as we continue looking at the pragmatics of american sign language
we notice that american sign language is not uniform
there's a great deal of variation depending on a lot of factors one of the
most important factors in variation for any language is the variation of
register register has to do with formality we find in ASL that formal
signs and informal signs have different characteristics in general
formal signs are often two-handed signs if there's an option between the two
handed and a one handed variety but generally with formal signing there's
less assimilation and clear
eyebrow movement to mark sentence types on the other hand there are fewer mouth
morphemes that are used so if there's an option of using a mouth morepheme to
modify a verb as opposed to just simply signing the adverb in formal signing
you'll often sign the adverb rather than use the mouth morepheme finger spelling
is typically slower so there's generally more traditional fingerspelling in formal
signing rather than the more the faster lexicalized and and the nonce
of forms as mentioned in an earlier discussion often in formal signing
there's more English syntax and more mouthing of english words and informal
settings on the other hand we're going to see the opposite of all of these
characteristics
we also noticed that over time
sign language has changed some characteristics that we found in the
changing of signs are that signs tend to move away from the center of the face
signs like see which used to be made over the two eyes have moved to the side
of the face think has likewise move from the center of the forehead to the side
of the forehead also signs that are on made on the face and the head to move
down towards the shoulders in towards the neck area
this is why in younger signers we see the same think not signed so much by the
temple but often by the top of the cheek
on the other hand signs that are made on the body to move upward toward the
center of the chest
so if we look at video from a hundred years ago we noticed that signs like
tired and hungry were made over the stomach but over time they moved up to
the center of the chest
signs that are made with two hands if they're made up high
tend to become one handed signs on the other hand signs that are neutral space
if they're made with one hand tend to become two-handed signs
so for instance we have the sign for to travel around which is made almost like
the sign tornado with two fingers swirling around one another that sound
used to be made with one hand but over time it's coming to be made with 2
similarly the sign play which is made in neutral space used to be made with one
hand
now it's generally made with two we also notice that there is variation by group
in the south we see that many signers use older forms this is particularly
true of black deaf ASL where we often find the most original forms of american
sign language because deaf schools were segregated up until the sixties and
sometimes even the seventies in the south we have lots of preservation of
original forms in Black deaf users
nowadays so many deaf people attended Gallaudet University they Gallaudet
is beginning to have its own form of sign language with particular signs and
expressions being common in Gallaudet and not being common to the rest of the world
- in the rest of the country
on the other hand because so many people leave Gallaudet
and go out to teach and work in various parts of the US
what's common now in Gallaudet often becomes popular throughout the
nation within 10 or 15 years as the signs that are developed there spread
finally we notice that ASL varies depending on how it's being used there
are certain types of literature in American Sign Language that create some
flexibility in the morphological and syntactic way that ASL is formed
for instance ASL stories have their own rules about how classifiers might be
used there are examples of ABC stories that just use the alphabet and number stories
which sometimes play on the forms of signs to conform to the number one two
three and four
there are categories of ASL jokes and ASL poetry which likewise exhibit the
unique flexibility of ASL at the same time they also exhibit how ASL is just
like any other language if we look at ASL poetry for instance we see that the
concepts of rhyme with repeated handshapes repeated motions and rhythm
with repeated cadence and repeated hold movement structures
just as we see repeated syllables and sounds in spoken language so the
flexibility of ASL the variation that we see an ASL based on historical changes
based on group dynamics and based on the literature of ASL are just like
those variations that we see in spoken languages