The ASL and Grammar article, was explaining how the American Sign Language is different from English. The article explains how ASL is different from English by showing examples of their differences. ASL is different because of the sentence structure that it has. In English, people use articles like an, are, the, of and by. In ASL they don't use them, because to ASL articles are not necessary. An example that was used was the English say "I am a student", while ASL, says "I student". Another difference is that in ASL, they use the topic first, so that the person that they are talking to establishes what they are talking about.
Other things that the article said that ASL do was using the "wh" signs. The "wh" signs are who, what, when, where, and how. The "wh" signs were signed at the end of the sentence. Also, they use time signs like "yesterday" to set the tense of a sentence, so that a person visually knows the time period that is being discussed.
As well as ASL sentence structure, the article was about facial grammar. Facial grammar is also called "non-manual markers". When it comes to ASL and answering yes/no questions the facial expression is to raise head forward slightly, and hold the last sigh in the sentence. When a ASL has a "wh" question, they lower the eyebrow, lean head forward, and hold the last sign in the sentence that is usually the "wh" sign.
The article made an important note, which was, when watching someone do sign language the other person should watch and focus on the signers face. Also, that approximately 60% of ASL conversation is based on expressions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This article interested me quite a bit. I did not know that American Sign Language differed from the English Language so much. I was not aware that signers did not use articles or that they put who, what, when, where, and why at the end of the sentence instead of at the beginnng. However, it does make sense that the time marker is put at the beginning of the sentence. I can believe that 60% of American Sign Language is based on facial expressions, as many deaf people excel at reading lips. On the other hand, I had no idea that certain facials were attatched to specific questions.
ReplyDeleteWhen my wife was working on her master's degree, we saw actress Marlin Matlin give a lecture. She signed her entire presentation, with an interpreter providing the audio cues. It was amazing how much expression she could put into her sentences, although we recognize she is a gifted actress. The short-hand Samantha described in the article does make sense, although I did not notice any deficiency of vocabulary in the Matlin presentation. Matlin used to have a recurring role on "The West Wing" TV show and there were scenes where she punctuated her speech with a facial expression. I did not realize at the time that this was an element of the ASL grammar. We are used to audio communication, so picking up visual cues is only incidental in most conversations. It does make sense that an ASL communicator would rely so heavily on facial expressions as well as the hand gestures. The elimination of articles and other superfluous wordage is also understandable. ASL is more about communication than grammatical concerns.
ReplyDeleteASL always interested me and it was something that I always wanted to study. I knew that ASL was very different than the English language but I didn't' know in what ways. It makes sense that facial expressions plays a major role in ASL but I did not know that they don't use words like "an" or "am". This goes to show that everyone in some way are able to communicate with each other regardless of the circumstances and that communication isn't just based on speaking to other. A lot of people overlook the fact that non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal communication.
ReplyDeleteMy aunt is deaf, and she is a principal in a deaf school. She is so good at reading lips that she does not require anyone to learn ASL to communicate. However, I feel that we are lucky that she can communicate by reading lips, because I feel that learning ASL would be a challenge. I did not know the use of article is excluded from ASL. This fact does not suprise me. When you are having to sign full thoughts and sentences you are not going to miss much by losing articles. I also know from watching my aunt sign with other people that the "wh" words are excluded. I have seen her lean forward and raise her eyebrows to ask a question.
ReplyDeletePeople that are hearing impaired face challenges that most people could not understand. For instance, sitting in a classroom is something most people take for granted. However, for hearing impaired people this is very difficult, because if the instructor does not sign or make his or her face visible to the hearing impaired people it becomes a very big handicap.
The article pointed out important issues when it comes to communication. It seems completely logical that an individual using ASL would not have a need for articles. Like watching a silent film or a mime, one doesn't need to hear an article to comprehend the action being done. I observed a 2nd grade classroom last semester and there was a child in it that was hearing impared. She seemed to read lips really well and she did have some hearing but I noticed that she used facial expression more than the other children. She was more physically emotional than the others and this article has allowed me to see why. I have heard somewhere that when you are lacking one of your senses another compensates for it. This would relate with if one can not speak or hear to express their visual senses would be more sensitive than someone that could hear/speak. This was a very interesting and informative article.
ReplyDeleteI knew that ASL differed from the English language but I wasn't aware of exactly how or how much. In the future I want to be a lawyer and have always thought that sign language would be helpful, however I haven't ever learned any of it. I can also believe that 60% of ASL is based on facial expression. That makes sense because deaf people do read lips. I thought this article was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interested to me because like many others I assume that ASL and English were the same thing but just with ASL you use your hands. I always wanted to have to learn it but I never thought it was so important. Now more and more you need to be valid in all types of forms
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. My old roommate is partially deaf and has to wear hearing aides. When we first moved into our dorm, she had lost her hearing aides so had more trouble hearing. Before she told me, I used to get mad when she wouldn't respond to what I said because I thought she was ignoring me, but she really just couldn't hear me. She is excellent at reading lips and that is her main way of understanding people. I had no idea that ASL doesn't use articles and is as different from the English language as it is. I did know that facial expressions are a big part of communicating in ASL, but I didn't know that certain expressions actually mean certain things.
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be very interesting, because I have never in countered anyone that was deaf so this was a eye-opener. I didn't know that ASL don't use the grammar articles as in the English language, hearing it sounds kind of odd. I think its amazing that 60% of ASL is based on facial expression, because that's a lot.
ReplyDelete1.) This article was very interesting to me because I plan to learn ASL this summer. I also agree with Jessica that it is amazing that 60 % of ASL is based on facial expression. Just crazy but I can't wait to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too familiar with sign language, so alot of this information was news to me. I would have wagered that it was closer to English than it was. I feel that the loss of articles would make some conversations confusing. I wouldn't have guessed that 60% of the it was facial experessions either, but that would indeed explain the benefit to learning to read lips (which I've noticed alot of deaf people can). Interesting info.
ReplyDeleteI've had to learn bits and pieces of ASL in the past (because I went to school with a kid who was deaf and I also work with a child who uses simple signs because he can't speak). I don't claim to be an expert on it by any means; I only know a few signs myself. However, I did know that articles do not exist in ASL, and I also knew that facial expressions are key. Therefore, it's always really important to remember that your facial expression matches what you are trying to express in ASL.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that I only remember one letter when it comes to ASL which is pretty funny because I had taken classes for two years. I love the fact that ASL is mainly based on facial expressions, because in today's present date facial expressions for people who dont need sign language is lacking. Facial expressions to me is totally beneficial in both English and ASL.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. I had a friend take a sign language class here and he learned all about deaf culture and how to be expressive. I think we can use this in regular English with the emphasis on expression. It amazes me how important expressions, body language, and inflection is in English. Without the inflection at the end of a question, your sentence could mean something completely different, and with ASL students they have learned to accommodate their inability to inflect with body language.
ReplyDeleteBefore this article, I assumed that American Sign Language was basically the same as American English. I just figured that everything in ASL was a sign for the English equivalent. I also found it very interesting that ASL is more about facial recognition than the signs themselves. I never knew that ASL would be so different from American English.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I feel like I learned a few things. I didn't know that there was rules that went with sign language. I also thought that ASL was more about the hands and not about facial expressions. After reading, I never knew how difficult ASL is.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting because I never realized that everything you say obviously does not come out the same way when sighing something. I have had one friend when I was in Elementary school that learned through sigh language. Whenever I was with her and someone had to sign to her to communicate, I just figured she took in all that I did. What is interesting is that with all the "wha" words missing; we all still get the same information.
ReplyDelete