ASL 2 Advanced Grammar (remember, test next Thursday over all culture/grammar)

1. ASL 2Advanced 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”

2. Classifiers in ASL General Overview of Classifiers 2012

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. 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

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

8. ASL NMS Face Upper Body Shoulder Shrug (e.g. shy, …) Role Shift movement Etc… • 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) • Head • Nod • Shake • Tilt • Etc…

9. 5 Parameters in ASL

10. Parameters: can be compared similar to individual sounds HandshapePalm orientationmovementlocationNon-manual signals

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

12. 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

13. Movement 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 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

14. Verb Types in ASLp. 37 SN Level 2 Plain/Uninflected- basic 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…

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