1. Linguistics of ASL ASL is a very complex language capable of expressing intricate and abstract ideas thanks to its completeness and also its flexibility.

2. Verbs in ASL Every language uses verbs. Verbs relate meaning for action and states of being. There are three types of verbs in American Sign Language:  Plain  Indicating  Depicting

3. Plain Verbs  Plain verbs are made in a static location. If this location is changed the meaning of the sign is also changed. These signs do not contain any information about the subject and object of the sentence, and the location of the sign does not convey the additional meaning.

4. Plain Verbs Examples of plain verbs include the signs: EAT, ENJOY, FORGET, HAVE, LIKE, LOVE, PUNISH

5. Indicating Verbs  Indicating verbs are less static than Plain Verbs.  They involve motion which incorporates additional information about the meaning of the signs.

6. Indicating Verbs  Can be directed in space. Because of that they contribute additional information to the sentence they appear in.  There are three sentence structures for Simple sentences with indicative verb

7. Structure one There are no additional signs for the subject object. Example: I give you. This sentence can be conveyed with a signal sign and motion. The only sign that is used is GIVE, but because of its placement in space, we understand the meaning to be “I give you.”

8. Structure two > Some of these sentences require a separate sign for the subject. For example TELL. Signing the English sentence “ He tells me,” requires two signs. The first sign, HE, is the subject of the sentence and the second, TELL-ME, is an Indicating Verb. The motion of the sign produces additional information about the sentence.

9. Structure three  The third sentence structure is one in which a subject pronoun comes after the verb. This is also used as emphasis or for clarity. Example: HE GIVE-ME HE.

10. Reciprocal Verbs  Reciprocal verbs add another layer of information because they show reciprocation between two or more people. For example the sign: LOOK-AT-EACH-OTHER

11. Locative Verbs  Locative verbs are also a type of Indicating Verbs. In locative verbs, the location part of the verb is contained in how the sign is made. The location does not have its own meaning, but gives additional meaning to the root sign.  For example, the sign THROW can contain information about where something is thrown from and where it is thrown to. The handshapes used do not have their own meaning, and do not add additional information to the sign.

12. Depicting Verbs  Can be distinguished by their ability to show two kinds of information. This is done 3 ways.

13. Depicting verbs first type shows something in space Example: Telling a story about a car ride. The storyteller would begin by establishing that they are talking about a car. The storyteller would use a classifier three handshape to “set” the car into space in front of them. That is now where the car is in the story, until the signer moves it.

14. Depicting verbs second type shows you what something looks like.  In the car ride example used before, establishes the car showed where it is in space. Now if the storyteller wants to describe to us driving up a mountain, the signer could show the side of the mountain being steep. Using one hand as a place keeper, the signer would show the side of the mountain by moving the other hand upward the steep incline.

15. Depicting verbs third type shows movement or action  Now that the storyteller has set up both the car and the side of the mountain, they can move the classifier three handshape to show the car driving up the side of the mountain surface they just signed.

16. Intransitive Verbs  Subjects and predicates are the two main parts of sentences.  Predicates include verbs and other words that are affected by the verb.  The subjective is a noun or pronoun and words that are associated with it, such as adjectives.  Some sentences also contain objects, though not all do.

17. Verbs and predicates that do not allow for objects are called intransitive verbs. Example: The boy is silly. (Sub) (v) This kind of sentence does not allow for an object. It is INTRANSITIVE.

18. Transitive Verbs  Many verbs in ASL do allow for objects. These are called transitive verbs. Example: The mother loves the baby. (subject) (verb) (object)  Other transitive ASL verbs: ANALYZE, EAT, FEED, GIVE, HAVE,LEND,READ,SEE

19. Simple Sentences  American Sign Language follows the basic word order Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), though there are other sentence structures which also are allowed. Often we think of this as Topic-Comment structure.  Since ASL is a flexible language, other word orders can be used.

20. Simple sentences with Intransitive Plain Verbs  Simple sentences with Intransitive Plain Verbs do not allow for objects. These sentences use Subject-Verb (SV) format. Previous examples: The boy is silly, would be signed as “BOY SILLY” “The boy is” does not allow for an object in the sentence and SILLY signed in one space.

21. Simple sentences with Transitive Verbs  DO allow for objectives. Example: The mother loves the baby. (subject) (verb) (object)

22. Topicalization  Means by which signers focus attention on important information or topics. The topic is placed at the beginning of the ASL sentence. The way this is done is through raised eyebrows and slight head tilt.

23. Classifier Predicates  Are a type of verb in ASL of which the predicate is a part of a sentence which says something about a nouns or noun phrases.

24. What is a predicate  Part of a sentence which says something about a noun or noun phrases.  In the English sentence “The boy is home,” for example, “the boy” is the noun phrase, and “is home” is the predicate.  Predicates are not limited to verbs, and can take several forms.

25. Classifier Predicate  ASL has another type of predicates called Classifier Predicates. These verbs are used to convey additional information with the use of a classifier. The predicate can be in the classifier’s movement. For example, “The car drove past” can be signed as the following: CAR CL:3CAR- DRIVE BY.  CAR-DRIVE-BY is a single movement using the classifier 3. This is a Classifier Predicate. It conveys information about the car’s action.

26. Classifier Predicate  Classifier Predicates have two basic parts: The movement root and the handshape.

27. Movement Root 1.Stative Descriptive: the hand moves to describe an object, but this does not mean the object itself is moving. Such as describing a long, flat surface, or mound of rice. 2.Process: the hand also moves in this example, but the motion is indicative of the object moving as well. The earlier example of the car driving by used the Movement Root. 3.Contact Root: This group of movement roots has a downward motion, but does not indicate the object moving. The downward movement is used to mean BE-LOCATED AT.

28. Handshapes 1.Whole Entity Morphemes: These handshapes represent the whole of an object, such as an animal or person standing. Airplanes are another example. 2. Surface Morphemes: Much like it sounds, these morphemes represent thin surfaces, wide, or narrow, and sometimes thin wires. Often the B handshape is used.

29. Handshapes 3. Instrumental Morphemes: These morphemes are handshapes which represent hands holding objects, such as a glass or a paper. 4. Depth and Width Morphemes: These morphemes show the depth and width of things. For example, tree trunks, pipes, etc., or a thick layer of something, such as snow.

30. Handshapes 5. Extended Morphemes: Representations of amounts of volumes such as liquid in a glass, an increase or decrease of an amount, ie: a deflating tire. 6. Perimeter-shape Morphemes: These show the external shape of something, such as a rectangle, circle, button, etc. 7. On-surface Morphemes: This group represents large groups or crowds of people, animals or objects.

31. More-Than-One  Classifier Predicates are verbs, however, they can be used to show the concept of “more than one.” If a signer is trying to represent a row of parked cars, they could “place” several cars in a row, or use a sweeping motion and a placeholder.

32. Lexicalization > Lexicalization is when the meaning of a smaller units gets lost in the meaning of the larger units. For example, the sign FALL was made of morphemes which represent a person’s legs standing and then falling, but the sign has taken on its own meaning and can be used when not referring to a person falling.

33. Productive Classifiers Predicates > Productive Classifiers Predicates’ can be separated. For example signing people walking in pairs using the V handshape. The people can walk towards each other, away from each other or in many ways. The signer uses the Classifier Predicates to build the signs from scratch.