________ 1. RAIN GAME CANCEL. ___cond affirm_____ 2. YOU GO, ME GO WILL. _cond____neg_________ 3. RAIN, ME NOT GO SWIM. *There are three ways to express conditionals, with the sign for IF, # IF and only with NMS.

17. Grammatical NMS: Relative Clauses • Relative clauses is not often used in ASL. • Usually if it is used, the NMS is as follows: • Head tilted backwards slightly • Eyebrows are lifted at the topic • Eyebrows return to normal after topic

18. Grammatical NMS: Relative Clauses rel cl._______ 1. RECENT DOG CHASE CAT COME HOME. rel cl.________________ 2. MY CAT DOG CHASE My cat, the dog chased it. _______________________neg 3. PURSE WOMAN FORGOT NOT. ____rel cl.________________________ It is not the case woman forgot the purse.

19. Grammatical NMS: Adverbs • Adverbs in ASL: an adverb modifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, or other adverb. ASL uses a number of methods to modify the meanings of signs. You can modify the speed and direction of a sign. This is called inflecting the sign. For example, SLOW or VERY • ASL uses NMS to modify the meaning of signs: th for careless, furrowed brows with pursed lips means intensely; lower lip puffed a bit, head tilted back, content look on face means routine or normal. Cha means something is big or immense,

20. Grammatical NMS: Adverbs • Examples:

21. Practice exercises

22. FINI • For more information: • Contact Brenda Aron, Baron@sccd.ctc.edu