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ASL 1: Lesson 2:
Lesson Objectives:
___ I am able to recognize and use the yes/no facial expression
___ I am able to recognize and use the wh question facial expression
___ I am able to recognize and produce each letter of the fingerspelled alphabet
___ I am able to use indexing to sign personal pronouns
___ I am able to name several (3 or more) methods of pluralizing concepts
___ I am able to show possession and I know the sign for have.
___ I can show who did what to whom by using directionality
___ I am able to recognize and use head-nod for affirmation
___ I am able to recognize and use head-shake for negation
___ I am able to recognize and sign numbers 6-10
___ I am able to recognize and use the agent / person sign.
___ I understand the basics of asking for clarification of a sign
___ I am able to recognize and sign the vocabulary for this lesson
___ I am able to recognize and sign the practice sentences and story for this lesson
___ I have taken the Lesson 2 Practice Quiz
___ I have taken the general practice quiz for this lesson. See: PRACTICE QUIZZES
GIRL-[woman, lady]
BOY-[male, man]
BROTHER
CHILD-[also see variation: CHILDREN]
DAD-[parents] [grandpa]
DIVORCE
HAVE
HEY
HOW
HOW-MANY-[also see variation: MANY]
LIVE-[life, address]
MARRIAGE-[husband, wife, marry, married, spouse]
MOM [grandma]
SINGLE-[alone, someone, JUST, ONLY, SOMETHING]
SISTER
SLOW
SPELL-[fingerspell]
WORK
Possession: [his/her/its, my, our, their, yours]
Practice Sheet: 2.A
01. HEY, NAME YOU? ("Hey, what's your name?") [L2]
02. YOU MARRIED? ("Are you married?") [L2]
03. CHILDREN YOU? ("Do you have children?") [L2]
04. HOW-MANY SISTER YOU? ("How-many sisters do you have?")(2)[L2]
05. YOUR MOM NAME 'HUH'? ("What is your mom's name?") [L2]Practice Sheet: 2.B
06. YOUR DAD DEAF? ("Is your dad deaf?") [L2]
07. YOU WORK WHERE? ("Where do you work?") [L2]
08. YOU LIVE WHERE ? ("Where do you live?") [L2]
09. THIS HIS/HERS? [point at any object] (Is this his?) [L2]
10. HOW YOU SIGN W-E? [spell "we"] ("How do you sign the word 'we'?") [L2]
Practice Sheet: 2.C
11. YOU NAME B-O-B, YOU? ("Is your name Bob?") [L2]
12. YOU DIVORCED YOU? ("Are you divorced?") [L2]
13. HOW-MANY BROTHER YOU? (How many brothers do you have?) [L2]
14. YOUR SISTER SINGLE? ("Is your sister single?") [L2]
15. YOUR DAD NAME, SPELL SLOW. ("Spell your dad's name slowly.") [L2]Practice Sheet: 2.D
16. You-MEET MY BROTHER YOU? ("Have you met my brother? / Did you meet my brother?") [L2]
17. YOU LIVE WHERE YOU? ("Where do you live?") [L2]
18. YOU HAVE SISTER? ("Do you have a sister?") [L2]
19. THIS YOUR? [point at any object] ("Is this yours?") [L2]
20. HOW YOU SIGN T-H-E-Y? ("How do you sign 'they'?") [L2]
Variations and other examples:
Just as there are a variety of ways to ask such questions in English, there are a variety of ways to ask questions in ASL. Below are some variations and samples of signing you might see:
"How-many brothers do you have?"
"How are you?"
"Where is your class?"
"Hey, what is the sign for 'we'?" [Hey, sign we?]
"Hey, what is the sign for 'we'?" [Hey, "we?"]
"Is your brother single?"
"Are you single?"
"Hey, what is the sign for 'they'?" [HEY, THEY SIGN?]HELLO
I B-I-L-L V-I-C-A-R-S [first and last name]. [Name sign?]
DEAF I
WIFE B-E-L-I-N-D-A, SHE DEAF
FOUR CHILDREN
[Left hand hold up a four handshape, palm back, arm held at a comfortable angle, keep it there. Sweep the tip of the right index finger along the tips of the first three fingers of the left hand. ]
HEARING
[Touch the tip of the pinkie finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand.]
DEAF [nod, and touch the pinkie finger again, then,]
TWO BOY
[Touch the tip of the index finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand, then touch the tip of the ring finger of the left hand.]
GIRL, [Touch the tip of the middle finger and then the pinkie]
[Touch the tip of the index finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand.]
L-O-G-A-N (normally you'd indicate the age here, but we'll learn that in a later lesson)
[Touch the tip of the left, middle finger.]
K-E-L-S-E-Y
[Touch the tip of the ring finger.]
B-E-N
[Touch the tip of the pinkie finger.]
S-A-R-A-HStory 2.B
HELLO
I K-E-L-S-E-Y VICARS
HEARING I
MOTHER FATHER DEAF
FATHER NAME B-I-L-L
MOTHER B-E-L-I-N-D-A
HAVE TWO BROTHER ONE SISTER
[Hold up your left hand in a four handshape, palm facing back, arm held at a comfortable angle, keep it there.]
[Touch the tip of the index finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand.]
BROTHER, L-O-G-A-N, HEARING, MARRIED, 2 CHILDREN
[Touch the tip of the middle finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand.]
ME, SINGLE
[Touch the tip of the ring finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand.]
BROTHER, BEN, DIVORCED, ZERO CHILDREN
[Touch the tip of the pinkie finger of the left four hand with the pad of the right index finger of the right one hand.]
SISTER, S-A-R-A-H, DEAF, SINGLE[Cultural note: Often during introductions you will see even more information: Ages of children, name signs, last names, which residential school was attended, which college program (Gallaudet?) was attended, and so forth.]
Author's note: While the above stories may be loosely based on my own family, they are just made up stories. I do have four terrific kids but as of this writing they are all still quite young.]
Disscussion
Head nodding, head shaking, and no be-verbs
Discussion: When signing a sentence in ASL you don't use state of being verbs, (is, am, was, were, are, be, being, been...). For example: I am happy would be signed, I HAPPY while nodding my head and smiling. If I wanted to sign I'm not happy, I'd sign I HAPPY while shaking my head negatively and frowning a bit or pursing my lips.
To affirm that a thing or state exists in ASL you nod your head.
When negating the existence of a state or thing in ASL you shake your head.
While ASL doesn't use signs for "be verbs" for everyday communication -- there are signs for be verbs. Read that again if you need to. That sentence could get you in trouble with your local teacher. My point is that in ASL "be verb" signs are reserved for situations where you are talking about English. For example, a teacher in an English class at a Deaf school might use signs for "is, am, was, were, be, being, been" and so forth to teach about the English language. But the rule is ASL doesn't use "be verbs." Most ASL instructors will tell you ASL doesn't use "be verbs" -- and they are right in that the grammar of ASL doesn't require a "subject + be- verb + adjective" type of sentence. Instead ASL tends to use a "subject + predicate" type of structure. ("Predicate" is just a fancy word that means "say something about." ) You might call that a topic + comment sentence structure. Some people say that ASL doesn't use a "Subject-Verb-Object" (SVO) sentence structure. Hogwash. ASL does indeed make use of SVO sentence types. For example: I GO STORE uses a subject-verb-object structure. ASL uses many different structures (just like all other real languages). For more information on this topic check out the grammar sections in the Lifeprint Library.Don't let the gloss fool you, ("gloss" is what you call it when you write one language in another.) Just because I didn't type the words "am" and "to" doesn't mean that the function of "am" and "to" aren't being taken care of. The function of these words is to indicate affirmation or existence. The function of the word "am" in that sentence is replaced by a slight nod of the head; and "to" is incorporated in the movement and direction of the sign for GO. The sign GO actually means, "go to." There is much more to ASL than can be easily reduced to paper.
Let's get really clear on this--if someone asks you, "Does ASL use 'be' verbs?" -- you should answer "No." If I ask you on a quiz in this curriculum, Does ASL have 'be' verbs? you should answer "No." But in the back of your head remember that we have signs for "BE, WAS, WERE" -- we just don't use them as verbs and when we do use them it is to sign in English (not ASL) or to talk about English.
Note: While there are two separate signs for YOU and YOUR, the rest of the sentence is important.
For example: YOU NAME WHAT? Can be interpreted as What is your name? because it is the equivalent of: You are named what? In other sentences though you may want to firmly establish possession, -- use YOUR in those situations.
QUESTION - A student asks:
<< So, the sign "MOM," could I use it to get her attention? Or would the sign just be used to describe "This is my mom" or "She is my mom"? -- Rachael >>
Rachael,
Doing the sign "MOM" would NOT be a good way to get your mom's attention in a signing environment. "Hearing people" (people who can hear) say or call out the word "mom" to get the attention of their moms. When you want your Deaf mom's attention you would use one of several "attention getting techniques" depending on how close you are to her, whether she is looking at you, and whether other people are around. One of the most common techniques to get attention is the WAVE-("get attention of") sign. Which I tend to refer to as the "HEY!" sign.
Waving your hand, tapping lightly on the shoulder, lightly slapping the table at which someone is sitting, and--in some circumstances--stomping your foot on the ground or flashing the lights, are all common ways to get the attention of someone in the signing environment. Discretion should be used, (especially with stomping or light flashing) because not all ways are appropriate at all times and there are right ways to do it. For more information on this topic, see: Attention Getting.
Snapping your fingers should NOT be used to attempt to get someone's attention in a signing environment.
--Dr. Bill
OPTIONAL READING AND NOTES:
Another variation on Story 2:
STORY 2
HELLO
I J-a-c-k S-a-l-e-s-s-e-s.
Hearing I
FAMILY ALL HEARING
FATHER NAME John
MOTHER Barbara
HAVE One BROTHER, M-I-K-E (insert real name if you want)
I MARRY, S-a-n-d-y,
One CHILD, V-A-L
Hi Bill,
I am really enjoying your online sign language course. I have a question. How would you sign a story about a family and show them having 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls the oldest a boy, the next a girl then a boy the rest girls. What I am getting at is how can you sign 6 children do you use two hands to show this? I know in lesson 2 you used one hand to show 4 children (yours) please explain. Thank you.
--Wendy Feldman
Wendy,
You would still just use one hand. On children 1 through 5 you tapped or touched the tip of the thumb, then the tip of the index finger, then the tip of the middle, then the tip of the ring, then the tip of the pinkie. When you got to the sixth child you would change the left hand into a six. As you know, the six handshape brings the thumb and pinkie tips together. For the sixth child you would use the right index fingertip to touch or tap the combined tips of the left thumb and pinkie to indicate that you are referencing a sixth child.
This is not a hard and fast system. But that is one way to approach it.
BillIn a message dated 8/3/2006 9:55:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time, SteveS@______.com writes:
Bill,
In your lessons you have the two sentences Are you married? and Are you deaf?
They seem to have the same sentence structure, but you've listed the ASL translation as YOU MARRIED? and DEAF YOU? .
I don't understand why they wouldn't either both start with YOU or both end in YOU. Thanks.
Steve
SteveS@_______.comDear Steve,
Actually you could use any of the following:
YOU MARRIED?
MARRIED YOU?
YOU MARRIED YOU?
All of the above are correct in ASL.
The same goes for the Are you Deaf ? question.
YOU DEAF?
DEAF YOU?
YOU DEAF YOU?
Are all correct.
Bill
