Pronouns, such as I, me, we, us, etc. are made by using the index finger. If the person is nearby, point in the direction of the person. If the person or object is not nearby, point to the left or right. In ASL, the pronoun may be at the beginning or the end of a sentence or both if emphasis is needed. An example: "I am tall" could be signed: I TALL; or I TALL I; or TALL I.

Pronouns also come in the form of possessives—my, mine, our, ours, etc. The palm should be moved in the direction of the "owner." For example, in making the sign for MY, the palm would face yourself. If the gloss (English word) is YOUR, the palm would face the person directly in front of you.

To indicate a profession or some form of identity, we can use the AGENT sign. For example, we can take the word teach and make it teacher in English by adding - er. We do that for ASL by signing TEACH + AGENT. A cook would be signed: COOK + AGENT. American is AMERICA + AGENT. (This can also be signed: HERSELF + AMERICA.)

ASL also uses pronouns with nouns, just like English does. Suppose the English sentence is: ?She is a teacher.@ To change that into ASL, we would use: (She is done by pointing)

SHE TEACHER SHE or SHE TEACHER or TEACHER SHE. (Point)

Suppose the sentence is: "He is his teacher." We will need to place HE and HIS in two different places because we are not talking about the same people in each place. Our ASL glosses would be:

HE (pointing left) HIS (palm facing right) TEACH + AGENT

Many sentences in ASL take the form of Object+Subject+Verb. For example, the sentence: She wants a car." Would be signed:

CAR SHE WANT

(Point)

Sometimes we see a sentence as Subject+Object+Verb. In this case, the sentence would be signed:

SHE (Point) CAR WANT

The English word "the" is not used in ASL. Sometimes a pronoun can be used in its place. For example, the English sentence: "The man knows me" could be signed:

MAN HE (point right or left) KNOW ME HE (point right or left) Or

MAN HE (point right or left) KNOW ME

In ASL, we do not use a specific sign for the word "the", but can use a variety of ways to express it, or we can just omit it.

In ASL, which is the subject and which is the object can be shown in a variety of ways. One way is how a verb is used. This is called "modulation." Modulation means the direction and movement of the verb. Space around the body (spatial location) is used to modulate and show location and direction.

Spatial location is very important in signing. Many of the verbs in ASL use the importance of "person" to show who is doing the action and who is receiving the action. For example: "I loaning this to you." can be changed to "You are borrowing this from me," by changing the starting point of the verb (its spatial location). The verb stays the same. In the first sentence, "borrow" goes from me to you. The second sentence "borrow" goes from you to me. These are called directional verbs because the change of direction of the verb changes the sentence.

In some cases, both hands are used to make a directional verb. For example: "advise". The non-dominant hand is held in a specific location. The direction of the verb stays the same. The non-dominant hand may be placed in a different location to show who is being advised. If John, on the right, is being advised, the non-dominant hand is placed to the right. If John is on the left, the non-dominant hand is placed to the left.

The signs can also show location from one place to another. For example, if you are driving from Chicago to Los Angeles, then the movement of the sign is from where you have placed Chicago to where you have placed Los Angeles. If you are driving from Los Angeles to Chicago, then the motion goes the other way.

There are signs that show location and movement but are done on the signer’s body. The placement of the sign depends on the part of the body being involved. For example, to show a head that hurts, a toe that hurts, or a stomach that hurts, put the sign "hurt" near the correct body part.

(For more information, read American Sign Language, A Student Text, pages 60-78. A Basic Course in American Sign Language, pages 156-158.)

*Adapted from American Sign Language: A Student Text, Units 1-9, by Dennis Cokely and Charlotte Baker-Shenk.

In English, the use of adjectives follows specific rules. We normally place the adjective before the noun. For example, a blue car, a red box, a large drink of water. In ASL, however, the adjective can be before or after the noun, either one. The English sentence: I want the green paper, for example, could be signed

PAPER GREEN ME (I) WANT or GREEN PAPER ME (I) WANT

There are two groups of signs used as classifiers: 1) Those made with a particular handshape, representing a noun or pronoun. We refer to them in writing as CL. 2) Classifiers that describe the shape, size, etc. of a noun. The second group is referred to in ASL as SASSes (Size and Shape Specifiers). We refer to them in writing as CL.

Some classifier handshapes are used as pronouns. Before you can use a classifier hand shape as a pronoun, you must establish a "reference point." This means you must tell us what the pronoun will refer back to. For example, if you use a three-fingered classifier CL:3, you must tell us if it is representing a car, bus, truck, van, submarine, bicycle, etc. so we know which noun you are referencing. If you use CL:1, is it referencing a person, pencil, banana, teacher, student, etc.? You must tell what you are talking about and then use the classifier.

Classifiers usually give information about the noun and its location. For example, a CL:V can be placed to the left or the right of your body, to show where the person was standing.

Classifiers can be used as verbs. For example, if you use the CL:1, and move it in a general direction, you may be referring to how person moved: came up to me; went away from me; met another person; went the other direction, etc. Remember, before you can move the classifier, you must make sure a reference has been established. Who is this coming up to me - a boy, a girl, a man, a neighbor, my best friend?

They can also show what action is being taken. For example, if the CL:1 is coming up to me, did it move quickly? Slowly? Drunkenly? Happily? Or is the CL:3 moving away quickly? Slowly? Like a race-car? How the classifier moves is very important as to how the action is understood.

SASSes are classifiers used to describe size and shape. They are called Size and Shape Specifiers. They can be used to describe the size, shape, depth or texture of something. In a way, they act like adjectives. For example, the CL:F can be used to describe small round buttons, tall thin poles, or large flat items. Often SASSes are used to describe the shape- is it long and flat? Is it round? Is it flat with a bump in the middle? Various handshapes can be used to show descriptions.

(For more information on classifiers, read American Sign Language: A Student Text, pages 79-96; and A Basic Course in American Sign Language, pages 123-124; 127; 212-227.)

*Adapted from American Sign Language: A Student Text, Units 1-9, by Dennis Cokely and Charlotte Baker-Shenk.

Adjectives are also used in English to describe items. For example, the long, thin paper; the tall wide bowl. In ASL, we use classifiers to describe how things look. Classifiers that describe the size and shape are called SASSes. These classifiers are identified by the symbol CL. For example, a small flat object, lake a coin or button would be written as CL:F, meaning we use the F handshape. Other classifiers are

CL:LL used to describe flat and round objects such as plates

or large flat and round objects such, as big plates

CL:C used to describe small containers like a cup

CL:CC used to describe containers like a bowl or large can

or used to describe pails, large bowls

CL:BB used to describe flat surface items such as the top of a table

or used to describe long flat surfaces, such as a long shelf.

To sign an English sentence that has descriptive adjectives in ASL, we select the appropriate classifier. For example, the sentence: "The long sheet of paper is yellow." In ASL, it would be: PAPER CL:BB YELLOW.

Or the sentence: "The pop can is over there." This would be:

POP CL:C (index finger point right)

In ASL, there are several different types of sentences, just like with English grammar. The first is the declarative statement. The declarative statement states a fact, like: "Laura lives in Spokane." In a declarative statement, the head looks straight forward, the body movements are normal, and there is no specific head movement. The declarative sentence can be changed to other forms by a change in head movement, body movement, or use of specific signs, such as "not."

YES/NO questions are questions asked for which the answer will be either yes or no. For example, the question "Does he remember my name?" is a YES/NO question. When we make YES/NO questions, we must:

1) raise the eyebrows

2) move the head slightly forward

3) look directly at the person

How we answer YES/NO questions is also important. YES/NO questions are answered with the correct body movement. For example, if the answer is "yes," then a positive nod of the head goes with the YES gloss. If the answer is "no," then a negative marker goes with the negative response.

Negative YES/NO questions are made like YES/NO questions but use a negative with it. The difference is that we include raised eyebrows squeezed together and a negative head shake throughout the question. An example is: He's not happy? In ASL that would be signed: HE HAPPY NOT?

WH-questions ask for specific information. For example, we may be asking WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, HOW, WHICH, WHAT-FOR, HOW- MANY, HOW-MUCH. When WH-questions are asked, you must squeeze your eyebrows together, move your head slightly forward, look directly at the person being asked. Questions are made by adding a brow squint and tilt of head, often backwards or to the side. In general, the "wh" words, such as "who," "what," "where," "when" are placed at the end of the sentence. They may also be placed at the beginning and the end. We can make the WH word at the beginning and the end both to greater emphasize what we are asking. We may also just use a gloss, such as NAME to indicate the question "What is your name?

Rhetorical sentences (Rh-Q) are questions we answer ourselves. If the sentence has the word because, we often replace it with the sign "why" and make the sentence a "Rh-Q" sentence. An example of a because-sentence is: "I’m coming to Spokane because I want to shop." This would be signed: "SPOKANE I COME, WHY? SHOP I WANT."

Negative sentences can be done in several ways:

a) With a head shake

b) Adding a negative glosses at the end of the sentence

c) Using a negative before the verb

d) Using a negative word incorporated into the sign.

Negative glosses include no, not, never, nothing, none, etc. Negatives incorporated in the glosses would include: "don’t care", "don’t want", "don’t know." Negative sentences are made in several ways. We can use words such as not, none, no, or other negative words. Any word we use to form a negative must also be accompanied with a head shake and eyebrows squeezed together. Sometimes we make negatives in ASL by using words such as DON'T-KNOW, DON'T-WANT OR DON'T-LIKE. These three glosses all have signs using an outward twisting motion as part of the regular sign.

Present tense is easily done in ASL sentences. We make present tense by using the verb in its regular form. For example, if the English sentence says: "I am working", then the ASL sentence is done by signing: I WORK. We can add time markers, such as today or now, if we want. For example, the English sentence may say: "I am working now." Or "I am working today." In ASL, we put the time marker first, so the sentence would say:

NOW I WORK or TODAY I WORK

If the sentence indicates past tense, then this can be done in several ways for ASL. We can use a time marker, such as YESTERDAY, BEFORE, LONG-AGO. An example is the sentence: "She went to a hearing school before." In ASL, we would put the time marker first and then sign:

BEFORE SHE (index finger pointing left or right) SCHOOL HEARING or

BEFORE HEARING SCHOOL SHE

If the sentence indicates past tense, we use FINISH to indicate the action is done. If we use FINISH, it can be used before or after the verb. For example, the sentence: "I already saw the movie." In ASL, it would be signed:

I MOVIE FINISH SEE or

I MOVIE SEE FINISH.

Or the sentence: "The doctor went to Hawaii." Could be signed:

HAWAII DOCTOR GO-AWAY FINISH or

HAWAII DOCTOR FINISH GO-TO

Remember, when you have a word in the sentence that indicates time, you do not need to use the word FINISH. For example, if the story says: a long time ago, yesterday, last year, last week, etc., you would sign that time marker at the beginning of the sentence once, and proceed with the story.

If the sentence indicates the future, we can use time markers such as AFTER-A-WHILE, WILL, LATER, FUTURE, TOMORROW, NEXT-WEEK, NEXT-YEAR. For example, the English sentence: "I will practice sign tomorrow" would be signed with the time marker first.

TOMORROW I SIGN PRACTICE or

TOMORROW I SIGN PRACTICE WILL

One nice thing about ASL is that once you have established the time, you don’t need to keep repeating it until you change the time. For example, in the English paragraph: "Tomorrow I will not stay home all day. I will go to the store. I will buy cookies and milk." we see the time markers "tomorrow" and "will" are used quite often. If we change the sentences into ASL, we only need to sign TOMORROW once, and won’t need to sign WILL. The sentences would be:

TOMORROW ALL-DAY HOME I STAY HOME NOT. STORE (pointing left or right) I GO-TO (going the same direction as the store). COOKIES AND MILK I BUY.

Some verbs are called directional, while others are called non-directional. What this means is that directional verbs change their movement, going from subject to object or from object to subject. Some directional verbs are: SHOW, HELP, ASK, SEND, TELL, GIVE, LOOK-AT, PAY. The way the verb moves indicates who is doing what. I-ASK-YOU is signed in a different direction than YOU-ASK-ME. Not all verbs are directional verbs.

Verbs such as WRITE, WEAR, DRINK, DIE are not directional verbs. Non-directional verbs are verbs where the direction the sign is made does not change. For example, "WRITE" is signed the same no matter who is writing.

Some verbs can also incorporate the use of classifiers. For example, I’ll give you the glass would be signed: GLASS CL:C-GIVE-YOU. The verb "GIVE" is not signed separately from the sign for glass. The movement of the classifier CL-C indicates that the glass is being given. The direction of the movement indicates whether you are giving it to me or I am giving it to you.

Many nouns and verbs in ASL have similar signs, differing only in the movement. For example, SIT, CHAIR; MEET, MEETING; TICKET, GIVE-TICKET. These are called noun-verb pairs. Some verbs have a singular movement, while the noun may have smaller, repeated movements.

When counting from 1-5, the number signs are usually done with the palm facing the signer. For example, in the sentence "I have three books", you would sign: 3 BOOKS I HAVE. (The palm facing yourself on the number 3). If you are using a number to describe the age of a person, you would first sign OLD, then the number, with the palm facing outward. If you are using a number to indicate time, then you would first sign TIME with the number then facing out.

Numbers can also be used in talking about a group of people, such as the two-of-us, or the three-of-us. These are signed using the number sign with the correct circular movement to show who is included. (TWO-OF-THEM is signed differently than TWO-OF-US).

Plurals are made in several ways in ASL. You can add a number before or after a noun, such as BOOK 3 SHE HAVE, to sign "She has three books." Or you can add a gloss which indicates numbers, such as MANY, A-FEW, SEVERAL before or after the noun.

The sign FINISH can be used between sentences as a conjunction. When FINISH is used, it is normally to join sentences in a proper time sequence. This first, then this, then this. For example: "I drove to the store, bought milk, then to the post office, mailed a letter, and then drove home." This would be signed: "I STORE DRIVE-TO FINISH MILK BUY FINISH, POST-OFFICE DRIVE-TO FINISH, LETTER MAIL FINISH, HOME DRIVE-HERE.

Remember as you sign (for ASL grammar), you should be using the following format:

When Where Who/What Verb Modal

(time) (place) object-subject (action) can’t, can, won’t, etc.

Using this format will make it easier to remain signing in ASL word order.

*Adapted from American Sign Language: A Student Text, Units 1-9, by Dennis Cokely and Charlotte Baker-Shenk.

[ Syllabus ] [ Task 1 ] [ Task 2 ] [ Task 3 ] [ Task 4 ] [ Task 5 ] [ Task 6 ] [ Task 7 ] [ Task 8 ] [ Task 9 ] [ Task 10 ] [ Task 11 ]