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ASL Linguistics: Understanding Semantics in Sign Language

Explore the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning in ASL. Learn about semantic roles like agent, patient, and instrument, and how word order and function words impact sentence meaning.

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ASL Linguistics: Understanding Semantics in Sign Language

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  1. Dr. Bill Vicars Lifeprint.com

  2. You do NOT need to memorize this. It is FYI.Se·man·tics (noun) = The branch of linguistics concerned with meaning. Formal semantics: The logical aspects of meaning, such as sense, reference, implication, and logical form.Lexical semantics: Word meanings and word relations. Conceptual semantics: The cognitive structure of meaning.

  3. ASL Linguistics(Unit 22)Semantics:“The Meaning of Sentences”

  4. CAT CHASE DOGvsDOG CHASE CATWhy do these two sentences have different meanings?

  5. Word (sign) order.

  6. “Word order” helps determine the “Semantic Role” of each sign in a sentence.

  7. A “role” is a part you play in a movie.

  8. A “semantic role” is a part played by a word in a sentence.

  9. Just as we have names for actors in movies (protagonist, antagonist, supporting character, etc.) …

  10. …we also have names for the parts played by WORDS (or signs) in sentences.

  11. The “role” that a word plays in determining meaning in a sentence is called what?

  12. “Semantic Role”

  13. Here is a first glance, we will go over them all, (with examples) …

  14. Semantic Roles:AGENTPATIENTEXPERIENCERINSTRUMENTCAUSE

  15. In the sentence: CAT CHASE DOG which sign is the AGENT or doer?

  16. CAT

  17. In the sentence CAT CHASE DOG what is the semantic role of the sign CAT?

  18. AGENT

  19. In the sentence DOG CHASE CAT the cat is now the what?

  20. PATIENT

  21. In a sentence like JOAN EAT PIZZA Joan would be the “AGENT” but what if we changed that to…

  22. JOAN LIKE PIZZA

  23. Instead of calling JOAN the “AGENT” it would be a better fit to call her the “EXPERIENCER.”

  24. If you are doing something your role is what?

  25. AGENT

  26. If you are enjoying or (suffering, etc.) some physical or psychological sensation your role is what?

  27. Experiencer

  28. Consider a sentence like: DOOR, KEY<t>, dv: KEY-OPEN-DOOR

  29. Since it would be weird to think of a “KEY” as a “doer” of an action we might instead call it an…

  30. INSTRUMENT

  31. Note: The semantic role of “INSTRUMENT” is often shown in ASL how?

  32. Answer: Via depiction (formerly known as “classifiers”).

  33. Consider: <TREE>, TORNADO DESTROY.

  34. Hmmm, hard to think of a “tornado” as an instrument eh? (Unless you are God.) Let’s instead just call it a …

  35. CAUSE

  36. So, let’s name those semantic roles again. What were they?

  37. AGENT

  38. PATIENT

  39. EXPERIENCER

  40. INSTRUMENT

  41. CAUSE

  42. AGENTPATIENTEXPERIENCERINSTRUMENTCAUSE

  43. What was the “other” thing that we recently discussed that determines the meaning of a sentence?

  44. Word (or sign) order.

  45. Now let’s add to that list of things that help us understand the meaning of sentences:

  46. “FUNCTION WORDS” (or if they are meaningful parts of words we will call ‘em “function morphemes”).

  47. Function words are used for:TENSEASPECTREFERENCEdeixis

  48. “-ed” or “last night” establishes what?

  49. TENSE

  50. SIT-FOR-A-LONG-TIME shows what?

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