1. American Sign Language
Linguistics

3. Rules of Grammar
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
lexicon

4. Phonology Think phone-SOUND Sound system-phonemes
Phonetics are the rules for handshapes
candy(hs 1) (location-cheek) (twist forward)
apple(hs-modified x) (location-cheek) (twist forward)
jealous(hs i) (location-cheek) (twist forward)

5. Phonology continued Location Movement Summer (forehead)
Ugly (beneath nose)
Dry (chin)
Same hand shape (1 to X)
Same movement (single swipe across face)
Different location
Tape (double bounce forward)
Chair (double tap=noun)
Train (back and forth)
Same hand shape (H)
Same location (Neutral)
Different movement

6. Morphology Structure of words
ASL has it’s own rules for the creation of words
ASL has root, affix, free, bound, lexical content, grammatical, derivational, inflectional morphemes

7. Morphemes are the portion of a word that makes a difference in the meaning
English
ASL
Roots
Prefixes
suffixes
Mouth movements
Eye gaze head tilt
Body position

8. 100 different mouth movements in ASL that replace or complement English adjectives and adverbs
Angela worked hard on her album
ASL
ANGELA WORK (pursed lips) PICTURE BOOK

9. Syntax How words may be combined into phrases and sentences
ASL shares NO grammatical similarities to English
ASL has TOPIC-COMMENT syntax
When signing topic raise eyebrows/tilt head forward
Pause

10. Topicalization-topic/comment
When signing topic raise eyebrows/tilt head forward
Pause between the topic and comment
Hold the last sign
English-Do you enjoy learning ASL?
ASL-
Topic-LEARN ASL
Comment-YOU ENJOY

12. Simple sentence
Simple sentence in English can usually be translated in the same word order in ASL
The order of signs is not critical because the MEANING is CLEAR…even when order is changed

13. Semantics
The ways in which sounds and meanings are related

14. ASL does NOT have signs for word endings---
Affixes
Ing
Ment
Ness
Tion
Example…I’m learning ASL
ME LEARN ASL (progressive tense)

15. ASL vs English ASL English OSV Object-subject-verb ASL ME ENJOY
Side note:
6 possible orders
SOV, SVO, VSO, VOS, OVS, and OSV
SVO
Subject-verb-object
I enjoy ASL
Most frequent word order in languages of the world are SVO, VSO, and SOV

16. Lexicon-WORDS Words are an important part of linguistic knowledge
But one can learn thousands of words in a language and STILL NOT know the language
Lexically borrowed words-one language borrows from another language
Lexicalization: #JOB, #BACK, #BUS

17. Arbitrary vs. Iconic Arbitrary Iconic
Signs DO NOT reflect the form or movement of the object, or concept they represent
WRONG
NAME
FAMILY
Signs DO reveal information about their meaning
TREE
CAT

19. Facial Grammar
Movement of you head and the features of your face are a CRITICAL part of ASL
Help communicate the MEANING of your signs
What you do with your face and eyes is called FACIAL GRAMMAR
Voice to your face
Eye contact