GLOSS NOTES American Sign Language Grammar

GLOSS NOTES American Sign Language

Grammar • Nouns and adjectives are reversed • EX: red ball (English) BALL RED (ASL)

• “WH” Questions are included at the end of the question or choice • EX: Where is the red ball? (English) BALL RED WHERE (ASL)

• Tense and topics are indicated at the beginning of the question or statement. • EX: My favorite show is “Numbers” (English) NUMBERS SHOW FAVORITE MY (ASL) I lost the red ball last week. (English) LAST-WEEK BALL RED I LOSE (ASL)

General Grammar Rule for Time • In general the ASL shows the tense at the BEGINNING of the thought or story and that tense remains until changed. • Past • Present • Future

PAST • The sign moves BACKWARDS • EX: Maria went to the store to buy some bread PAST fs-MARIA GO STORE BUY BREAD.

PRESENT • The sign remains on the FRONT of the body of the signer. • EX: I have to go to the doctor at 3: 00. NOW 3 ME HAVE-TO GO DOCTOR.

FUTURE • The sign moves FORWARD • EX: In two weeks my family is coming to visit. FUTURE TWO-WEEKS FAMILY MY COME VISIT.

Months of the Year • Fingerspell the abbreviations of the month • Use FIRST and LAST letter of the abbreviation with the sign CALENDAR (Except May, June, July).

• • • January February March April May June July August September October November December • • • JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC

Numbers • Numbers 1 – 5 – Keep palms facing inside • Numbers 6 – 9 – – – Palm faces out Thumb on pinkie for 6 Thumb on ring for 7 Thumb on middle for 8 Thumb on index for 9

The teens! • • 10: thumb sticks in air and shake Flickers: 11 and 12 Wigglers: 13, 14, 15 Shakers: 16, 17, 18, 19

The 20’s • 20: tap the index and thumb together with the palm facing out. • 21: gun salute • 22: 2 + 2 palm down • 23 – 29: L + 3 (+4, +5, +6, +7, +8, +9)

100 - 500 • Use the scrunch method. • Palm is out

600 - 900 • Use the “C” method • Palm is out

1, 000 • Non-dominant hand is sideways and dominant hand hits the bottom of the palm of the non-dominant hand.

1, 000 • Non-dominant hand is sideways and dominant hand hits and moves up the bottom of the palm of the nondominant hand. • Billion and up: fingerspell

Phone numbers, social security #, etc. • Sign the numbers as you would say or write them. Give pauses where appropriate to keep the grouping the way it would be. • 123 -45 -6789

ASL Symbols • WORD • If you are to sign the word then you must captialize it. • • • fs # OH-I-SEE (- - -) NOT+HERE (+) REAL/TRUE (/) • “ ” • !BORED! (! !) Fingerspell the word Fingerspelled loan sign Single sign Compound signs One sign/2 different meanings. • Gesture-like sign • Emphasize (stressed)

• • DIFFERENT++ (++) (2 h) alt. (wh)3 • IX-loc • IX-dir • • Repetition 2 hands alternate Sign “ 3” w/ weak hand. • Point at person • Point at location • Point with directions

• • q WHq T RQ Rs: Mmm Oooo Cha • • Yes/no question Wh- question Topic Rhetorical question Role shifting Medium Small large

• DCL – Descriptive classifiers: describe an object or person – DCL “curly hair” • LCL – Locative classifiers: objects in its place – LCL: B “leaf drifting to the ground” • SCL – Semantic classifier: category of nouns such as vehicle or person – SCL: 1 “person walking stiffly and hurriedly”

• BCL – Body classifier: body enacts the verb of the sentence. – BCL “acting macho” – BCL “put arms around friend” • ICL – Instrument classifier: which part of the body manipulates the object. – ICL “driving” – ICL “talking on the phone”

• BPCL – Body Part classifier: specific part of the body doing the action. – (2 h)BPCL: 1 “crossing legs” – (2 h)BPCL: B “taps foot” • PCL – Plural classifier: indicates either specific # or non-specific # – PCL: 3 “people walking” – (2 h)PCL: 4 “long line of people” – (2 h)PCL: 5 “traffic”