The word but in sign language

Let’s take a trip around the world to explore sign languages, their stories and their finger alphabets. The journey to communicating globally begins here!

Sign language is a visual means of communicating through hand signals, gestures, facial expressions, and body language.

It’s the main form of communication for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community, but sign language can be useful for other groups of people as well. People with disabilities including Autism, Apraxia of speech, Cerebral Palsy, and Down Syndrome may also find sign language beneficial for communicating.

And as you will see in the different languages below, it has even had other uses throughout history.

Not a Universal Language

There is no single sign language used around the world. Like spoken language, sign languages developed naturally through different groups of people interacting with each other, so there are many varieties. There are somewhere between 138 and 300 different types of sign language used around the globe today. 

Interestingly, most countries that share the same spoken language do not necessarily have the same sign language as each other. English for example, has three varieties: American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL) and Australian Sign Language (Auslan).

Basics of Alphabets and Fingerspelling

Most people start their sign language journey by learning the A-Z or alphabet equivalent in sign form.

The use of the hands to represent individual letters of a written alphabet is called ‘fingerspelling’. It’s an important tool that helps signers manually spell out names of people, places and things that don’t have an established sign.

For example, most sign languages have a specific sign for the word tree, but may not have a specific sign for oak, so o-a-k would be finger spelled to convey that specific meaning.

Of course, not every language uses the Latin alphabet like English, so their sign language alphabet differs as well. Some manual alphabets are one-handed, such as in ASL and French Sign Language, and others use two-hands, like BSL or Auslan. Though there are similarities between some of the different manual alphabets, each sign language has its own style and modifications, and remains unique.

Sign Language Alphabets from Around the World

American Sign Language (ASL)

Although ASL has the same alphabet as English, ASL is not a subset of the English language. American Sign Language was created independently and it has its own linguistic structure. (It is, in fact, descended from Old French Sign Language.)

Signs are also not expressed in the same order as words are in English. This is due to the unique grammar and visual nature of the sign language. ASL is used by roughly half a million people in the USA.

Learn the ASL alphabet by demonstration in this video, or with the chart below!

British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language (BANZSL)

Sharing a sign language alphabet is British Sign Language, Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and New Zealand Sign Language. Unlike ASL, these alphabets use two hands, instead of one.

Chinese Sign Language (CSL)

Probably the most-used sign language in the world (but there is currently no data to confirm this), Chinese Sign Language uses the hands to make visual representations of written Chinese characters. The language has been developing since the 1950s.

French Sign Language (LSF)

French Sign Language is similar to ASL – since it is in fact the origin of ASL – but there are minor differences throughout. LSF also has a pretty fascinating history.

Japanese Sign Language (JSL) Syllabary

The Japanese Sign Language (JSL) Syllabary is based on the Japanese alphabet, which is made up of phonetic syllables. JSL is known as Nihon Shuwa in Japan.

Arabic Sign Language

The Arab sign-language family is a family of sign languages across the Arab Mideast. Data on these languages is somewhat scarce, but a few languages have been distinguished, including Levantine Arabic Sign Language.

Spanish Sign Language (LSE)

Spanish Sign Language is officially recognized by the Spanish Government. It is native to Spain, except Catalonia and Valencia. Many countries that speak Spanish do not use Spanish Sign Language! (See Mexican Sign Language below, for example.)

Mexican Sign Language (LSM)

Mexican Sign Language (‘lengua de señas mexicana’ or LSM) is different from Spanish, using different verbs and word order. The majority of people who use Mexican Sign Language reside in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Variation in this language is high between age groups and religious backgrounds.

Ukrainian Sign Language (USL)

Ukrainian Sign Language is derived from the broad family of French Sign Languages. It uses a one-handed manual alphabet of 33 signs, which make use of the 23 handshapes of USL.

Plains Sign Talk (Indigenous to North America)

In North America, Plains Sign Talk (also known as Plains Sign Language) is an Indigenous sign language that was once used between Plains Nations to support trade, tell stories, conduct ceremonies, and act as a daily communication language for Deaf people. It was used between Nations across central Canada, the central and western United States and northern Mexico.

Watch the video below to see an example of signing used in First Nations cultures in North America.

Learn How to Fingerspell like a Pro

Once you’ve learnt how to fingerspell each letter of the alphabet, it’s time to polish your form! Check out these tips to improve your fingerspelling:

• Pause between spelling individual words. This improves the comprehensibility of your signing.
• Keep your hand in one place while spelling each word. This can take practice, but it makes it much clearer for others to read back. An exception to this is when you are fingerspelling an acronym. In this instance, move each letter in a small circle to let people know not to read the letters together as a single word.
• If you are fingerspelling a word that has a double letter, bounce your hand between those two letters to indicate the repetition of that letter. You can also do this by sliding the letter slightly to the side to indication it should be doubled. It can be difficult to not bounce between every letter when first learning to fingerspell. You can use your free hand to hold your write to help steady it while practicing. Eventually, you’ll get used to keeping your hand steady by itself while fingerspelling.
• Keep your fingerspelling hand at the height of your shoulder. This is the most comfortable position for your signing and the other person’s reading.
• Keep your pace consistent. There is no need to race through when spelling a word. It’s more important that each letter is clear, and the overall rhythm is consistent.

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For non-deaf or hard of hearing people, it is often a surprise to learn that there is more than a single sign language.

Today, there are anywhere up to 300 different types of sign language used around the world. Some are only used locally. Others are used by millions of people.

Most sign languages don’t aim to directly translate spoken words into signs you make with your hands either. Each is a true language, with its own vocabulary, grammar and syntax – often unrelated to those of oral languages spoken in the same region.

And yes, the position of the hands is important. Yet so are eyebrow position, eye position, body movement and much more besides. A little like tones in oral languages, their importance and the way they are used also vary between different sign languages.

It only takes a moment’s thought to realise that, with so much variation in oral forms of expression, wouldn’t it actually be more surprising if there was only one universal sign language?

The development of sign languages

Questions as to why there isn’t a single universal sign language only really make sense if you are picturing sign languages as a kind of helper aid “gifted” by hearing people to the deaf or hard of hearing.

However, in the real world, sign languages – almost universally – develop naturally among deaf or hard of hearing people and communities.

Even Charles Michel de l’Épée, often credited as being the “inventor” of one of the key ancestors of many modern sign languages – French Sign Language – actually overheard two deaf people using it first and then learned from them.

The origins of sign languages

Many of the sign languages spoken around the world today have their origins in:

1. British Sign Language: the British manual alphabet reached a format which would be familiar to many signers today as early as 1720. However, manual alphabets had been in use in daily British life even by many hearing people for centuries previously – at least as early as 1570. This then spread through the British Commonwealth and beyond in the 19th century.
2. French Sign Language: developed in the 1700s, French Sign Language was the root of American Sign Language and many other European sign languages.
3. Unique origins: yet many others – including Chinese, Japanese, Indo-Pakistani and Levantine Arabic sign languages – have their own unique origins completely unrelated to French or British roots.

But by 1880, different thoughts began to take shape. In that year, plans were announced at the Second International Congress of Education of the Deaf in Milan to reduce and eventually remove sign language from classrooms in favour of lip reading and other oral-based methods.

Known as oralism, these rules – which largely prioritised the convenience of hearing people – remained essentially in effect until the 1970s.

Today, however, the various sign languages naturally developed around the world are increasingly recognised as official languages. They are the preferred method of communication for many millions of deaf and hard of hearing people worldwide.

How do sign languages compare with written or spoken languages?

Just like written or spoken languages, sign languages have their own sentence structures, grammatical organisation and vocabulary. The way the hands are positioned in relation to the body can be almost important as the sign itself, for instance.

But signed languages don’t depend on the spoken or written languages of the same region. Nor do they usually mirror or represent them.

They even have some features which many spoken languages do not. For example, some signed languages have rules for indicating a question only has a yes or no answer.

Sign languages usually develop within deaf communities. Thus, they can be quite separate from the local oral language. The usual example given is that while American English and British English are largely identical, American Sign Language and British Sign Language have many differences.

However, spoken languages and signed languages do come into contact all the time. This means that oral languages do often have some influence on signed languages.

The different types of sign languages used around the world

If you are intending to do business with or advertise your products to deaf or hard of hearing people around the world, it is important to understand the type of sign language they prefer to use.

You can easily set up sign language interpreting services between a given oral language and a given signed language – as long as you know the specific language barrier you want to bridge the gap between.

Some of the most common sign languages in the world include:

British Sign Language, Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language (BANZSL)

The way in which British Sign Language (BSL), Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) relate to each other is illustrative of the dynamic differences between even closely related signed languages.

British Sign Language, codified in British schools for the deaf in the 1700s, spread around the world as the British Empire and Commonwealth did. This included reaching both Australia and New Zealand.

Thus, New Zealand Sign Language and Auslan, Australian Sign Language, share the same manual alphabet, grammar and much of the same lexicon (that is to say the same signs) as BSL. So much so that a single phrase – BANZSL – was coined to represent them as a single language with three dialects.

1) Differences between dialects

But even within BANZSL, all three dialects of which evolved from the same roots, there are differences.

For example, a key difference between New Zealand Sign Language and the other dialects is that NZSL includes signs for Māori words. It is also heavily influenced by its Auslan roots.

Auslan is itself influenced by Irish Sign Language (which in turn, derives from a French Sign Language root).

2) Differences within dialects

Plus, within each of these dialects, there are other dialects, variants and even what might be considered accents.

Within Auslan, for instance, some dialects might include features taken from Indigenous Australian sign languages which are completely unrelated to Auslan.

Other variants are regional. Certain signs used by BSL speakers in Scotland are unlikely to be understood by BSL speakers in southern England, for instance.

Another example is the city of Manchester in England, whose BSL-speaking population often use their own signed numbering system.

3) Differences within regions

Despite the implications of the names, languages such as British Sign Language or Australian Sign Language are also not the only signed languages used in Britain or Australia.

Many Indigenous Australian groups have their own sign languages. Within the UK, while around 145 000 people have BSL as their first or preferred language, others prefer different ways of communicating.

For example, Sign-Supported English (SSE) is a signed language which uses many of the same signs as BSL but which is designed to be used in support of spoken English. Thus, it tends to follow the same grammatical rules as the oral language instead of those of BSL.

French Sign Language (LSF)

French Sign Language (LSF – Langue des Signes Française) is another origin point for many of the world’s most-used sign languages. It arose amongst the deaf community in Paris and was codified by Charles Michel de l’Épée in the 1770s.

Although de l’Epee added a whole host of extra and often overly complex rules to the existing system, he did at least popularise the idea that sign languages were actual languages – to the point they were accepted by educators up until the rise of oralism.

Today, LSF is spoken by around 100 000 people in France as their first or preferred language. It has also had a significant impact on the development of ASL, Irish Sign Language and Russian Sign Language among many others.

However, again, it would be a mistake to assume that French Sign Language is simply used everywhere French is spoken. Many French-speaking regions have their own sign languages, including:

• Canada: has LSQ (la Langue des Signes Québécois), also referred to as Quebec Sign Language or French Canadian Sign Language, in its francophone regions and ASL (American Sign Language) in its anglophone parts.
• Belgium: has Flemish Belgian Sign Language and French Belgian Sign Language.

There are also numerous regional dialects even within France. These include Southern French Language, also known as Marseilles Sign Language.

American Sign Language (ASL)

American Sign Language borrows a large number of its grammatical laws from LSF, French Sign Language. But it combines them with local signs first used in America.

Today, anywhere from 250 000 to 500 000 use ASL as their preferred or first language. This is because, as well as being widely used by deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States, the language is also used in:

• English-speaking parts of Canada
• Parts of West Africa
• Parts of South-East Asia

Irish Sign Language (ISL)

Irish Sign Language also derives from LSF, French Sign Language. There are certainly influences from the BSL spoken in nearby regions, but ISL remains its own language.

Somewhere around 5000 deaf and hard of hearing people in the Republic of Ireland, as well as some in Northern Ireland, have ISL as their first or preferred language

A dialect difference almost unique to ISL is that which once existed between male and female ISL speakers. This came about through deaf or hard of hearing Irish Catholic students who leaned in schools which operated on lines of gender segregation.

These differences are almost entirely absent from modern ISL. Yet they are one more illustration of the way signed languages can develop in different ways among different groups from the same root.

Japanese Sign Language (JSL)

It has been said that Japanese Sign Language (Nihon Shuwa, 日本手話) reflects oral Japanese more closely than British Sign Language or American Sign Language reflect spoken English.

Speakers of JSL often mouth the way Japanese characters are spoken orally to make it clear which sign they are using. This is an important distinction from languages like ASL or BSL, where gestures and facial expressions are often more important.

Somewhere around 60 000 of the 300 000 deaf or hard of hearing people in Japan use JSL and there are several regional dialects. Many of the 200 000 or more others use:

• Taiou Shuwa: Sign-Supported Speech which works in something of the same manner as Sign-Supported English.
• Chuukan Shuwa: contact sign language. These languages include both oral and manual parts. The “contact” refers to the way they develop in the space where manual and oral languages come into contact.

Chinese Sign Language (CSL or ZGS)

Chinese Sign Language (CSL, written as 中国手语 in simplified Chinese and 中國手語 in traditional Chinese) is sometimes abbreviated as ZGS because of the Hanyu Pinyin romanised name of the language, Zhōngguó Shǒuyǔ.

The History of Chinese Sign Language

Although in recent years Chinese Sign Language has started to become more accepted in China, it remains unknown how many deaf or hard of hearing in the country actually use or prefer it.

This is largely because, up until very recently, many deaf Chinese children were taught in special schools using an oralist approach. This practice was strictly encouraged for the last half-century or more.

However, throughout the time when the oralist approach was the only standard in Chinese education for the deaf, CSL was still spread through smaller schools and workshops in various communities.

Today, there are around 20 million deaf or hard of hearing people in China. It’s estimated that around 1 in 20 or possibly more use CSL.

Chinese Sign Language – a unique language

Chinese Sign Language is a language isolate, meaning it is a natural language which has no other antecedents.

The language does have some parallels with oral Chinese. For example, there are two different signs for “older brother” and “younger brother”. This mirrors the fact that there are distinct words for each in oral Chinese too, instead of a generic word for “brother”.

CSL also includes pictorial representations as part of the language. This includes gesturing the use of chopsticks as the sign for eat.

Is there a universal sign language?

Strictly speaking, yes. International Sign – sometimes referred to as Gestuno, International Sign Pidgin or International Gesture – is a theoretically universal sign language used at the Deaflympics and other international deaf events.

That said, International Sign has been criticised for drawing heavily from European and North American sign languages at the possible expense of deaf and hard of hearing people from other parts of the world.

International Sign also may not, strictly speaking, meet the requirements for being counted a true language. It has recently been argued that International Sign is more like a complex pidgin – a term often used to describe a somewhat simplified form of communication developed between groups which speak different languages – rather than a complete language in and of itself.

International Sign Language Day

International Sign Language Day takes place every year on September 23rd. If nothing else this year, it’s worth thinking a little about how signed communication really works.

The differences between the sign languages spoken around the world are just as diverse and intriguing as those between spoken languages.

Do you need to set up sign language interpreting for your physical or virtual event, appointment or business meeting?

Asian Absolute works with individuals and businesses in every industry to bridge language gaps both spoken and signed.

Let’s talk. Get a free quote with zero obligation or more information today.

ASL Grammar:

A
«grammar» is a set of rules for using a language.  These rules guide users
in the correct speaking or signing of a language.

The
grammar of a language is decided by the group of people who use the
language. New grammar rules come into existence when enough members of the
group have spoken (signed)  their language a particular way often enough and
long enough that it would seem odd to speak the language in some other way.
 

American Sign Language is tied to the Deaf Community.   We use our language
in a certain way.  That «certain way» is what constitutes ASL grammar.

American Sign Language has its own grammar system that is different in many
ways from that of English.  What this means is ASL grammar has its own rules for how
signs are built (phonology),
what signs mean (morphology), the order in which signs should be signed (syntax),
and the way context influences signing (pragmatics).
 

Let’s
briefly discuss «topic-comment» sentence structure and topicalization. 

 

What
is Your Topic?

A topic
is what you are talking about. You can use either a subject or object as the
«topic» in a sentence.

A.    If you use
the subject as your topic, then you are using an active voice.

BOY THROW BALL.                   The boy threw the ball.

B.     If you
use the object as your topic, then you are using a passive voice.

BALL, BOY THROW.                  The ball was thrown by the boy.

Note
that the active voice is in Subject-Verb-Object word order:   BOY THROW
BALL.  The passive voice is in Object, Subject-Verb word order:  BALL BOY
THROW. 
 

What
is Topic-Comment Format?

Both of
the aforementioned sentences are in Topic-Comment format.  As we’ve already
established, the topic is what you are talking about and the comment makes
observations about that topic.  Topic is for the first item mentioned in a
sentence (whether it is the subject or object) and the comment is the
latter, and it makes a comment about the topic.  So let’s take a look
at those sentences again:
 

A.    Active
Voice, using the subject as your topic.

BOY THROW BALL.                  
Topic: BOY 
Comment: 
THROW BALL

What is the topic?  Boy
What
is the comment saying about the boy?  He threw the ball.

B.     Passive
Voice, using the object as your topic.

BALL, BOY THROW.                 
Topic: BALL
Comment: 
BOY THROW

What is the topic?  Ball
What is the comment saying about the
ball?  It was thrown by the boy.

So, as
you can see, the topic can be either a subject or an object.  Now
that we’ve established the topic can be a «BOY» or it can be the «BALL» he
is throwing, and it can either be the subject or object of the sentence. 

 

A.    The BOY
can be:

�       
The subject of the sentence: 
BOY THROW BALL.

�       
The object of the sentence: BALL,
HIT BOY.

B.     The BALL
can be:

�       
The subject of the sentence: 
BALL, HIT BOY.

�       
The object of the sentence: BOY
THROW BALL.

In each of these examples, the comment
is either THROW BALL» or HIT BOY.

A
Topic-Comment sentence structure can use either a Subject-Verb-Object or an
Object-Subject-Verb word order. 
SVO is perfectly acceptable in ASL (regardless of what your ASL 1 teacher
may tell you).
 

Sign Order:

Imagine
two people are sitting somewhat near each other at a bar.  For this
story we will suppose one is a man and one is a woman.  The man decides that
the woman is really cool and he’d like to ask her on a date. But first he
leans over and asks, «You married?»

To his
relief she replies, «No, I’m not.»

She
then leans toward him and asks, «Are you married?»

To her
relief he replies, «No.»

They
start dating, get married, and have a wonderful life. End of story.

Did you
see what happened there? Let’s take a look at those English sentences
again.  He didn’t use the word «are» in his sentence, but she did:
 

He leans over and asks, «You
married?»
(The tone of his voice rising toward the end of the sentence to indicate
it is a question.)

�..

She then leans toward him and asks,
«Are you married?»
(She stresses the word «you» in her sentence and raises her tone at the
end of the sentence.)He
didn’t use the words «I’m not» in his sentence but she did:
 

To his relief she replies, «No, I’m
not.»

��

To her relief he replies, «No.»

She
probably used «are» in «Are you married?» so that she could emphasize the word «you.» 
Why did she do that?  It is likely she wanted to make it clear that she
expected equal exchange of information and no «funny business.»

All
human languages possess a variety of right ways to say things.  The
same is true of ASL.  There are a variety of «right ways» to
structure your sentences in ASL. You
can use more or fewer signs and rearrange them depending on the context of
your sentence and what you want to emphasize.  To ask the equivalent of «Are
you married?» you can sign in any of the formats:
 

YOU MARRIED?

MARRIED YOU?

YOU MARRIED YOU?
 

Topicalization

Now
let’s talk more about the
Object, Subject, Verb (OSV) order. As a general rule, when we use that particular
signing order, we tend to use topicalization. 

Another
way to ask that same question is, «When should you use topicalization?»

Specifically, «When should you sign the object at
the beginning of your sentence while raising your eyebrows?»

There
are several situations when you should topicalize. A few examples applying
to ASL are:

A.  When the subject is unknown: MY WALLET? GONE!

I don’t
know why it is missing, if it was stolen, or who stole it.

To sign
this with active voice I would sign something to the effect of, «SOMEONE
STOLE MY WALLET» — which requires more signing.

B.  Irrelevancy: MY CAR? SOLD!

It
doesn’t really matter who sold it. Just that the process is over. So why
should I waste time explaining who sold it?

C.  Efficiency and/or Expediency: MY CELL PHONE? FOUND!

If I
explained to you last week that was at the county fair and lost my text
messaging device I don’t want to have to explain it to you again if you
still remember what had happened. So I sign «CELLPHONE» with my eyebrows up
and if you nod in recognition, I go ahead and tell you that it was found.

D.  Clarification:  MY SISTER SON? HE GRADUATE.
Perhaps you know that I have more than one nephew.  If I signed «MY NEPHEW
GRADUATE» you still don’t know for sure «who» graduated.  It is more
effective to clarify that it was my sister’s son that graduated and not my
brother’s son. 

 Some
instructors overemphasize topicalization or give the impression that the
majority of ASL communication is topicalized. The fact is many ASL sentences
are simply «Subject, Verb-(transitive), Object» example: «INDEX BOY THROW
BALL» («The boy threw the ball.») or are Subject-Verb (intransitive), for
example: «HE LEFT.»

So,
let’s review that again.  Topicalization means that you are using the object
of the sentence as the topic and introducing it using a «yes/no question
expression» (raised eye brows and head slightly tilted forward) followed by a
comment.

A
sentence using Topic-Comment sentence structure can either topicalized or non-topicalized:
 

A.   
Topicalized

1.     YOUR MOM?
I MET YESTERDAY! 

Your mom is the topic and the sentence is in Object-Verb-Subject word
order

2.     MY CAT?
DIED!

My cat is the topic and the sentence is in Object-Verb word order. The
word, MY, is an attributive adjective.

B.     Non-topicalized

1.      I MET
YOUR MOM YESTERDAY!

I am the topic and the sentence is in Subject-Verb-Object word order.

2.     MY CAT
DIED!  [Note there is no comma or question mark after «CAT.»]

My cat is the topic and the sentence is in Subject-Verb word order. The
word, MY, is an attributive adjective.

If the following question were to appear on an exam, which answer should you
select?

Which of the following sentences uses topicalization?

A.   
Subject-Verb-Object:  BOY THROW BALL.          

B.    
Subject-Verb: BOY RUN.                                  

C.   
Subject-Noun:  HE HOME.                                

D.   
Subject-Adjective:  HE TALL .                                     

E.     Object,
Subject-Verb:  MONEY?  she-GIVE-me.

The right answer is:  MONEY? 
she-GIVE-me.

Please
keep in mind that you don’t have to use topicalization. 

Topicalization is not the norm
in extended Deaf conversations and is reserved for specific purposes such
as emphasis, expediency, clarification, or efficiency.

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Additional notes:

The term «grammar» is typically used to refer to «the
proper use of language.»  More specifically «a grammar» is a set
of rules for using a language.  These rules guide users in
the correct speaking or signing of a language.  

Who decides what is correct and incorrect grammar?  

The
grammar (set of rules for proper use) of a language is developed by the group of people who use the
language. New grammar rules come into existence when enough members of the
group have spoken (signed)  their language a particular way often
enough and long enough that it would seem odd to speak the language in some
other way.

If you don’t want to seem odd to others in your group, you’ve got to speak (sign)
a language according to the rules which have been developed by the community
which uses the language.

American Sign Language is tied to the Deaf
Community.   We use our language in a certain way.  That
«certain way» is what constitutes ASL grammar.

American Sign Language has its own grammar system,
separate from that of English.

What this means is ASL grammar has its own rules for phonology, morphology,
syntax, and pragmatics.

In general, ASL sentences follow a «TOPIC» «COMMENT» arrangement.
Another name for  a «comment» is the term «predicate.»  A
predicate is simply a word or phrase that says something about a topic. In
general, the subject of a sentence is your topic. The predicate is your
comment. 

When discussing past and future events we tend to establish a time-frame before the rest of the sentence.

That gives us a «TIME» «TOPIC» «COMMENT» structure.

For example:
or «WEEK-PAST  Pro1  WASH MY CAR » 

[The «Pro1» term means to use a first-person pronoun. A first-person
pronoun means «I or me.» So «Pro1» is just a fancy way of saying «I» or
«me.» In the above example you would simply point at yourself to
mean «Pro1.»]

Quite often ASL signers will use the object of their sentence as
the topic.  For example:

«MY CAR, WEEK-PAST I WASH»
[Note: The eyebrows are raised and the head is tilted slightly forward
during the «MY CAR» portion of that sentence.]

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. 

There is more than one sign for
«WASH.»  Washing
a car or a window is different from the generic sign for «WASH»
to wash-in-a-machine, or to
wash
a dish. The real issue here isn’t so much the order of the words as it
is choosing appropriate ASL sign to accurately represent the concept. 

There are a number of «correct» variations of
word order in American Sign Language (Humphries & Padden, 1992).

For example you could say: «I STUDENT I» or, «I STUDENT» or even,
«STUDENT I.» 
Note: The concept of «I» in these sentences is done by pointing an index
finger at your chest and/or touching the tip of the index finger to your
chest.

You could sign:

«I FROM U-T-A-H I.»
«I FROM U-T-A-H.»
«FROM U-T-A-H I.»

All of the above
statements are «ASL.»

I notice that some «ASL» teachers tend to become fanatical about encouraging
their students to get as far away from English word order as possible and
thus focus on the version «FROM U-T-A-H I.»

It has been my experience during my various travels across
the U.S. that the versions «I STUDENT» and «I FROM U-T-A-H» work great and
are less confusing to the majority of people.

The version «FROM UTAH I» tends to be used
only after the
subject of the conversation has been introduced.  For example, suppose
two people are talking about a man named Bob.  If one of them says he
«thought Bob was from California» and I happen to know he is really from
Utah, I would sign «FROM UTAH HE» while nodding.

Think for a moment about how English uses the phrases:
«Do you…____?»
«Did you…_____?»
«Are you…_____?»

For example, «Are you going?»

A «hearing» English speaker might also say to
his/her friend in regard to a party which has recently been brought up as a
conversation topic: «You going?»

Woah! Think about that for a moment. Have you ever asked an English teacher
what is wrong with English since English sometimes uses the
word «are» and doesn’t the word «are» at other times? 

In ASL «You going?» — tends to be expressed as «YOU GO?»
In ASL «Are you going?» — tends to be expressed as, «YOU GO YOU?»
Think of the second «YOU» as being «are you?» For example: «YOU GO
(are)-YOU?»
So, the second «YOU» actually means «are.»  Heh.

ASL doesn’t use «state of being» verbs.

The English sentence «I am a
teacher» could be signed: «TEACHER ME » [while nodding your
head] or even «ME TEACHER»
[while nodding your head]. Both are correct, my suggestion is to choose the second version. 
You might even see: PRO-1 TEACHER PRO-1 (which can also be written as I/ME
TEACHER I/ME since PRO-1 means first person pronoun).  Or think of it
as meaning «I TEACHER AM» with the concept of «am» just happening to be
expressed via nodding while pointing at yourself.

If you are striving to pass an «ASL
test» like the American Sign Language Teachers Association certification test
(ASLTA), or the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI), sure, go
ahead and use a version such as «TEACHER ME» —not because it is any more ASL but because it
«looks» less like English.  Test evaluators are only human.
[And remember to use appropriate facial expressions!] 

---

Dr. Vicars: Let’s discuss indexing, personal
pronouns, and directionality.

First off, indexing: It is when you point your index at a person who is or
isn’t in the signing area. Sometimes we call that present referent or absent referent.

If the person is there, you can just point at him to mean «HE»

If the person is not there, if you have identified him by spelling his name
or some other method of identification, (like a «name sign»), then you can «index»
him to a point in space. Once you have set up a referent, you can refer back to that same point each time you want to
talk about that person.

Need clarification on that ?

Students: [a lot of «no» answers]

[Topic:  «Personal Pronouns»]

Dr. Vicars: Now lets talk about personal pronouns.

The simplest way is to just point. If I am talking to you and want to say
«YOU» then I point. To pluralize a personal pronoun, you sweep it. For example the concept of «THEY.» I
would point slightly off to the right and sweep it more to the right. For «YOU ALL» I would
point slightly to the left and sweep to slightly to the right, (crossing my sight line).

Of course if the people are present then you can simply point to them. The
more people there are the bigger the sweep. Any questions about personal pronouns?

Art: Does the sweep dip?

Dr. Vicars: It stays on a horizontal plane most of the time. If I am talking about a
group that is
organized vertically then I will sign (sweep) from top to bottom in an vertical motion.
But that is
rare.

Dr. Vicars: Okay now let’s see how this all ties into the principle of
«directionality.»

Suppose I index BOB on my right and FRED on my left. Then I sign «GIVE-TO»
from near my body to the place where I indexed Bob. That means «I give
(gave) (something) to Bob.»

If I sign GIVE TO starting the movement from the place off to the right and move it to
the left it means Bob gave to Fred. If I sign starting from off to the left and bring the sign GIVE TO toward my body what
would it mean?

Sandy: «Fred give to me?»

Dr. Vicars: Right.

Sandy: How do you establish tense at that point?

Dr. Vicars: Tense would be established before signing the rest of the sentence. I would
say, «YESTERDAY ME-GIVE-TO B-0-B» The fingerspelling of BOB would be immediately
after the ME-GIVE-TO and I would spell B-O-B slightly more to the right than normal. That way I
wouldn’t need to point to Bob. However there are three or four other acceptable ways to
sign the above sentence. You could establish Bob then indicate that yesterday you gave it to
him, etc.

Lii: Can tense be done at end of sentence, or is that confusing?

Dr. Vicars: That is confusing—I don’t recommend it. I can however give you an example of
«appropriately» using a time sign at the end of a sentence. Suppose I’m talking
with a friend about a problem that occurred yesterday and I sign: TRY FIND-OUT WHAT-HAPPEN
YESTERDAY

Dr. Vicars: That sentence talks about a situation that happened before now, but the
current conversation is happening now. Some people might try to put the sign «YESTERDAY»
at the beginning of that sentence, but I wouldn’t—it feels awkward.

Dr. Vicars: You can directionalize many different verbs. Hand-to is
probably the best example, but
«MEET» is also common. [To sign MEET, you hold both index fingers out in front
of you about a foot apart, pointed up, palms facing each other. Then you bring them together—it looks
like two people meeting. Note: The index fingers do not touch, just the lower parts of the hands.]

For example ME-MEET-YOU can be done in one motion. I don’t need to sign «I»
«MEET» «YOU» as three separate words. But rather I hold my right Index finger near me,
palm facing you, and my left index finger near you, palm facing me. Then I bring my right to my left.
One motion is all it took.

Monica: How do we know which verbs to use?

Dr. Vicars: That is the challenging part. Some just aren’t directional in nature. For example:
«WANT.» You have to sign it normal and indicate who wants what.

Dr. Vicars: But if you are in doubt about whether or not to use indexing or
directionality, go ahead and index it works every time even though it takes more effort. 
(If you are taking an «in-person» class and prepping for an ASL
test, it is in your best interest to become familiar with which of your
vocabulary words can be directionalized or else you might lose points for
not demonstrating proper ASL grammar.)

Monica:

Art: Could you give examples for sweep, chop, and inward sweep diagrams used in [the
«Basic Sign Communication» book] please.

[Note, I used to use BSC as a of the text in one of my classes. I’ve used many
other texts as well.  They all have their good points.]

Dr. Vicars: Sure. The sweep would be to pluralize a sign like THEY.

Dr. Vicars: The chop I’m not sure what you’re referring to is it …

[Clarification was made. The diagram in question is in the Basic Sign Communication
text, ISBN 0-913072-56-7, Level1, module 4, page 17]

Art: Yes, the center at the bottom

Dr. Vicars: Hold…okay…got it. You are talking about the three diagrams below the
slightly larger one is that right?

Art: Yes

Dr. Vicars: Good…we’re making progress… If I were handing a paper to a number of
individuals, I would use several short ME-GIVE-TO-YOU motions strung
together in a left to right sweeping motion.

If I were talking about passing a piece of paper to the class in general I would use
a sweeping motion from left to right. If I were giving the paper to just two
people, I’d use two ME-GIVE-TO-YOU motions one slightly to the left, then
one slightly to the right.

Art: Thanks

[…various discussion…]

 Lii: How does one go about using «ing, s, and ed endings?» Does it need to be done?

Dr. Vicars: Good question Lii. Can I answer that next week during the grammar discussion?

Lii: You bet.

Dr. Vicars: Thanks Lii

Sandy: Similar question — how do we use punctuation? Just pause — other than emphasis
with face?

Dr. Vicars: Again a good question. Okay then, let me go ahead and answer both questions
now, then we’ll hear comments from those of you who have them.

Dr. Vicars: When you ask about «s,» you are asking about pluralization.
In ASL you can pluralize any particular
concept in a number of ways. So far in our lessons we have been using a sweeping motion, (for
example we turn the sign
«HE» into the word «THEY» by adding a sweeping movement). 

The suffix «ed» is established by using a «tense
marker» like the sign PAST or is understood by context. For example if I know you are talking about a trip you went on last week, You
don’t need to keep signing «PAST,» I would understand it was past tense. You could
sign «TRUE GOOD» and I would know you meant «The trip went really well.» 
If I sign, «YESTERDAY ME WALK SCHOOL,» the word «walk»
would be understood as «walked.»

About punctuation, you are right, you punctuate a sentence via your pauses and
facial expressions.  One common type of punctuation is that of adding a
question mark at the end of a question by drawing a question mark in the air
or by holding the index finger in front of you in an «x» shape
then straightening and bending it a few times. This is called a
«Question Mark Wiggle.» Most of the time people don’t use Question
Mark Wiggle at the end of a question.  Instead they rely on facial
expression to indicate that a question has been asked.

Suffixes such as «ing,» «ed,» and others are not used in ASL in the
sense that they are not separate signs that are added to a word. If I want to change
«learn» into
«learning» I simply sign it twice to show it is a process. Many times the
«ing» is implied. For example, «YESTERDAY I RUN» could be interpreted as «Yesterday I went for a
run,» or you could interpret it as, «Yesterday I was running.» How you interpret it would
depend on the rest of the message (context).  …more >

Grammar 2 |
3
Inflection

---

Notes: 
What equals «correct grammar» is
determined by a type of group consensus.  Consensus occurs when an
opinion or decision is reached by a group as a whole. Political or
governmental bodies try to «come to a consensus» on issues. For
example, I was a student senator for a while.  Occasionally as a
group we would «come to a consensus» on some topic.  Coming
to a consensus didn’t mean that everyone agreed with every aspect of the
decision, but we were willing to go along with the group and support the
decision.

That is how it is in ASL.  The older folks don’t always
agree with signs used by the younger folks. Those who teach ASL classes
often don’t agree with the general use of certain signs that they consider
to be «signed English.» But it isn’t «one person’s or one instructor’s
opinion» that determines what constitutes ASL — it is the group.

Note:  In this discussion the phrase «speaking a
language» is not limited to «voicing» but rather it also
includes signing or producing a language.

 

---

References:
Humphries, T., & Padden, C. (1992). Learning American sign
language. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.

The grammar of American Sign Language (ASL) is the best studied of any sign language, though research is still in its infancy, dating back only to William Stokoe in the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

MorphologyEdit

ASL morphology is to a large extent iconic.^{[dubious – discuss][citation needed]} This shows up especially well in reduplication and indexicality.

DerivationEdit

Compounding is used to derive new words in ASL, which often differ in meaning from their constituent signs.^[1] For example, the signs FACE and STRONG compound to create a new sign FACE^STRONG, meaning ‘to resemble’.^[1] Compounds undergo the phonetic process of «hold deletion», whereby the holds at the end of the first constituent and the beginning of the second are elided:^[1]

ASL compounding^[2]

Individual signs	Compound sign
FACE	STRONG	FACE^STRONG
MH	HMH	MMH

Many ASL nouns are derived from verbs.^[2] This may be done either by reduplicating the movement of the verb if the verb has a single movement, or by restraining (making smaller and faster) the movement of the verb if it already has repeated movement.^[3] For example, the noun CHAIR is derived from the verb SIT through reduplication.^[3] Another productive method is available for deriving nouns from non-stative verbs.^[4] This form of derivation modifies the verb’s movement, reduplicating it in a «trilled» manner («small, quick, stiff movements»).^[4] For example, this method is used to derive the noun ACTION from the verb ACT.^[4]

Characteristic adjectives, which refer to inherent states, may be derived from adjectives which refer to «incidental or temporary states».^[5] Characteristic adjectives always use both hands, even if the source adjective only uses one, and they always have repeated, circular movement.^[5] Additionally, if the source adjective was one-handed, the derived adjective has alternating movement.^[5] «Trilling» may also be used productively to derive adjectives with an «ish» meaning, e.g. BLUE becomes BLUISH.^[6]

ASL occasionally uses suffixation in derivation, but less often than in English.^[6] Agent nouns may be derived from verbs by adding the suffix AGENT and deleting the final hold of the verb, e.g. TEACH+AGENT ‘teacher’.^[6] Superlatives are also formed by suffixation, e.g. SMART+MOST ‘smartest’.^[7]

Certain types of signs, for example those relating to time and age, may incorporate numbers by assimilating their handshape.^[7] For example, the word WEEK has handshape /B/ with the weak hand and /1/ with the active hand; the active hand’s handshape may be changed to the handshape of any number up to 9 to indicate that many weeks.^[7]

There are about 20 non-manual modifiers in ASL, which are either adjectival or adverbial.^[8] For example, the adverb ‘th‘, realized as the tongue being placed between the teeth, means ‘carelessly / lazily’ when combined with a verb:^[9]

JOHN

WRITE

LETTER

‘John writes a letter.’

‘John writes a letter carelessly.’

DegreeEdit

Mouthing is when an individual appears to be making speech sounds, and this is very important for fluent signing. It also has specific morphological uses. For example, one may sign ‘man tall’ to indicate the man is tall, but by mouthing the syllable cha while signing ‘tall’, the phrase becomes that man is enormous!

There are other ways of modifying a verb or adjective to make it more intense. These are all more or less equivalent to adding the word «very» in English; which morphology is used depends on the word being modified. Certain words which are short in English, such as ‘sad’ and ‘mad’, are sometimes fingerspelled rather than signed to mean ‘very sad’ and ‘very mad’. However, the concept of ‘very sad’ or ‘very mad’ can be portrayed with the use of exaggerated body movements and facial expressions. Reduplication of the signs may also occur to emphasize the degree of the statement. Some signs are produced with an exaggeratedly large motion, so that they take up more sign space than normal. This may involve a back-and-forth scissoring motion of the arms to indicate that the sign ought to be yet larger, but that one is physically incapable of making it big enough. Many other signs are given a slow, tense production. The fact that this modulation is morphological rather than merely mimetic can be seen in the sign for ‘fast’: both ‘very slow’ and ‘very fast’ are signed by making the motion either unusually slowly or unusually quickly than it is in the citation forms of ‘slow’ and ‘fast’—not exclusively by making it slower for ‘very slow’ and faster for ‘very fast’.

ReduplicationEdit

Reduplication is morphological repetition, and this is extremely common in ASL. Generally the motion of the sign is shortened as well as repeated. Nouns may be derived from verbs through reduplication. For example, the noun chair is formed from the verb to sit by repeating it with a reduced degree of motion. Similar relationships exist between acquisition and to get, airplane and to fly (on an airplane), also window and to open/close a window. Reduplication is commonly used to express intensity as well as several verbal aspects (see below). It is also used to derive signs such as ‘every two weeks’ from ‘two weeks’, and is used for verbal number (see below), where the reduplication is iconic for the repetitive meaning of the sign.

CompoundsEdit

Many ASL words are historically compounds. However, the two elements of these signs have fused, with features being lost from one or both, to create what might be better called a blend than a compound. Typically only the final hold (see above) remains from the first element, and any reduplication is lost from the second.

An example is the verb AGREE, which derives from the two signs THINK and ALIKE. The verb THINK is signed by bringing a 1 hand inward and touching the forehead (a move and a hold). ALIKE is signed by holding two 1 hands parallel, pointing outward, and bringing them together two or three times. The compound/blend AGREE starts as THINK ends: with the index finger touching the forehead (the final hold of that sign). In addition, the weak hand is already in place, in anticipation of the next part of the sign. Then the hand at the forehead is brought down parallel to the weak hand; it approaches but does not make actual contact, and there is no repetition.

AffixesEdit

ASL, like other mature signed languages, makes extensive use of morphology.^[10] Many of ASL’s affixes are combined simultaneously rather than sequentially. For example, Ted Supalla’s seminal work on ASL verbs of motion revealed that these signs consist of many different affixes, articulated simultaneously according to complex grammatical constraints.^[11] This differs from the concatenative morphology of many spoken languages, which except for suprasegmental features such as tone are tightly constrained by the sequential nature of voice sounds.

ASL does have a limited number of concatenative affixes. For example, the agentive suffix (similar to the English ‘-er’) is made by placing two B or 5 hands in front of the torso, palms facing each other, and lowering them. On its own this sign means ‘person’; in a compound sign following a verb, it is a suffix for the performer of the action, as in ‘drive-er’ and ‘teach-er’. However, it cannot generally be used to translate English ‘-er’, as it is used with a much more limited set of verbs. It is very similar to the ‘-ulo’ suffix in Esperanto, meaning ‘person’ by itself and ‘-related person’ when combined with other words.

An ASL prefix, (touching the chin), is used with number signs to indicate ‘years old’. The prefix completely assimilates with the initial handshape of the number. For instance, ‘fourteen’ is signed with a B hand that bends several times at the knuckles. The chin-touch prefix in ‘fourteen years old’ is thus also made with a B hand. For ‘three years old’, however, the prefix is made with a 3 hand.

Numeral incorporation and classifiers Edit

Rather than relying on sequential affixes, ASL makes heavy use of simultaneous modification of signs. One example of this is found in the aspectual system (see below); another is numeral incorporation: There are several families of two-handed signs which require one of the hands to take the handshape of a numeral. Many of these deal with time. For example, drawing the dominant hand lengthwise across the palm and fingers of a flat B hand indicates a number of weeks; the dominant hand takes the form of a numeral from one to nine to specify how many weeks. There are analogous signs for ‘weeks ago’ and ‘weeks from now’, etc., though in practice several of these signs are only found with the lower numerals.

ASL also has a system of classifiers which may be incorporated into signs.^[12] A fist may represent an inactive object such as a rock (this is the default or neutral classifier), a horizontal ILY hand may represent an aircraft, a horizontal 3 hand (thumb pointing up and slightly forward) a motor vehicle, an upright G hand a person on foot, an upright V hand a pair of people on foot, and so on through higher numbers of people. These classifiers are moved through sign space to iconically represent the actions of their referents. For example, an ILY hand may ‘lift off’ or ‘land on’ a horizontal B hand to sign an aircraft taking off or landing; a 3 hand may be brought down on a B hand to sign parking a car; and a G hand may be brought toward a V hand to represent one person approaching two.

The frequency of classifier use depends greatly on genre, occurring at a rate of 17.7% in narratives but only 1.1% in casual speech and 0.9% in formal speech.^[13]

FramesEdit

Frames are a morphological device that may be unique to sign languages (Liddell 2004). They are incomplete sets of the features which make up signs, and they combine with existing signs, absorbing features from them to form a derived sign. It is the frame which specifies the number and nature of segments in the resulting sign, while the basic signs it combines with lose all but one or two of their original features.

One, the ^WEEKLY frame, consists of a simple downward movement. It combines with the signs for the days of the week, which then lose their inherent movement. For example, ‘Monday’ consists of an M/O hand made with a circling movement. ‘Monday^WEEKLY‘ (that is, ‘on Mondays’) is therefore signed as an M/O hand that drops downward, but without the circling movement. A similar ^{ALL DAY} frame (a sideward pan) combines with times of the day, such as ‘morning’ and ‘afternoon’, which likewise keep their handshape and location but lose their original movement. Numeral incorporation (see above) also uses frames. However, in ASL frames are most productively utilized for verbal aspect.

Verbal aspectEdit

While there is no grammatical tense in ASL, there are numerous verbal aspects. These are produced by modulating the verb: Through reduplication, by placing the verb in an aspectual frame (see above), or with a combination of these means.

An example of an aspectual frame is the unrealized inceptive aspect (‘just about to X’), illustrated here with the verb ‘to tell’. ‘To tell’ is an indexical (directional) verb, where the index finger (a G hand) begins with a touch to the chin and then moves outward to point out the recipient of the telling. ‘To be just about to tell’ retains just the locus and the initial chin touch, which now becomes the final hold of the sign; all other features from the basic verb (in this case, the outward motion and pointing) are dropped and replaced by features from the frame (which are shared with the unrealized inceptive aspects of other verbs such as ‘look at’, ‘wash the dishes’, ‘yell’, ‘flirt’, etc.). These frame features are: Eye gaze toward the locus (which is no longer pointed at with the hand), an open jaw, and a hand (or hands, in the case of two-hand verbs) in front of the trunk which moves in an arc to the onset location of the basic verb (in this case, touching the chin), while the trunk rotates and the signer inhales, catching her breath during the final hold. The hand shape throughout the sign is whichever is required by the final hold, in this case a G hand.

The variety of aspects in ASL can be illustrated by the verb ‘to be sick’, which involves the middle finger of the Y/8 hand touching the forehead, and which can be modified by a large number of frames. Several of these involve reduplication, which may but need not be analyzed as part of the frame. (The appropriate non-manual features are not described here.)

• stative «to be sick» is made with simple iterated contact, typically with around four iterations. This is the basic, citation form of the verb.
• inchoative «to get sick, to take sick» is made with a single straight movement to contact and a hold of the finger on the forehead.
• predisposional «to be sickly, to be prone to get sick» is made with incomplete motion: three even circular cycles without contact. This aspect adds reduplication to verbs such as ‘to look at’ which do not already contain repetition.
• susceptative «to get sick easily» is made with a thrusting motion: The onset is held; then there is a brief, tense thrust that is checked before actual contact can be made.
• frequentative «to be often sick» is given a marcato articulation: A regular beat, with 4–6 iterations, and marked onsets and holds.
• susceptive and frequentative may be combined to mean «to get sick easily and often»: Four brief thrusts on a marked, steady beat, without contact with the forehead.
• protractive «to be continuously sick» is made with a long, tense hold and no movement at all.
• incessant «to get sick incessantly» has a reduplicated tremolo articulation: A dozen tiny, tense, uneven iterations, as rapid as possible and without contact.
• durative «to be sick for a long time» is made with a reduplicated elliptical motion: Three slow, uneven cycles, with a heavy downward brush of the forehead and an arching return.
• iterative «to get sick over and over again» is made with three tense movements and slow returns to the onset position.
• intensive «to be very sick» is given a single tense articulation: A tense onset hold followed by a single very rapid motion to a long final hold.
• resultative «to become fully sick» (that is, a complete change of health) is made with an accelerando articulation: A single elongated tense movement which starts slowly and heavily, accelerating to a long final hold.
• approximative «to be sort of sick, to be a little sick» is made with a reduplicated lax articulation: A spacially extremely reduced, minimal movement, involving a dozen iterations without contact.
• semblitive «to appear to be sick» [no description]
• increasing «to get more and more sick» is made with the movements becoming more and more intense.

These modulations readily combine with each other to create yet finer distinctions. Not all verbs take all aspects, and the forms they do take will not necessarily be completely analogous to the verb illustrated here. Conversely, not all aspects are possible with this one verb.

Aspect is unusual in ASL in that transitive verbs derived for aspect lose their transitivity. That is, while you can sign ‘dog chew bone’ for the dog chewed on a bone, or ‘she look-at me’ for she looked at me, you cannot do the same in the durative to mean the dog gnawed on the bone or she stared at me. Instead, you must use other strategies, such as a topic construction (see below) to avoid having an object for the verb.

Verbal numberEdit

Reduplication is also used for expressing verbal number. Verbal number indicates that the action of the verb is repeated; in the case of ASL it is apparently limited to transitive verbs, where the motion of the verb is either extended or repeated to cover multiple object or recipient loci. (Simple plurality of action can also be conveyed with reduplication, but without indexing any object loci; in fact, such aspectual forms do not allow objects, as noted above.) There are specific dual forms (and for some signers trial forms), as well as plurals. With dual objects, the motion of the verb may be made twice with one hand, or simultaneously with both; while with plurals the object loci may be taken as a group by using a single sweep of the signing hand while the verbal motion is being performed, or individuated by iterating the move across the sweep. For example, ‘to ask someone a question’ is signed by flexing the index finger of an upright G hand in the direction of that person; the dual involves flexing it at both object loci (sequentially with one hand or simultaneously with both), the simple plural involves a single flexing which spans the object group while the hand arcs across it, and the individuated plural involves multiple rapid flexings while the hand arcs. If the singular verb uses reduplication, that is lost in the dual and plural forms.

Name signsEdit

There are three types of personal name signs in ASL: fingerspelled, arbitrary, and descriptive. Fingerspelled names are simply spelled out letter-by-letter. Arbitrary name signs only refer to a person’s name, while descriptive name signs refer to a person’s personality or physical characteristics.^[14] Once given, names are for life, apart from changing from one of the latter types to an arbitrary sign in childhood.^{[citation needed][15]} Name signs are usually assigned by another member of the Deaf community, and signal inclusion in that community. Name signs are not used to address people, as names are in English, but are used only for third-person reference, and usually only when the person is absent.^[16]

The majority of people, probably well in excess of 90%, have arbitrary name signs. These are initialized signs: The hand shape is the initial of one of the English names of the person, usually the first.^[17] The sign may occur in neutral space, with a tremble; with a double-tap (as a noun) at one of a limited number of specific locations, such as the side of the chin, the temple, or the elbow;^[18] or moving across a location or between two locations, with a single tap at each.^[19] Single-location signs are simpler in connotation, like English «Vee»; double-location signs are fancier, like English «Veronica». Sam Supalla (1992) collected 525 simple arbitrary name signs like these.

There are two constraints on arbitrary signs. First, it should not mean anything. That is, it should not duplicate an existing ASL word.^[20] Second, there should not be more than one person with the name sign in the local community. If a person moves to a new community where someone already has their name sign, then the newcomer is obligated to modify theirs^{[dubious – discuss]}. This is usually accomplished by compounding the hand shape, so that the first tap of the sign takes the initial of the person’s first English name, and the second tap takes the initial of their last name. There are potentially thousands of such compound-initial signs.

Descriptive name signs are not initialized, but rather use non-core ASL signs. They tend to be assigned and used by children, rather like «Blinky» in English. Parents do not give such names to their children, but most Deaf people do not have deaf parents and are assigned their name sign by classmates in their first school for the deaf. At most 10% of Deaf people retain such name signs into adulthood.^{[citation needed]}. Arbitrary name signs became established very early in the history of ASL. Descriptive name signs refer to a person’s appearance or personality.^{[citation needed]}

The two systems, arbitrary and descriptive, are sometimes combined, usually for humorous purposes. Hearing people learning ASL are also often assigned combined name signs. This is not traditional for Deaf people. Sometimes people with very short English names, such as «Ann» or «Lee», or ones that flow easily, such as «Larry», may never acquire a name sign, but may instead be referred to with finger-spelling.

Word orderEdit

Default word order is SVOEdit

ASL is a subject-verb-object (SVO) language.^[21]

Edit

The default SVO word order is sometimes altered by processes including topicalization and null elements;^[22] this is marked either with non-manual signals like eyebrow or body position, or with prosodic marking such as pausing.^[21] These non-manual grammatical markings (such as eyebrow movement or head-shaking) may optionally spread over the c-command domain of the node which it is attached to.^[23] However, ASL is a pro-drop language, and when the manual sign that a non-manual grammatical marking is attached to is omitted, the non-manual marking obligatorily spreads over the c-command domain.^[24]

The full sentence structure in ASL is [topic] [subject] verb [object] [subject-pronoun-tag]. Topics and tags are both indicated with non-manual features, and both give a great deal of flexibility to ASL word order.^[25] Within a noun phrase, the word order is noun-number and noun-adjective.

ASL does not have a copula (linking ‘to be’ verb).^[26] For example:

[name

my]^TOPIC

P-E-T-E

my name is Pete

Noun-adjective orderEdit

In addition to its basic topic–comment structure, ASL typically places an adjective after a noun, though it may occur before the noun for stylistic purposes. Numerals also occur after the noun, a very rare pattern among oral languages.

DOG

BROWN

I

HAVE

I have a brown dog.

Adverbs, however, occur before the verbs. Most of the time adverbs are simply the same sign as an adjective, distinguished by the context of the sentence.

HOUSE

I

QUIET

ENTER

I enter the house quietly.

When the scope of the adverb is the entire clause, as in the case of time, it comes before the topic. This is the only thing which can appear before the topic in ASL: time–topic–comment.

9-HOUR

MORNING

STORE

I

GO

I’m going to the store at 9:00AM.

Modal verbs come after the main verb of the clause:

FOR

YOU,

STORE

I

GO

CAN

I can go to the store for you.

Time-sequenced clause orderingEdit

ASL makes heavy use of time-sequenced ordering, meaning that events are signed in the order in which they occur. For example, for I was late to class last night because my boss handed me a huge stack of work after lunch yesterday, one would sign ‘YESTERDAY LUNCH FINISH, BOSS GIVE-me WORK BIG-STACK, NIGHT CLASS LATE-me’. In stories, however, ordering is malleable, since one can choose to sequence the events either in the order in which they occurred or in the order in which one found out about them.

Tense and aspectEdit

It has been claimed that tense in ASL is marked adverbially, and that ASL lacks a separate category of tense markers.^[27] However, Aarons et al. (1992, 1995) argue that «Tense» (T) is indeed a distinct category of syntactic head, and that the T node can be occupied either by a modal (e.g. SHOULD) or a lexical tense marker (e.g. FUTURE-TENSE).^[27] They support this claim by noting that only one such item can occupy the T slot:^[28]

REUBEN

CAN

RENT

VIDEO-TAPE

‘Reuben can rent a video tape.’

REUBEN

WILL

RENT

VIDEO-TAPE

‘Reuben will rent a video tape.’

*

REUBEN

CAN

WILL

RENT

VIDEO-TAPE

* ‘Reuben can will rent a video tape.’

Aspect may be marked either by verbal inflection or by separate lexical items.^[29]

These are ordered: Tense – Negation – Aspect – Verb:^[30]

		neg	(non-manual negation marker)
GINGER	SHOULD	NOT	EAT	BEEF
‘Ginger should not eat beef.’

	neg
DAVE	NOT	FINISH	SEE	MOVIE
‘Dave did not see (to completion) the movie.’

Aspect, topics, and transitivityEdit

As noted above, in ASL aspectually marked verbs cannot take objects. To deal with this, the object must be known from context so that it does not need to be further specified. This is accomplished in two ways:

1. The object may be made prominent in a prior clause, or
2. It may be used as the topic of the utterance at hand.

Of these two strategies, the first is the more common. For my friend was typing her term paper all night to be used with a durative aspect, this would result in

my friend type T-E-R-M paper. type^DURATIVE all-night

The less colloquial topic construction may come out as,

[my friend]^TOPIC, [T-E-R-M paper]^TOPIC, type^DURATIVE all-night

CP SyntaxEdit

Topics and main clausesEdit

A topic sets off background information that will be discussed in the following main clause. Topic constructions are not often used in standard English, but they are common in some dialects, as in,

That dog, I never could hunt him.

Topicalization is used productively in ASL and often results in surface forms that do not follow the basic SVO word order.^[31] In order to non-manually mark topics, the eyebrows are raised and the head is tilted back during the production of a topic. The head is often lowered toward the end of the sign, and sometimes the sign is followed rapidly nodding the head. A slight pause follows the topic, setting it off from the rest of the sentence:^[32]

[MEAT]^tm,

I

LIKE

LAMB

As for meat, I prefer lamb.

Another way topics may be signed is by shifting the body. The signer may use the space on one side of his/her body to sign the topic, and then shifts to the other side for the rest of the sentence.^[32]

ASL utterances do not require topics, but their use is extremely common. They are used for purposes of information flow, to set up referent loci (see above), and to supply objects for verbs which are grammatically prevented from taking objects themselves (see below).

Without a topic, the dog chased my cat is signed:

DOG

CHASE

MY

CAT

The dog chased my cat

However, people tend to want to set up the object of their concern first and then discuss what happened to it. English does this with passive clauses: my cat was chased by the dog. In ASL, topics are used with similar effect:

[MY

CAT]^tm

DOG

CHASE

lit. ‘my cat, the dog chased it.’

If the word order of the main clause is changed, the meaning of the utterance also changes:

[MY

CAT]^tm

CHASE

DOG

‘my cat chased the dog,’
lit. ‘my cat, it chased the dog.’

There are three types of non-manual topic markers, all of which involve raised eyebrows.^[33] The three types of non-manual topic markers are used with different types of topics and in different contexts, and the topic markings cannot spread over other elements in the utterance. Topics can be moved from and remain null in the main clause of an utterance, or topics can be base-generated and either be co-referential to either the subject or object in the main clause or be related to the subject of object by a semantic property.^[34]

The first type of non-manual marking, topic marking 1 (tm1), is only used with a moved topic.^[35] Tm1 is characterized by raised eyebrows, widened eyes, and head tilted backwards. At the end of the sign the head moves down and there is a pause, often with an eye blink, before the sentence is continued.^[36] The following is an example of a context in which the tm1 marking is used:

[MARY]^tm1

JOHN

LOVE

‘Mary, John loves,’ or ‘John loves Mary’^[37]

Topic marking 2 (tm2) and topic marking 3 (tm3) are both used with base-generated topics. Tm2 is characterized by raised eyebrows, widened eyes, and the head tilted backwards and to the side. Toward the end of the sign the head moves forward and to the opposite side, and there is a pause and often an eye blink before continuing.^[38] For tm3 the eyebrows are raised and the eyes are opened wide, the head starts tilted down and jerks up and down, the lips are opened and raised, and the head is nodded rapidly a few times before pausing and continuing the sentence. Although both tm2 and tm3 accompany base-generated topics, they are used in different contexts. Tm2 is used to introduce new information and change the topic of a conversation to something that the signer is going to subsequently characterize, while tm3 is used to introduce new information that the signer believes is already known by his/her interlocutor.^[39] Tm2 may be used with any base-generated topic, whereas only topics that are co-referential with an argument in the sentence may be marked with tm3.^[40]

An example of a tm2 marking used with a topic related to the object of the main clause is:

[VEGETABLE]^tm2,

JOHN

LIKE

CORN

‘As for vegetables, John likes corn.’^[38]

An example of a tm2 marking used with a co-referential topic is:

[FRESH

VEGETABLE]^tm3,

JOHN

LIKE

IX-3rd

‘As for fresh vegetables, John likes them.’^[41]

IX-3rd represents a 3rd person index.

Another example of a tm2 marking with a co-referential topic is:

[JOHN_i]^tm2,

IX-3rd_i

LOVE

MARY

‘as for John, he loves Mary’^[41]

An example of a tm3 topic marking is:

[JOHN_i]^tm3,

IX-3rd_i

LOVE

MARY

‘(you know) John, he loves Mary’^[42]

ASL sentences may have up to two marked topics.^[33] Possible combinations of topic types are two tm2 topics, two tm3 topics, tm2 preceding tm1, tm3 preceding tm1, and tm2 preceding tm3. Sentences with these topic combinations in the opposite orders or with two tm1 topics are considered ungrammatical by native signers.^[43]

Relative clausesEdit

Relative clauses are signaled by tilting back the head and raising the eyebrows and upper lip. This is done during the performance of the entire clause. There is no change in word order. For example:

[recently

dog

chase

cat]^RELATIVE

come

home

The dog which recently chased the cat came home

where the brackets here indicate the duration of the non-manual features. If the sign ‘recently’ were made without these features, it would lie outside the relative clause, and the meaning would change to «the dog which chased the cat recently came home».

Negated clausesEdit

Negated clauses may be signaled by shaking the head during the entire clause. A topic, however, cannot be so negated; the headshake can only be produced during the production of the main clause. (A second type of negation starts with the verb and continues to the end of the clause.)

In addition, in many communities, negation is put at the end of the clause, unless there is a wh- question word. For example, the sentence, «I thought the movie was not good,» could be signed as, «BEFORE MOVIE ME SEE, THINK WHAT? IT GOOD NOT.»

There are two manual signs that negate a sentence, NOT and NONE, which are accompanied by a shake of the head. NONE is typically used when talking about possession:

DOG

I

HAVE

NONE

I don’t have any dogs.

NOT negates a verb:

TENNIS

I

LIKE

PLAY

NOT

I don’t like to play tennis.

Interrogative clausesEdit

There are three types of questions with different constructions in ASL: wh- questions, yes/no questions, and rhetorical questions.^[44]

Non-manual grammatical markingsEdit

Non-manual grammatical markings are grammatical and semantic features that do not include the use of hands.  They can include mouth shape, eye gazes, facial expressions, body shifting, head tilting, and eyebrow raising.  Non -manual grammatical markings can also aid in identifying sentence type, which is especially relevant to our discussion of different types of interrogatives.^[45]

Wh-questionsEdit

Wh-questions can be formed in a variety of ways in ASL. The wh-word can appear solely at the end of the sentence, solely at the beginning of the sentence, at both the beginning and end of the sentence (see section 4.4.2.1 on ‘double-occurring wh-words’, or in situ (i.e. where the wh-word is in the sentence structure before movement occurs)).^[46] Manual wh-signs are also accompanied by a non-manual grammatical marking (see section 4.4.1), which can include a variety of features.^[47] This non-manual grammatical marking can spread optionally over the entire wh-phrase or just a small part.

Some languages have very few wh-words, where context and discourse are sufficient to elicit the information that one needs. ASL has many different wh-words, with certain wh-words having multiple variations. A list of the wh-words of ASL can be found below. WHAT, WHAT-DO, WHAT-FOR, WHAT-PU, WHAT- FS, WHEN, WHERE, WHICH, WHO (several variations), WHY, HOW, HOW-MANY^[48]

Double-occurring wh-wordsEdit

As mentioned above, ASL possesses wh-questions with word initial placement, word final placement, in situ structure, but the most unique style of wh-word occurrence in ASL is where the wh-word occurs twice, copied in final position.^[49] This doubling can be seen in the table below.

WHAT	JOHN	BUY	WHAT
‘what did John buy’

This doubling provides a useful template to analyze 2 separate analyses about whether wh-words move rightward or leftward in ASL. While some researchers argue for rightward movement in wh- questions such as Aarons and Neidle,^[50] others, including Petronio and Lillo-Martin, have argued that ASL has leftward movement and wh- words that appear to the right of the clause move by other processes.^[51] Both analyses agree upon the fact that there is wh-movement present in these interrogative phrases, but it is a matter of what direction the wh-movement is moving in that causes controversy. No matter what direction the wh-movement is analyzed to go in, it is crucial to the analysis that the movement of the wh-element is to the position of SPEC CP^[52]

Leftward Wh-movement Analysis in American Sign Language

Lillo-Martin & Fischer’s, and Petronio’s leftward wh-movement analysisEdit

Summary of the leftward wh-movement analysis in American Sign Language:

The leftward movement analysis is congruent with cross linguistic data that wh-movement is always leftward.  It can be seen as the less controversial of the 2 proposals.  The main arguments presented by the Leftward Wh-movement analysis are: That the spec-CP is on the left, that the wh-movement is leftward, and that the final wh-word in a sentence is a base-generated double.  This is illustrated in the syntax tree located to the right of this paragraph.^[53]  Arguments for leftward movement are based on the facts that if wh-movement in ASL were rightward, ASL would be an exception to cross-linguistic generalizations that wh-movement is leftward.^[51]

It has also been hypothesized that wh-elements cannot be topicalized, as topicalized elements must be presupposed and interrogatives are not.^[54]  This would be detrimental to the rightward analysis, as they are analyzing the doubled wh-word as a ‘base generated topic’.  

Aarons et al.’s rightward wh-movement analysisEdit

Summary of the rightward wh-movement analysis in American Sign Language

Rightward Wh-movement Analysis in American Sign Language

The rightward movement analysis is a newer, more abstract argument of how wh-movement occurs in ASL.  The main arguments for rightward movement begin by analyzing spec-CP as being on the right, the wh-movement as being rightward, and as the initial wh-word as a base-generated topic.^[55] This can be seen in the syntax tree on the right.  

One of the rightward movement analysis’ main arguments is in regards to the non-manual grammatical markings, and their optional spreading over the sentence.  In ASL the use of non-manual grammatical markings is optional depending on the type of wh-question being asked.  In the rightward analysis both partial and full spreading of non-manual grammatical markers can be accounted for due to the association with the +WH feature over its c-command domain.^[56] In the leftward analysis, the partial or full spreading of non manual grammatical markings cannot be accounted for in this same way.  The leftward movement analysis requires wh-marking to extend over the entirety of the question, regardless (which is not what is attested in ASL).  

Yes/no questionsEdit

In spoken language Yes/no questions will oftentimes differ in their word order from the statement form. For example, in English:

English Statement:

HE WILL BUY THE SHIRT.

English Yes/no Q:

WILL HE BUY THE SHIRT?^[57]

In ASL, yes/no questions are marked by the non-manual grammatical markings (as discussed in section 4.4.1).  This eyebrow raise, slight tilt of the head and lean forward are what indicate that a yes/no question is being asked, without any change in word order from the statement form. There is speculation amongst linguists that these non-manual grammatical markings that indicate a yes/no questions are similar to the question intonation of spoken languages.^[58]

Yes/no questions differ from wh-questions as they do not differ in word order from the original statement form of the sentence, whereas wh-questions do.  As well, in yes/no questions, the non-manual marking must be used over the whole utterance in order for it to be judged as a statement opposed to a question.^[59] The yes/no question is the same word order as the statement form of the sentence, with the addition of non-manual grammatical markings. This can be seen in the examples below.

ASL Statement:

JUAN WILL BUY SHOES TODAY
«Juan will buy shoes today»

ASL Yes/no Question:

_____________________brow raise

JUAN WILL BUY SHOES TODAY

«Will Juan buy shoes today?»^[60]

Rhetorical questionsEdit

Non-manual grammatical markings are also used for rhetorical questions, which are questions that do not intend to elicit an answer. To distinguish the non-manual marking for rhetorical questions from that of yes/no questions, the body is in a neutral position opposed to tilted forward, and the head is tilted in a different way than in yes/no questions.^[61] Rhetorical questions are much more common in ASL than in English. For example, in ASL:

[I

LIKE]^NEGATIVE

[WHAT?]^RHETORICAL,

GARLIC.

«I don’t like garlic»

This strategy is commonly used instead of signing the word ‘because’ for clarity or emphasis. For instance:

PASTA

I

EAT

ENJOY

TRUE

[WHY?]^RHETORICAL,

ITALIAN

I.

«I love to eat pasta because I am Italian»

DP syntaxEdit

Subject pronoun tagsEdit

Information may also be added after the main clause as a kind of ‘afterthought’. In ASL this is commonly seen with subject pronouns. These are accompanied by a nod of the head, and make a statement more emphatic:

boy

fall

«The boy fell down.»

versus

boy

fall

[he]^TAG

«The boy fell down, he did.»

The subject need not be mentioned, as in

versus

fall

[he]^TAG

«He fell down, he did.»

DeixisEdit

In ASL signers set up regions of space (loci) for specific referents (see above); these can then be referred to indexically by pointing at those locations with pronouns and indexical verbs.

PronounsEdit

Personal pronouns in ASL are indexic. That is, they point to their referent, or to a locus representing their referent. When the referent is physically present, pronouns involve simply pointing at the referent, with different handshapes for different pronominal uses: A ‘G’ handshape is a personal pronoun, an extended ‘B’ handshape with an outward palm orientation is a possessive pronoun, and an extended-thumb ‘A’ handshape is a reflexive pronoun; these may be combined with numeral signs to sign ‘you two’, ‘us three’, ‘all of them’, etc.

If the referent is not physically present, the speaker identifies the referent and then points to a location (the locus) in the sign space near their body. This locus can then be pointed at to refer to the referent. Theoretically, any number of loci may be set up, as long as the signer and recipient remember them all, but in practice, no more than eight loci are used.

Meier 1990 demonstrates that only two grammatical persons are distinguished in ASL: First person and non-first person, as in Damin. Both persons come in several numbers as well as with signs such as ‘my’ and ‘by myself’.

Meier provides several arguments for believing that ASL does not formally distinguish second from third person. For example, when pointing to a person that is physically present, a pronoun is equivalent to either ‘you’ or ‘(s)he’ depending on the discourse. There is nothing in the sign itself, nor in the direction of eye gaze or body posture, that can be relied on to make this distinction. That is, the same formal sign can refer to any of several second or third persons, which the indexic nature of the pronoun makes clear. In English, indexic uses also occur, as in ‘I need you to go to the store and you to stay here’, but not so ubiquitously. In contrast, several first-person ASL pronouns, such as the plural possessive (‘our’), look different from their non-first-person equivalents, and a couple of pronouns do not occur in the first person at all, so first and non-first persons are formally distinct.

Personal pronouns have separate forms for singular (‘I’ and ‘you/(s)he’) and plural (‘we’ and ‘you/they’). These have possessive counterparts: ‘my’, ‘our’, ‘your/his/her’, ‘your/their’. In addition, there are pronoun forms which incorporate numerals from two to five (‘the three of us’, ‘the four of you/them’, etc.), though the dual pronouns are slightly idiosyncratic in form (i.e., they have a K rather than 2 handshape, and the wrist nods rather than circles). These numeral-incorporated pronouns have no possessive equivalents.

Also among the personal pronouns are the ‘self’ forms (‘by myself’, ‘by your/themselves’, etc.). These only occur in the singular and plural (there is no numeral incorporation), and are only found as subjects. They have derived emphatic and ‘characterizing’ forms, with modifications used for derivation rather like those for verbal aspect. The ‘characterizing’ pronoun is used when describing someone who has just been mentioned. It only occurs as a non-first-person singular form.

Finally, there are formal pronouns used for honored guests. These occur as singular and plural in the non-first person, but only as singular in the first person.

ASL is a pro-drop language, which means that pronouns are not used when the referent is obvious from context and is not being emphasized.

Indexical verbsEdit

Within ASL there is a class of indexical (often called ‘directional’) verbs. These include the signs for ‘see’, ‘pay’, ‘give’, ‘show’, ‘invite’, ‘help’, ‘send’, ‘bite’, etc. These verbs include an element of motion that indexes one or more referents, either physically present or set up through the referent locus system. If there are two loci, the first indicates the subject and the second the object, direct or indirect depending on the verb, reflecting the basic word order of ASL. For example, ‘give’ is a bi-indexical verb based on a flattened M/O handshape. For ‘I give you’, the hand moves from myself toward you; for ‘you give me’, it moves from you to me. ‘See’ is indicated with a V handshape. Two loci for a dog and a cat can be set up, with the sign moving between them to indicate ‘the dog sees the cat’ (if it starts at the locus for dog and moves toward the locus for cat) or ‘the cat sees the dog’ (with the motion in the opposite direction), or the V hand can circulate between both loci and myself to mean ‘we (the dog, the cat, and myself) see each other’. The verb ‘to be in pain’ (index fingers pointed at each other and alternately approaching and separating) is signed at the location of the pain (head for headache, cheek for toothache, abdomen for stomachache, etc.). This is normally done in relation to the signer’s own body, regardless of the person feeling the pain, but may take also use the locus system, especially for body parts which are not normally part of the sign space, such as the leg. There are also spatial verbs such as put-up and put-below, which allow signers to specify where things are or how they moved them around.

ConjunctionsEdit

There is no separate sign in ASL for the conjunction and. Instead, multiple sentences or phrases are combined with a short pause between. Often, lists are specified with a listing and ordering technique, a simple version of which is to show the length of the list first with the nondominant hand, then to describe each element after pointing to the nondominant finger that represents it.

English: I have three cats and they are named Billy, Bob, and Buddy.

ASL: CAT I HAVE THREE-LIST. NAME, FIRST-OF-THREE-LIST B-I-L-L-Y, SECOND-OF-THREE-LIST B-O-B, THIRD-OF-THREE-LIST B-U-D-D-Y.

There is a manual sign for the conjunction or, but the concept is usually signed nonmanually with a slight shoulder twist.

English: I’ll leave at 5 or 6 o’clock.

ASL: I LEAVE TIME 5 [shoulder shift] TIME 6.

The manual sign for the conjunction but is similar to the sign for different. It is more likely to be used in Pidgin Signed English than in ASL. Instead, shoulder shifts can be used, similar to «or» with appropriate facial expression.

English: I like to swim, but I don’t like to run.

ASL/PSE: SWIM I LIKE, BUT RUN I LIKE-NOT

ASL: SWIM I LIKE, [shoulder shift] RUN I LIKE-NOT

NotesEdit

ReferencesEdit

• Aarons, Debra (1994). Aspects of the syntax of American Sign Language (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Bahan, Benjamin (1996). Non-Manual Realization of Agreement in American Sign Language (PDF). Boston University. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
• Klima, Edward & Bellugi, Ursula (1979). The Signs of Language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-80795-2.
• Liddell, Scott K. (2003). Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language. Cambridge University Press.
• Neidle, Carol (2002). Language across Modalities: ASL focus and question constructions. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 2(1), 71–98.
• Petronio, Karen, & Lillo-Martin, Diane (1997). WH-Movement and the Position of Spec-CP: Evidence from American Sign Language. Language, 73(1), 18–57.
• Pichler, Debora Chen (2001). Word order variation and acquisition in American Sign Language (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Connecticut.
• Stokoe, William C. (1976). Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. Linstok Press. ISBN 0-932130-01-1.
• Stokoe, William C. (1960). Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf. Studies in linguistics: Occasional papers (No. 8). Buffalo: Dept. of Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Buffalo.

Further readingEdit

• Signing Naturally by Ken Mikos
• The Syntax of American Sign Language: Functional Categories and Hierarchical Structure by Carol Jan Neidle
• Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language by Scott K. Liddell
• Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction, 4th Ed. by Clayton Valli