Anyone Interested in Discussing American Sign Language  

Sign language is NOT universal. Each country has its own sign language. The sign language used in the United States and most of Canada (except for Quebec) is called American Sign Language. The sign language used in Great Britain is called British Sign Language and even though these two countries speak English the sign languages are completely different. Sign languages are full human languages just like any other language and there have been different sign languages that develop all over the world just like different spoken languages all over the world.

The sign language in the country IS NOT the same or a copy of the spoken language. The sign language is a separate, unique language. It is not a Representation of the spoken language.

Hope this helps you understand a little about sign language.

Make a FIVE hand with your fingers spread just like if you show the number FIVE on your hand. Now tap the end of your thumb on your chin a few times. In ASL that means MOTHER Now move the hand up to your forehead. Tap it on your forehead. That means FATHER Now touch your chin first and then move your five hand to your forehead Now you made the sign means PARENTS... :-)

Thanks for tips, it's facinating! I have always been interested to learn sign language for the Deaf and the Blind. I tried to learn Braille alphabetical back then, maybe later I'll go for further learning again. Would you Please share some links as a preliable sources to know more of learning ASL?

Thank you, Bill! I appreciate it.

See my response above this one. Yes that is right and right grammar ME, YOU LOVE... This translates into English as You love me.... If I sign YOU, ME LOVE then it means I love you. :-)

Oh no, this means I had been signing "I love you" all wrong all these years! Oh, the shame, embarrassment, and utter humiliation of it all! I'll have to hide my head in a paper bag the next time I visit the local Deaf ministry. :-)

Sounds like your tutor may be over emphasizing non manual signals that should come naturally after awhile. If you become to conscious of these things they will be learned artificially. You should just engage in natural conversation step by step and these things will come naturally without becoming overly conscious of them.

Good luck with learning ASL. It is a fascinating and beautiful language and Deaf culture is also a beautiful community that you can join and be a part of as you develop your ASL skills.

Due to my low income and the fact that I am not able to attend college classes at this time, this is the only instructor that I currently have in ASL. I am just going along with his teaching method, as he signs very well and has had previous experience in teaching ASL in classroom settings, along with previous experience in attending classes at Gallaudet.

It is just that the non-manual-sign stuff is driving me batty, but I figure I'll get through it.

However, someday I might be able to take ASL at the local university college, and will ace it quite nicely. And, besides, I already am acquainted with the instructor there, as he was once my TTY trainer. He'd be quite amused at my sudden gain in fluency in the language.

Hmmmmmmm...so it's a head nod with each sign, and three at the end if it's a declarative sentence. And, the head nod replaces the word "is." For a "me" question you raise the eyebrows, as in the sentence "Am I going to the store?"

Um.....I'd have to say all this is rather difficult to master while working on grammar and vocabulary, all for a beginning ASL student, don't you think? Still, I kind of have to trudge ahead and go with the flow. Right now it's either I have him as my instructor, or it's back to just me and the ASL books.

And, I am quite sure that he has his reasons, and that they must be good.

It really could be worse, I suppose. He's really very good. I just have to get through this.

Sorry, I meant to type "local community college" instead of "local university college." It was a typo due to fatigue from a very busy and very long day.

ASL grammar doesn't require a head nod on every sign of a declarative sentence. The head nod does make something a statement as in "I am going to the store." And in that sense it functions in the same way as "verb to be". It doesn't "replace it" technically. ASL is a different and unique language from English and so it is handling the "making of statements" with its own grammatical device which is to "affirm that something is so" by nodding the head. It would look very strange if one's head were bobbing up and down on every sign. That's not how it works but there is a tiny nod of the head to make a statement that is true. It comes rather naturally.

A yes/no question has "raised eyebrows" and "somewhat hunched forward shoulders" to indicate that a y/no question is being asked. To ask "Are you going to the store? The question can be asked. STORE, YOU GO-TO NOW? (with raised eyebrows and hunched forward shoulders on the part of the question YOU GO-TO NOW? You can also ask this question NOW GO-TO STORE YOU? With raised eyebrows and hunched forward shoulders throughout. The first type of construction above is called a Topic/Comment structure because the signer is "highlighting" the STORE as a focus. This type of structure has a specific function and is not used for every utterance in ASL. Either of the forms below are appropriate. It depends on the purpose and function of the communication you are making. In the first structure there is probably some question about whether it is the Store or the Laundramat and which I will be headed for first. So the question is structured to focus attention and to clarify. Is it the store you will be going to? Do you see how that works? If there were no question in my mind about this I wouldn't have any need to put the STORE in the topic of the sentence.

Good luck with learning ASL. If too much emphasis is put on all this grammar stuff, you may get too overly "cognitive" in your approach to learning and start getting hung up on and frozen in your tracks when you want to say something. ASL like all languages is flexible. And ASL users understand "speakers of the language who are not proficient". Just like you understand foreign speakers of English even when they are making tons of mistakes. You still understand what they mean. It is the same with ASL. You should focus on communicating and less on grammar. The grammar will come to you as you learn and gain exposure. Certainly you should be exposed to the grammar and you should practice with your tutor but don't worry about it too much. Practice in real meaningful language contexts and it should be fun.

Good luck

Bill

Thanks for the pointers! I reckon that eventually it will all piece together nicely. I just need to practice, practice, practice!

And, by the way, I really dislike studying grammar. I would much rather focus on vocabulary, and maybe throw in some grammar in, here and there, for good measure. lol

Having grown up hearing, and lived all my life in the hearing world, I find that one of the greatest difficulties for me is going from English grammatical structure to that of ASL.

My natural inclination is to sign in Signed Exact English. I have heard that this is common among the hearing and those who grew up hearing.

Also, when the deaf and hard of hearing sign to me, they keep signing in Signed Exact English, when I am really learning ASL. It has just made the transition from one to the other all that much harder.

According to my ASL tutor, the number of deaf people is actually dropping due to cochlear implants and fewer incidents of diseases such as rubella causing deafness.

Some people learn ASL because it is a very beautiful and fascinating language, and because they want to better communicate with deaf people.