PreviousKnowledge

Signlanguageismorecommonlyusedwithmuteordeafpeople
Thereisanalphabetforthislanguage
Somewordsarerelatedtoactionsevenwedoeverydayi.e.signsforyouandme
Somesignsrelatetotheshapeoftheparticularword

RESEARCH
PrimaryResearch1
100first/basicsigns
Thisincludesfamilysigns,places,time,temperature,foodetc.
Thiswebsitealsodescribeswhichpartsofenglishsentenceswouldnotbesignedin
ASLi.e.
[The]SHE(point)GIRLWANT[s][to]FOOD[eat]wordsinthe[]arenot
signed
2

Hereilearnedthatcertaindescriptionsdifferfromoneanothereventhoughtheword
mayimplyasimilarsensei.e.Girlvs.Womanaretwodifferentsigns
Therearetwodifferentsignsforparticularwords
Therearevariationstosomewordsbecauseoftheevolutionofthelanguageovertime
3

basicconversationrequiresgrammarknowledge
facialexpressionsaccompanysignmotions
Toemphasizesomethingyoucansigneachletterofthewordasopposedtosigning
theword
Makingyourmouththinorpoutyalsoemphasizesasign
someASLandEnglishphrasesaredifferentinorderi.e.comehere,pleasevs.please
comehere(respectively)
4

Differentwaystorefertopast,presentandfuturetensespasttenseisthesimplest
anddoesnothavemanyspecifications.Pasttensesignsendatchestlevelandthe
signforfinishissignedeitherbeforeorafterthestory/phrase.Inthefuturetenseyou
eitherbeginorendwiththesignforwill
participlesandperfecttensesi.e.shouldhavebeenarenotusedinASL
5

""100BasicSigns"(AmericanSignLanguage)(www.lifeprint..."2013.30Jan.2015
<
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ianCxd71xIo>

2
"BasicWordsinSignLanguage."2009.30Jan.2015
<
http://www.startamericansignlanguage.com/basicwordsinsignlanguage.html>

3
"BasicConversation(Part1)YouTube."2011.30Jan.2015
<
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU6gohYRUJI
>
4
"ASLGrammarForDummies."2010.30Jan.2015
<
http://www.dummies.com/howto/educationlanguages/languagescultures/signlanguage/ASLGrammar.h
tml
>
5
"ASLSyntax|SigningSavvyBlog|ASLSignLanguage..."2014.30Jan.2015
<
http://www.signingsavvy.com/blog/120/ASL+Syntax>

BasicorderofASLsentencesisSubject,Verb,Objecti.e.BoychasecatorIeat
orange
Youcanuninflectortopicalizeasentencewhichjustdescribestheorderthatthe
informationispresentedandsigned.i.e.BoyChaseCat(uninflected)orCatBoy
Chase(topicalized).eitherway,acatwaschasedbyaboy
ThreetypesofASLverbs
1. PLAINverbs
arealwayssignedthesame,nomatterwhoisperformingtheaction
2.
3. INDICATINGverbs
(sometimescalled"directional"verbs)changebasedoneitherthe
subjectdoingtheaction,orwheretheactionistakingplace
4.
5. DEPICTINGverbs
(sometimescalled"classifiers")showwhatthingslooklike,where
theyareinspace,orhowthingsbehave
UnlikeinEnglish,allverbsinASLmustalwaysbedirectlyprecededbythesubject(ie,whois
doingtheaction).Someexamplesarelistedbelow.Inalloftheexamples,thesubjectand
verbareconnectedandcannothavesignsappearbetweenthemthisissignifiedbyaline
betweenthesubjectandverb(_).

TheverbLOVEisa"plain"verb.
English:"Ilovebooks."
ASL:I_LOVEBOOK(uninflected)
ASL:BOOKI_LOVE(topicalized)

TheverbHELPisan"indicating"or"directional"verb.
English:"Iamhelpingmysister."
ASL:ASL:I_HELPMYSISTER(uninflected)
ASL:MYSISTERI_HELP(topicalized)

TheverbCL:3is"depicting"ora"classifier"
English:"Thecarisnexttotheman."
ASL:CAR_CL:3(inspace)MAN_CL:1(inspace)

SecondaryResearch

WhatisAmericanSignLanguage6
Eachcountryhasitsownsignlanguage,itisNOTuniversal.
byusingsignlanguagethebraincanprocesslinguisticinformationthroughtheeyes.
Shape,facialexpression,bodyplacementandmovementallplayaroleinpresenting
conversationinsignlanguage.
rulesofgrammarandsyntax
changesovertime
ASLfacts
6

"WhatisAmericanSignLanguage?|NationalAssociationof..."2014.28Jan.2015
<
http://nad.org/issues/americansignlanguage/whatisasl>

FSLmayhavebeenthefirstformofsignlanguage(FrenchSignLanguage)
Thefirstschoolforthedeafwasfoundedin1817inHartford,ConnectcutbyLaurent
Clerc,afrenchman,whotaughtFSLthoughmanystudentsalreadyhadthere
particularlanguagethatwasnotfrench.

So
1LearntheASLalphabet7 Thiswillhelpmetoemphasizecertainwordsinsentencessince
oneofthewaystodosoistospellouttheword.
2BasicPeople,placesandobjects(previouslycited)onceiamabletodothealphabet,i
cantakeonbasicpeople(i.e.familymembers)andplaces.ThereasonIplacethisafterthe
alphabetisbecauseIwillneedtoknowhowtosignmostnamesofplacesbyspellingthe
wordsoutsincethereisnoparticularsignforeveryplaceintheworld.Also,tobeabletospell
nameswhenthereisntasignfortheword.
3Verbsandsentenceplacement(previouslycited)Iwillhavelearnedtheobjectandtheni
canmoveontotheverb.Withthis,Icanformsentencesandlearntheplacementofwords.
ThisincludeslearningsyntaxandgrammarrulesforASL.(mostsourceswillbevideo
demonstrations)..possiblythelongestprocessinlearningASL
4Expressionandbodylanguage(previouslycited)Therearevariouswaystodescribehow
asentenceisbeingpresentedorsaid(i.e.angrily)IwillwatchvideodemonstrationsofASL
conversationtolearnhowtoemphasizeandbringmeaningtomysentencesusingfacial
expressionorbodylanguage
5Strictlyconversationallearning(videodemonstrations)howtoacceptandgiveinformation
inaconversationexpressionsormovementsthatindicatethereceptionorgivingof
information.(likethenotesincitation4)

"SignLanguage."2006.1Feb.2015<h
ttp://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/wallpaper1.htm>