Learning the rules and structure of ASL grammar can be very confusing for
beginners, but in this video our expert ASL instructor Victoria is going to help
break down the general concepts to help you get a better understanding. And
before you go, click the link in the description box to learn more in our
online free ASL classes. -When learning ASL, our instinct is to believe that it
follows the same rules as our English grammar, but that's actually not the case.
ASL is completely different in many ways. It has its own syntax, grammar, idioms,
expressions, things of that nature. So in English, for one thing, we have tone and
inflection in our voices. Our tone and inflection change our meaning
completely. It can show if we are being sarcastic; it can show if we're happy, if
we're sad, if we are emphasizing a word or not. So that all comes out in our
voice. In ASL we have to still use some sort of tone and inflection to give our
sentences meaning. The question is, how? Well in ASL it's all about your facial
expressions and your body movement. It might feel a little silly at first
because perhaps we're not used to making certain facial expressions or moving in
a certain way but the truth is that just signing a word in ASL does not give it
the meaning that we necessarily need. In any given sentence we need to add in our
facial expressions to give it the meaning. For example if I want to say
"happy," this is our sign for happy. But this alone does not necessarily mean
happy. Why? Well if my face looks like that, am I really showing
happiness? In order to give this meaning I have to have a smile on my face; I have
to show that I'm happy. Same thing if I was saying
"sad." My face should have a frown; I should look somewhat sad. Now this is
also important when showing different meanings. By moving our hands in
different ways, it also gives a different meaning. So, sad. Crying, like
bawling-crying. It all changes with our movements.
It gives emphasis and additional meaning to our sentences. Facial expressions are
so important. In English we use that word "so" to put emphasis on the next word,
which is "important." In ASL we don't have a word for "so." This is our sign for
"important." If I want to show it is "so important," I kind of drag out my sign, but
my facial expression is also putting emphasis on the sign. So 50% of the
language is, yes, knowing your signs for your words. But the other 50% is your
facial expressions and your body movement. You really can't have one without the
other. So as silly as it may feel, it's very
very important to use those in your sentences. Another thing that makes ASL
so different is the lack of certain words. In English, we use words like "or,"
"and," "is," "of," "the." All of those words and others are not included in ASL. For
example if I wanted to say "the table," I never say "the." That word doesn't exist
in American Sign Language. So I simply sign
"table." When signing a sentence like, "I like cookies and milk," the word "and"
doesn't really exist in American Sign Language either. In this case we use
something called role shifting. So I would say "I like cookies." I'm signing off to
one side, in this case, my left. "...and milk," I'm signing on my right. So I'm not doing
something so dramatic, but it's a slight shift that we call role shifting. "Cookies
and milk." This is our "and." This role shifting can also be used for "or." For
example in the question, "do you like cookies or milk?" So we might sign "cookies,
milk," still doing the role shifting. And to show the "or," we do the sign for "which"
at the end. So again those words - and, or, is, of, the, etc, - the small little words
that we have in English, they don't exist in ASL. You might find them in other
forms of sign like signed exact English or PSE. So the less words, the better.
Which kind of brings us to our next point: English is very much so word for
word for word. We have an exact structure to our sentences. In ASL that's not the
case. While there are some grammar rules that do exist, ASL is not about word for
word for word. One of my favorite examples is, "I am walking down the street."
I would never sign, "I am walking down the street." That is English.
In ASL my goal is to paint a picture for the person I am speaking to, so I would
say maybe, "here's the street, and I'm walking." And in that case I am able to
put a clear picture instead of just putting a bunch of words out there that
really in the end don't give a real meaning to my sentence in ASL. So if you
take one thing home with you today it's that ASL is a simple language; it's
very straightforward, so really the less words you use the
better. What gives ASL meaning and emphasis, and all of
those things that we're looking for in our English sentences, we convey them in
the inflection we're using in our sign. The tone that is coming out through our
facial expressions and our body movement. With practice I know that you're going
to be able to deliver any meaning in any of your sentences perfectly in beautiful
ASL structure. -Hey there, thanks for watching. We want to know what you find
the most challenging about ASL grammar. Leave a comment and let us know, and if
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