ASL 4 Test 2

the rule of last-mentioned subject

another rule in asl which helps to reduce this need to continually re-state the subject of non-directional verbs

pluralization: number signs 3

SEVERAL and FEW are similar in form except that more fingers are extended in the sign SEVERAL and it has a larger movement, non-manual behaviors that accompany these two signs tend to be different; SOME/PART seems to be infrequently used-although it occurs more often in english-influenced contexts

Glossing

Writing one language in another, written info; writing what is signed (sign for sign), includes notations for facial and body grammar; attempting to transcribe a language, representing it in text form (word for word); allows researchers and/or students to make notes in their L1 regarding their L2; does not equal english (ex. FINE does not mean a ticket fine)

setting up referents in space: what, where, and how

a crucial feature of asl is its use of space; 'set up' or 'establish' non-present referents (people, things, places), point to those locations (which 'stand for' the referents, and those points serve as pronouns -- just like they did when the referents were present in the comm. area)

direct object

a noun that a subject acts upon

indirect object

a noun that is the recipient of or is affected by the subject

subject

a noun that represents a person or thing that does something

predicate adjectives

be/become sick, be/become frustrated, be/become wrong, be/become silly, etc

some directional verbs are reciprocal

by using both hands, verbs can indicate that an action is jointly performed by two people or two things, or two groups, each hand represents the action of one person or thing; to express the meaning LOOK-AT

directional verbs

can indicate the location of an action or event by moving the verb from one spatial location to another spatial location (girl-KISS-me-ON-nose); the verb can also show where the action takes place, involves location that represent actual places (incorporates their locations by moving from one location to the other location, and expresses the action of flying from NY to Chicago), uses a variety of classifiers and directional verbs to indicate the location of several events

can also function as pronouns

certain head nods, eye gaze behavior, and facial movements

subjects/objects in asl

changes or modulations in verb formation, use of specific sign orders (when verbs cannot be modulated), changes in body positioning, shift, or eye gaze represent different participants in a narrative

info conveyed by classifiers

clarify the message, highlight specific details, and efficient way of conveying info (describe the SASSs of an object, represent the object itself, demonstrate how the object moves, convey how it relates to other objects and or people); similar to pronouns, a classifier must be "introduced" prior to using the classifier, mimic the general shape and movement of the objects to which they refer, classifiers often work well with other classifiers to provide specific details about a situation, event, person, or thing; CL provide a more precise picture of what your object looks like or of what happened

gloss: CL

classifier (CL:V bent "person sitting down")

ways to express locative relationships in asl

classifiers, directional verbs, indexing, separate locative signs

ways to indicate plurality with different types of signs

classifiers, pronouns, number signs, nouns, verbs

how asl gives information about time via verb modulations (inflections)

concerns things like the duration or frequency of an even rather than the actual time of the event, reference to the actual time of an event is tense, reference to things like the duration of an event (for a long time) or the frequency of an event (often) is called aspect

gloss: +

connects two or more parts to mean a single sign (SUN+SHINE)

pluralization: singular classifiers (CL: a, 1, c, 3, v, b, f, l, y, x)

each is used to represent one thing, repeat to pluralize it, repeated once indicates that there are two things (articulated twice), repeated twice (articulated three times) indicates either that there are 3 things or that there are some things depending on how each repetition is produced, if produced more slowly and deliberately (as if actually representing the location of each thing), then the meaning is 3 things, if the meaning is 'some' then the articulations (usually 3 or 4) are faster with less attention to actual placement

gloss: !

emphasize the sign; sign it faster, stronger, or more exaggerated than normal

body classifiers - bcl

actions in which the body enacts the verb of a sentence, like miming - role shifting may be required; used to show how a person moves his/her arms, shoulders, or head; they describe a person's actions or your own from a different place and time. normally, only the upper body is used as this is in the comfort zone for a recipient's sight line to the receiver; ex. waving, shrugging, shivering, hands on hips, rubbing your nose, gesturing, scolding, praising, giving congrats

subjects and objects

all languages have ways of signaling which noun (or noun phrase) is the subject of the sentence and what are the grammatical functions of other nouns (noun phrases) which may also appear in the sentence

gloss: non-manual signals

formed with eyebrows, head, and/or lips (ME DON'T-KNOW confused); incorporate throughout the sentence (whq YOU NAME WHAT YOU whq)

indexing as a way to express locative relationships in asl

frequently used by asl signers to indicate the location of something (this location can be a 'real-life' location), its location may be understood in relation to other things that have been given locations in the signing space; if the locative relationship between two things is obvious (clearly understood from the context), then it is usually unnecessary to specify that relationship

classifiers are ______ used to indicate the spatial relationship between two or more referents since many of them can easily moved around in space

frequently; many classifiers can either be 'placed' in a certain location (meaning is there), or can be moved as a verb toward a certain location (meaning 'goes there'), or moved in a certain location (meaning 'does something there')

some of the aspectual distinctions in asl that give information about time

give info about distribution; the distinction between tense and aspect is complex, especially for english speakers since english does not clearly separate the two

the verb _____ occurs with the inflection 'regularly'

GO-TO (generally a place) somewhat exclusively, which is always made with a repeated, straight-like movement indicating the 'regularity' of the event

some verbs which can be inflected in each of the 4 ways for temporal aspect

GO-TO, RUN-TO, THROW-AT, INSULT, SEND-TO, PREACH-TO, PICK-ON, MAKE-FUN-OF, BLAME, ASK-TO, HIT, GIVE-TO, INFORM, LOOK-AT, TEACH, TEASE, TTY-CALL-TO, TELL-TO, FORCE, BLAME, BAWL-OUT, TELL-LIE, PLAY, WRITE, ANALYZE, STUDY, MEETING

handshape of a sign is literally the shape(s) in which we form our hand during the production of sign

all signs have a handshape

regularly

this inflection is made with a repeated, small (non-tense) straight-line movement; frequently, repeatedly, a lot, with active focus

long time

this inflection is made with a slower, repeated, elliptical movement-composed of a rounded 'thrust' and 'return'; for a prolonged period of time

pronouns referring to 'present' people, things, places

understand the meaning of a pronominal reference

singular use of classifiers

use of both hands, repeating the classifier in alternating, or orderly fashion; using a 'sweep' to indicate many in a row

instrument classifiers (icl)

use your hands (or another part of your body) to manipulate an 'object'

pronominal classifiers

used as pronouns and can replace nouns after the noun is named, shows location, locational relationships, show action, number incorporation

classifiers are inflections of handshakes and movements

used for description, either the physical characteristics or to indicate how something is used or behaves; before using any classifier, it is important to name it and give some context so that your receiver can visualize your comm. more easily

sign order and topicalization

used to clarify the grammatical role of nouns when the verbs are non-directional, if neither of the nouns are topicalized then the sign order will be s-v-o, signer's gaze during the verb LOVE also helps to show who is doing the 'loving'

descriptive classifiers - dcl

used to describe an object or aspects of a person; they show physical characteristics of nouns, functioning much like adjectives; the noun and context still need to be given before using the classifier

body/gaze shifting

used to indicate who is performing an action or 'speaking part', most commonly used in narratives signer once shifted 'into' spatial location, represents a referent; he/she assumes the role on the referent in the narrative and signs as if he/she were the referent (it becomes clear as to what is being said and who is saying it), body position and gaze must agree with other referents in the narrative on both vertical and horizontal planes (small child looking up at an adult; teacher-student, royalty-commoner); linguistic challenges: looks like signer is speaking in first person when actually he/she may be giving a narrative, english speaker generally gives narratives in third person

plural classifiers

used to represent the locations and/or movements of more than one thing, some of these classifiers represent a specific number of people, many of the plural classifiers use some form of the 4 or 5, can represent large groups of people, animals, or things

setting up referents on the non-dominant hand

very common when listing things (the people invited to a party, the entrance req. to a school, the errands scheduled for a certain day)

gloss: lowered eyebrows

wh-word questions (whq WHERE whq)

pluralization: number signs 2

when both a number sign and a classifier refer to the same noun in a sentence generally the number sign will occur after the noun and the classifier will be last, the non-specific (indefinite) number signs (many, few, several, some/part) also tend to occur after the noun and follow the other patterns of the definite number signs; the indefinite number signs do not seem to be used as often in asl as indefinite number words are used in a spoken language like english, when indefinite number signs do occur in asl sentences they often seem to be used to focus on the degree of plurality

non-manual behaviors subj/obj identification

when signer is a subject, body tilts toward referent, when signer is object, body tilts away from the referent, a verb can be made in a specific area, indicating action in that area

subjects/obj in english

word order determines grammatical roles in english: subjects, verbs follow, objects later

what is a pronoun

words or signs that 'stand for' ('pro') a noun, reduce continually repeat the whole noun or noun phrase

asl pronouns are different from english pronouns

grammatical role (subject, object) of the pronoun in an asl sentence also does not change the form of the pronoun, the distinction that english makes between 'he' (subject) and 'him' (object) is not used in asl, asl will use the same pronoun in both cases

at least two types of classifiers

in which particular handshape (with a particular palm orientation) is used to represent a noun and can indicate the location of that noun and its actions, illustrate certain physical features of a noun as well as indicate its location in space (sasses)

gloss: IX

index/point toward a certain location, object, or person (IX MAN)

Examples of pronominalization

indexing, eye-indexing, possessive reference, reflexive/emphatic reference, demonstrative reference

pluralization: nouns

indicate that a referent is plural by repeating the noun itself (usually once, such repetition is only possible with a small number of nouns (SENTENCE, LANGUAGE, RULE, MEANING, SPECIALITY-FIELD, AREA, ROOM/BOX, HOUSE, STREET/WAY, STATUE)

locatives

indicate the spatial location of something in relation to something else - all language have ways of describing the spatial relationship between two or more things (english speakers use prepositional phrases)

plural classifiers (pcl)

indicates a specific number or a non-specific number

gloss: #

lexicalization of a fingerspelled word (#ALL, #WHAT, #BUSY)

classifiers provide additional info about nouns and verbs

location, kind of action, size, shape and manner

manipulation of the verb is dependent upon knowing the locations of first person, second person, and third person referents in space

locations in space can also represent actual locations FLY-TO, DRIVE-TO, GO-TO; indicate actual movement from one location to another location

pluralization: classifiers

many classifiers in asl are singular - they represent one thing; if the signer wants to represent more than one thing with a classifier, s/he will either pluralize the singular classifier (generally by adding repetition or a 'sweeping' movement to the classifier) or will use a plural classifier

body classifiers

mime

mouth morphemes

mm, puff cheeks, th, sta

verbs-show action

modulations of several types of verbs show who or what are the subj and obj (direct, indirect, oblique) in sentences; varying the verb's direction of movement, and/or palm orientation, and/or location, spatial location of the signer is first person, spatial location of the addressee is second person; other (present or non-present) people, things, or places can occupy spatial locations referred to a third person

gloss: mouth morphemes

mouthed by lips (cha CL:claw cha)

with some other directional verbs that are made with both hands

non-dominant hand is held in a particular location, the palm orientation of the moving hand (i.e. the direction it faces indicates the subj/obj), composes of the head and/or body usually tilts toward the third person location when the signer is the subject, tilts away from that location when the signer is the object; FLATTER

oblique object

nouns generally found in prepositional phrases

physical characteristics of the action for classifiers

pick-up a coin (cl:f), cup (cl:c), or medium sized rock (cl:5); pour-from a cup (cl:c), a bucket (cl:cc, 2 hands)

indexing for pronominalization

point your index finger at a person who is or isn't in the signing area, once you have set up a referent, you can refer back to that same point each time you want to talk about that person

space referents: absent referent

pointing at a person or thing that isn't there, identify by spelling a name (or some other method of identification--like a name sign, or maybe someone else spelled the name, or person was sitting in a chair, got up and left), then you can index to a point in space

space referents: present referent

pointing at a person or thing within the comm. area, if the person is there, (present) you can just point at him to mean 'he' or 'she' or to an object meaning 'it'

gloss: POSS

possessives (POSS-hers)

gloss: QM-wiggle

question mark wiggle, wiggle the index finger, flexing it a few times

there are agreement rules for the use of directional verbs in asl

rules which specify that the direction of movement, location, and/or palm orientation of directional verbs must 'agree with' the spatial locations of the persons, places, or things they refer to

pronouns referring to "non-present" people, things, places

setting up referents in space: what, where, and how; setting up referents on the non-dominant hand

mime and gesture

sometimes the signer needs to actually take on the characteristics of the object in order to show how the object would act or to demonstrate its traits; this will involve using various classifiers, role shifting, and acting; ex. showing a clown handing out balloons to children, or mr. universe at a competition

how are the subjects and obj distinguished in asl

specific changes in the way the verb is made (modulations), the use of certain sign orders, especially when the verbs are of a type which cannot be modulated, changes in the signer's body position to represent different speakers (subj) and addressees in 'the direct address' narratives, the direction of the signer's eye gaze (and frequent his/her position)

plural use of classifiers

specific number (cl:2, cl:3), many (cl:4, cl:5), class or group (cl:cc, 2 hands)

bodypart classifiers (bpcl)

specific part of your body is doing an action

differences between writing and gloss

target language may not have equivalent words to represent the og language (ex. asl 'pah' loosely translated means at last, finally, success, ta da, voila, presto); asl classifiers CL:3 can include info regarding location, orientation, speed, direction, and movement

unlike english, asl does not often use separate signs to describe locative relationships

tend to take advantage of signing space to illustrate how things are spatially related to each other; making the sign for each referent in a certain spatial location (frequently using classifiers) and/or by using directional verbs which indicate where something happened; looking at a particular place and pointing with the index finger are also very common ways of indicating the location of something

referent

that which you are talking about or that to which you are referring

asl has another set of verbs which are (or can be) made on the signer's body and which indicate where some action occurred (push on the shoulder) or what body part is the recipient of some action (push shoulder)

the location of these verbs varies depending on which area of the body is involved in the action, location of the verb can also indicate quite exactly where the action occurred SHAVE, HAVE-OPERATION-ON

classifiers are signs that use handshapes that are associatd with specific categories (classes) of size, shape, or usage

the movement and placement of a classifier handshape can be used to convey info about the movement, type, size, shape, location, or extent of the thing to which you are referring

classifiers are basically handshapes that are used in particular ways to represent the location and/or movement of a person or thing, or to describe certain characteristics of a person or thing, such as its shape, size, and texture

the palm orientation and movement of classifiers often vary to represent different things or to describe certain actions or characteristics of the referent

in asl, pronouns are made by pointing

(with one of several handshapes or non-manual behaviors) to a person or thing that is "present" in the area of the communication, or by pointing to a specific location in the signing space which has been chosen to represent a person or thing that is "not present" in the comm. area

a large number of verbs can be signed in specific locations to show that an action occurs at the place or thing represented by that location

CLEAN in the location that represents a table will indicate the table is clean; some verbs retain their basic movement but change their handshape to indicate what the object is - the handshape either will represent the object or will represent the handshape actually used when handling the object

the verb _____ has two inflections

DISAGREE-WITH; the inflection for reciprocity (each other) and an inflection for temporal aspect (long time)

when separate locative signs are used, they ______ always emphasize the spatial relationship

DO NOT; sometimes a separate locative sign is used when there is no classifier or directional verb in the sentence which could be used to identify that relationship (ACROSS is not a separate locative sign actually a verb that means 'go across'); many sign vocab books mislabel and misuse signs like GO-ACROSS, GO-INTO/ENTER - these signs are rarely used if ever: AT, AMONG, AROUND, or these signs are not used in separate locative signs IN-FRONT-OF, BEHIND, INTO, ACROSS

descriptive classifiers (dcl)

SASSes, describe a person or object

indexing

a signer points to the person s/he is talking with, the point means 'you', the signer points to another person, it means 'he/him' or 'she/he', pointing to a thing means 'it', pointing to a place means 'there', pointing down to the 'ground' means 'here'; honorific reference is often used; in formal contexts, speeches, religious ceremonies, in artistic presentations such as poetry, songs, and drama, or as a sarcastic reference (accompanied by appr. facial expression)

to show that something is plural, the signer may

add a plural modulation to a singular classifier, or use a plural classifier, add a plural modulation to a pronoun, use a definite number sign (two, five), an indefinite number sign (several, many); the signer may repeat a noun in different spatial locations to indicate that the referent is plural, verbs are often made to 'agree' with the plurality of the subject or object in the sentence

common for a non-manual _____ to occur with a _____ that is inflected for temporal aspect

adverb; verb

pluralization: number signs

asl can indicate plurality by using a specific number sign (two, five), a non-specific number sign (few, several, some/part, many), specific number sign will occur before the noun, when the number has special significance then its often signed after the noun and is stressed (ten), sometimes the number sign occurs both before and after the noun when the number has special significance

topicalization/sign order

asl is a visual/spatial language, relies on topic-comment structure (typically o-s-v) word order and grammar, a signer identifies a 'topic' (person, place, thing) and then adds comments about the topic, topics are set off by non-manual behaviors (raised eyebrows and short pauses), like english, asl can modify word order to identify subj. and obj.; if no nouns are topicalized, word order is s-v-o, if a/the noun is topicalized, word order is o-s-v

separate locative signs

asl tends not to use separate signs to express locative relationships in the way that english uses prepositions (does have several separate locative signs- in, outside, on, far, near, etc.); these signs seem to be used when the signer wants to focus on or emphasize the locative relationship, the signer may also want to emphasize an exact location with a separate locative sign when there are several possible spatial relationships and the signer needs to specify which one is appropriate or accurate

temporal aspect

asl uses the time line and time adverbs (recently, one week past to indicate when something happens), english often indicates tense via an affix on the verb or an auxiliary verb (i joined, i will join), asl usually indicates the time of an event with a time adverb; after the time has been indicated each subsequent sentence is understood to refer to that time frame until a new time is established (two months ago indicates that the following events are joined/paid/went, two years in the future indicate that all subsequent events (will go to) to refer to that future time)

classifiers for adverbs

convey the manner of action

number agreement rules

depending on the form of the sign, require that the noun, pronoun, classifier, adjective, and/or verb in a sentence must 'agree' with the fact that something in the sentence is plural; asl usually does not pluralize the noun itself, 'structural equivalent' of an asl sentence, the noun usually will not have an 's'

element classifiers (ecl)

describe things that do not have specific shapes or sizes, and are usually in constant motion

asl also has classifiers which can be used to describe the particular size, shape, depth, and/or texture of something as well as give it a relative location in space

descriptive classifiers are often like adj, can represent or describe several different things, but all of these things must share certain features

ways asl verbs are modulated

directional verbs agree with the subject's and object's spatial location, the movement and/or handshape of the verb agrees with a specific verb action, some directional verbs agree with two mutual referent (reciprocal verbs indicate simultaneous actions), verbs which are non-directional or 'body-anchored' require a noun or pronoun ('rule of last mentioned subject' -- if many verbs follow a subject, it is understood that all subsequent actions belong to that subject until a new referent is indicated)

classifiers 'several things in rows'

distinguishes 'things things in a row', more than one row of things, the signer can use repetition of the classifier in more than one row, many things in rows (repeat this 'sweep' more than once, each time in a different location in space)

eye-indexing

eye gaze toward someone or something can also function by itself as a pronoun referring to that person or thing; composed of: a slight brow raise, head nod or tilt toward the referent, non-manual behaviors often co-occur with manual pronouns, they can also function as a pronoun when no manual pronoun is used

common features of classifiers

fence, cage, rainbow, eyelashes (cl:4); fire, waves, traffic, war (cl:5)

gloss: fs/dashes

fingerspell the word (fs-BUS or B-U-S)

gloss: PRO-1/PRO-2/PRO-3

first person/second person/third person pronouns; I or me/you/he, she, him, or her (PRO.3 LOVE PRO.1 - He loves me or she loves me depending on identification)

FINISH and NOT-YET

focus on the aspect of completion of an event rather than specifically the time of an event; can be used to indicate the temporal aspect of completion (or non-completion)

handshapes are one of the five fundamental building blocks or parameters of a sign

handshape, movement, location, orientation, nmn

pluralization: verbs

often repeated to 'agree' with the plurality of nouns, when its repeated it indicates that the action occurred more than once or occurred over a certain period of time, [temporal aspect (repetition of the verb) involves alternating both hands, involves the simultaneous movement of both hands from/to different locations in space, then the verb also shows that a noun in the sentence (subj or obj is plural)], verb repetition in an arc will show that a noun is plural, 'sweep in a row' modulation with classifiers, alternative both hands while signing a verb will indicate that a noun is plural, asl can also take advantage of the fact that it has two 'manual articulators' (i.e. two hands) to indicate on a directional verb that there are either two subjects or two objects in a sentence

gloss: every sign has ____ gloss

one

classifiers that represent nouns: functions

ones that function as pronouns usually are made with only one hand, the other hand can be used to represent another noun; the signer can illustrate the relative locations and/or actions of two referents, done by positioning the classifiers in particular locations in space and then moving them around in relation to each other; enable

4 inflections for temporal aspect

over time (continually, regularly, for a while), regularly (frequently, repeatedly, a lot, with active focus), long time (for a prolonged period of time), over and over again (prolonged, repeated focus)

where

reality principle, order of referents with 'unknown' locations

pronouns-represent nouns

referring to "present" people, things, and places

pluralization

refers to the ways in which a language indicates that there is more than one of something, english language uses the process of adding an 's' to the noun (ships); english speakers can also indicate degrees of plurality (i.e. how much more than one) by using words like 'several ships', a 'fleet of ships', a 'great number of ships', or a 'hundred ships'

demonstrative reference

related pronouns that mean something like 'that thing' or 'that one', THAT-ONE, THAT-ONE-INDEX, THAT-ONE, THAT

classifiers for locatives

relationships between people or things

gloss: ++

repeat the sign (MEET-MANY-PEOPLE++)

two types of plural classifiers

represent a specific number of referents, represent 'many' things or people

body part classifiers - bpcl

represent a specific part of the body doing action

locative classifiers - lcl

represent an object in a specific space, sometimes including movement; the description of movement is often accompanied by face and mouth expressions to show distance, speed, and manner; eye gaze is also used to trace the path of the lcl - be sure to name the noun and set up location and context before using

semantic classifiers (scl)

represent categories of nouns, people, or vehicles

classifiers

represent general categories or 'classes' of things; they can be used to describe the size and shape of an object (or person), to represent the object itself, or the way the object moves or relates to other objects (or people); a set of handshapes that represent classes of things that share similar characteristics

singular classifiers

represent location and/or movements of one person or thing, can be made plural by using both hands such that each hand represents one thing (meaning two things), with an alternating movement (meaning 'things in a disorderly arrangement'), with a repeated or 'sweeping' straight-line movement (meaning 'several' or 'many', 'things in a row' or 'things in rows'

pluralization: plural classifiers (CL: 2, 3, 4, two handed 4, 5)

several classifiers in asl are already inherently plural, a specific number of ppl, unspecified number of ppl or things, the use of any of these classifiers will indicate that the referent is plural, the plural classifiers which do not indicate a specific number, (CL:5 indicates a 'relatively large of things')

non-manual markers include those aspects of body language that do not involve the hands such as:

shoulder movements, head tilts, and facial expressions

body and gaze shifting -- 'direct address'

show 'who does what', may move his/her body to the left or right 'into' a location that represents someone, 'in' that location everything the signer says or does reflects what that person says or does (also tends to take on other affective or characteristics traits of the person), the message has become 'personalized', indicating what was said and who said it, height of person body and gaze shifting, direct address narrative is used much more common in asl than in english

adverbial classifiers

shows directional movement

locative classifiers (lcl)

shows placement or spatial information about an object, sometimes indicate movement

many inflections (as well as other types of modulations) can occur with some signs that usually are thought of as 'adj'

sick, frustrated, wrong, silly

gloss: CAPITAL LETTERS

sign

spatial locations are pre-designated in asl

signer location=first person, addressee (who is being signed to) = second person; other present and non-present people, things, or places represent third person, other directional verbs agree with spatial locations

pluralization: singular classifiers; two of these ways involve some form of repetition

signer will repeat the movement of it, each time giving it a different location, repetition can be done mainly with the dominant hand, or with alternating movements of both hands, when both hands are used in an alternating manner - it indicates that the referents are located in several or many different places and not in a neat arrangement; indicates that the people or things are in a random (unorganized) arrangement

determine choice of classifiers

signer's perspective: distance-closer something is, the larger and more detail; further away, less detail; size and shape

gloss: - (hyphen)

single concept (GIVE-ME)

SASSes

size and shape specifiers

adjectival classifiers

size and shape specifiers (SASSes)

the closer the signers is to the thing, the larger is appears and more 'detail' s/he can see

smooth curved surface and uneven curved surface; signer's selection of various classifiers to describe and represent a referent may depend upon his/her visual perception of that referent

classifiers 'in a row'

the signer wants to indicate that the referents are arranged in an orderly configuration, s/he will repeat the classifier in a straight line with the dominant hand; non-dominant hand (with the handshape) 'holds' the starting place of the line while the dominant hand makes each separate 'articulation' (production) of it - each time moving to a slightly different location (ex. there are several pencils lined up in a row, plural modulation)

a direction verb (FORCE) occurs in the sentence, so it is not necessary to use separate signs to show who the signer is talking about and which is the subject and which is object

the verb PUNISH cannot itself include this info so the subj and obj are signed separately

pluralization: pronouns

these can be used to indicate that a referent is plural, asl has several (dual, trial, quadruple, quintuple) (us-three)

asl has a small number of classifiers which are themselves plural

they represent more than one thing

classifier handshapes represent specific categories or class or objects

things (objs, people, animals, vehicles, etc.); shapes (including outlines, perimeters, surfaces, configuration, gradients, etc.); sizes (amount, largeness, smallness, relative size, volume, etc.); usage (movement paths, speed, interactions, etc.)

instrumental classifiers - icl

this category of classifiers show which part of the body, usually the hands, is manipulating the object; some are recognized as signs such as baseball, typing, football to show action

semantic classifiers - scl

this group of classifiers represents categories of nouns such as vehicles, people, or animals; they can include info about where the classifier is located, how it moved, and its relationship to other objects

distributional aspect: to all in a group

this inflection is made with a 'sweep' of the hand in an arc along a horizontal plane, the signers eyes/head tend to follow the 'sweep'; when this inflection is used, the action is viewed as a single event (ALL)

over and over again

this inflection is made with a repeated cycle-composed of a tense straight-line movement (short 'hold' at end of 'thrust' followed by an arc-like transitional movement back to the starting place and a forward rocking motion of the body and/or head with each 'thrust'; prolonged, repeated focus

over time

this inflection is made with a repeated, circular movement; continually, regularly, for awhile

distributional aspect: to or from un-specified individuals (some/many, but not all)

this inflection is made with repeated articulations of the verb, with both hands alternating with a somewhat circular movement, the signer's eyes/head tend not to focus on any specific point, but the head often 'bobs' with each articulation of the verb; sometimes the head is bent forward with the eyes partially or fully closed, showing a lack of attention to any specific individuals; sometimes the signer's cheeks are puffed releasing air, and the action is viewed as repeated events of the same type (UNSPEC)

distributional aspect: to or from specified individuals (some/many, usually not all)

this inflection is made with repeated articulations of the verb, with both hands alternating, and moving toward or from several different points in space (not in serial order); the signer's eyes/head tend to move back and forth with each articulation, and there is frequently some kind of repeated opening and closing of the mouth - when this inflection is used, the action is viewed as repeated events of the same type (SPEC)

distributional aspect: to or from each in a group

this inflection is made with repeated, separate articulations of the verb in an arc along a horizontal plane, the signer's eyes/head tend to follow each articulation along the arc; when this inflection is used, the action is viewed as repeated events of the same type (EACH)

4 verb inflections that give info about the distribution of an action

to all in a group, to or from each in a group, to or from specified individuals (some/many, usually not all), to or from un-specified individuals (some/many, but not all)

possessive reference

to indicate 'possession' or 'ownership': 'my/mine', 'your/yours', 'his/her/hers', 'your/yours', 'their/theirs', 'our/ours'; when the thing that is owned present in the comm. area the signer may choose to reference both the owner and owned thing with the poss. pronoun; POSS-rt++ 'characteristically', TEND-TO-rt, KNOW-THAT

many verbs in asl can use these spatial locations for first, second, or third person

to show who is doing something (the subject), or to show who is receiving that action (the direct or indirect object), or to show where the action occurs (the oblique object); GIVE-TO

gloss: raised eyebrows

yes/no question (q YOU q)

reflexive/emphatic reference

yourself, myself, ourselves, yourselves-and-myself, think-yourself