the morpheme which is added does not change the grammatical function of the word
a noun remains a noun, a verb remains a verb
English: chair becomes chairs
ASL: LOOK becomes LOOK-REPEATEDLY
Derivational Morpheme
the morpheme added actually changes the KIND/TYPE of word it is
a verb might become a noun or vice-versa
ASL: PAINT becomes PAINTER when added a PERSON/AGENT marker
an adjective becomes an adverb
English: beautiful becomes beautifully
meaning is changed
English: happy becomes unhappy
ASL: LIKE becomes DON’T-LIKE when signed with added negative head-shake
Noun-Verb Pairs
an aspect of morphology (see Derivational Morpheme)
the movement is changed therefore NOUN = multiple small motion and VERB = single large motion
except: FOOD-EAT, DRINK-DRINK
Compounds
an aspect of morphology (see Derivational Morpheme)
English: greenhouse (not a green house per se, a transparent plastic or glass enclosure in which plants are grown that need protection from the cold weather)
ASL: BOY+SAME is brother, not BOY SAME as in The boy is the same.
Lexicalized Fingerspelling
an aspect of morphology
fingerspelling being borrowed from English that looks like a sign
used to be called fingerspelled loan signs
Loan Signs
signs that are borrowed from other countries
Eight Possible Changes for Lexicalized Fingerspelling
letters deleted
change in location
change in handshape
change in movement
change in palm orientation
movement reduplicated
add second hand
non-manual signals being included
Numeral Incorporation
an aspect of morphology
numbers can be incorporated into signs to change the meaning
number of pronouns, height, a period of time, dollar amount, sports score
Classifiers
An aspect of morphology
affixed word/sign that is used to indicate certain semantic/grammatical categories
Eight Types of Classifiers Used in American Sign Language (remember acronym: P. Dibbles)
Plural Classifiers
Descriptive Classifiers including SASSers
Sizes and ...
… Shapes Specifiers
Instrumental Classifiers including
Tools
Body
Body Parts
Locative
Elemental
Semantic
Predicate
one of the two main constituents of a sentence
a sentence will have the “subject” and the “predicate.”
the predicate contains the verb and its components (adverb, object, etc.)
Classifier Predicates
an aspect of morphology
the classifier is used to add the “action” or verb-action of the statement
CAR (CL:3-hand) DRIVE-BY
these have two aspects – handshape and movement roots
Subject-Object Agreement
an aspect of morphology
the subject of the sentence must agree with the object
ASL: directional verbs
TELL-HER versus TELL-ME
I-HELP-YOU versus YOU-HELP-ME versus HE-HELP-HER
Locative Verbs
an aspect of morphology
these signs that are signed at a particular location on the body in order to add meaning
#FOOD across the forehead = “Can’t stop thinking about food because I am hungry!”
#HURT on arm = “My arm hurts” or can indicate the specific location where it hurts
Time in ASL
an aspect of morphology
movement is added to indicate meaning
examples are given: EVERY-NIGHT, EVERY-TUESDAY
not part of Temporal aspect
Transitive Verbs
verbs that require a direct object to be named in the statement
English: word “get” or “love” – using these verbs requires an object or the statement will not “sound” right
Examples are given:
English: She gets. I write.
ASL: FATHER LOVE. YOU GIVE.
Intransitive Verbs
verbs that do not require an object to express the meaning
the action is complete by itself
Examples are given:
English: He jumps
ASL: SISTER EAT.
Syntax of American Sign Language
syntax – sentence structures
topicalization, topic-comment or time-topic-comment
WH-Q
Y/N-Q
Negation
Command
Conditional
Rhetorical Question (RH-Q)
Major Lexical Categories
Nouns – person, place, thing, idea (usually the “subject” of the sentence)
Predicates – the action and its objects of the sentence
Adjectives – words that describe nouns
Adverbs – words that describe verbs or objects
Minor Lexical Categories
Determiners – “a” or “the”
Auxiliary verbs
English: “to be” verbs: is, are, was, were
ASL: modals: CAN, MUST, SHOULD
Prepositions – show the position of the subject and/or object
ASL: FROM, WITH and usage of classifiers instead of prepositional words
Conjunctions – words used to join two parts of a sentence
English: and, but, however, etc
ASL: HIT, FOR-FOR, WHY, WRONG, etc
Pronouns – words used in place of nouns
Semantics – the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.
Referential Meaning
an aspect of semantics
the word refers to something
Social Meaning
an aspect of semantics
words/signs are used that have meaning to the social group
Affective Meaning
an aspect of semantics
words/signs can be used to add or change the meaning
register levels
see register
using “explained” versus “boasted” have different affective meaning
Denotation
an aspect of semantics
the referential meaning of the sign/word – CAT/”cat” means the cat
the obvious meaning of the word
Connotation
an aspect of semantics
words can have “social” or “affective” meaning
Six Types of Relationships Between Lexical Items
an aspect of semantics – think “relationship”
Hyponymy – words are related because they are all types of something
red, blue, green = they are all colors
Part/Whole – words are related because they are all part of a whole thing
hand, arm, leg = they are parts of a body
Synonymy – words are related because they are different ways to say the same thing