Jules glanced into the far room at the aquarium where the old woman kept the big rattlesnake. He couldn t figure out how he d missed the thing

Transcription

1 PRONOUNS IN ASL

2 AGENDA 1. Define pronoun 2. Explore phonological aspects 3. Group Activity: Look at examples and identify various strategies used in ASL pronominal systems

3 Count the Pronouns

4 Jules glanced into the far room at the aquarium where the old woman kept the big rattlesnake. He couldn t figure out how he d missed the thing before. It was as though they had just appeared. When he did find it, he asked her to cover it with an overturned end table, just to be sure.

5 Count the Pronouns

6 Chomsky s Competency versus Performance Competency -- the linguistic knowledge that the native speaker has Performance -- the native speaker s use of the language

7 Soapbox Degrees, professionalism, and a shared body of knowledge Competence and performance

8 What is the definition of a pronoun? N. One of a class of words that function as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and denotes persons or things asked for, previously designated, or understood from the context.

9 What is the function of a pronoun? A pronoun s role is to make communications efficient, reduce redundancy

10 Jules glanced into the far room at the aquarium where the old woman kept the big rattlesnake. (Jules) couldn t figure out how (Jules) had missed (the aquarium with the big rattlesnake) before. It was as though (the aquarium with the big rattlesnake) had just appeared. When (Jules) did find (the aquarium with the big rattlesnake), (Jules) asked (the old woman) to cover (the aquarium with the big rattlesnake) with an overturned end table, just to be sure. The purpose of the pronoun is to make communication more efficiency

11 Jules glanced into the far room at the aquarium where the old woman kept the big rattlesnake. He couldn t figure out how he d missed the thing before. It was as though they had just appeared. When he did find it, he asked her to cover it with an overturned end table, just to be sure. The purpose of the pronoun is to make communication more efficiency

12 Theoretical Contradictions Not all languages have pronouns, or do they? Fact: Pronominal forms are not universal. Does it follow second language theory: the more divergent they are from your native language the more difficult to grasp?

13 How is efficiency accomplished? There are 2 main ideas to get from this discussion: 1. Pronouns are created from the simplest of linguistic parts. 2. There are relaxed (weak) morphological forms in the pragmatics of communication.

14 D jeet yet? Can be/can go Cheese nacho mama Ten percent Tell em I m home Even though Bev was right there, she still told her the story! Shawn talked about Mike and his trip to Jamaica.

15 Linguistics

16 Linguistics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics

17 Phonology Smallest unit of linguistic study Unit is meaningless in and of itself Combines with other phonemes to create morphemes

18 Morphology Smallest unit of meaning; word/ sign Combines with other morphemes to create sentences Also lexicon, lexemes

19 Syntax The study of sentential and phrasal organization of the communication Also referred to as the grammar of a language blue sky sky blue MOVIE FINISH FINISH, MOVIE

20 Semantics The study of meaning; specifically how meaning is grasped from a communication event Ambiguity -- a word, phrase, sentence, or other communication is called ambiguous if it can be interpreted in more than one way.

21 Pragmatics The study of language as it is used in a social context, including its effect on the interlocutors. Pragmatics is concerned with bridging the gap between sentence meaning and speaker s meaning. The study of how context influences the interpretation is then crucial.

22 Back to EFFICIENCY All morphemes are made up of phonological elements Pronouns fall into the very simple, most basic articulations.

23 LIST ENGLISH PRONOUNS

24 Consonants

25 Consonants

26

27 Unmarked versus Marked Unmarked are simple fffffffvvvvvvvfffffffffvvvvvvv Marked are more complex they/thick bath/break

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29 Vowels

30

31 SHOW ASL PRONOUNS

32 Phonology of ASL ASL has five major divisions on the phonological level: Handshape Palm orientation Location Movement Non-manual signals

33 Unmarked Handshapes B A S 1 C 0 5

34 Strong versus Weak

35 Strong versus Weak Forms Citation form the way a morpheme is pronounced (articulated) in isolation In connected speech, morphemes are often produced in altered forms. Think of the difference between handwriting in print and cursive.

36 Strong versus Weak Forms Cursive writing is a good example of the effects language and communication has on the micro-level and the variations are many and not always as distinguishable as a nice pretty print. Word and sign pronunciations go through the same permutations when they are put in the communication event.

37

38 Strong versus Weak Forms Assimilation: Anticipation Preservation

39 ASL Pronominal Systems The ASL pronominal system is sub-divided depending on whether the person/place/ thing is present or not present in the communication environment

40 ASL Pronominal Systems ASL pronouns are different from English pronouns in several ways: In ASL (as in Chinese) the same pronouns can be used to refer to people or things, males or females The grammatical role (e.g. subject/object) of the pronoun in ASL does not change form as it does in English: He told them. They told him.

41 ASL Pronominal Systems One way that ASL takes advantage of the 3- dimensional nature of ASL is to set up or establish non-present referents in specific locations around his/her body. This way the signer can point to these locations and those points serve as pronouns.

42 Here is a list of lexemes that serve pronoun roles: Pointing or extending index finger (YOU, ME, THEY, etc.) Flat hand (YOUR, MY, etc.) possessive Closed fist (SELF) reflexive Y-handshape (THAT-ONE) Semi-open, relaxed 5-handshape (honorific YOU) 2-hand, 3-hand, 4-hand, etc.

43 Here is a list of behaviors that serve pronoun roles: Head nods Gaze behaviors Facial movements

44 When using a pronoun to refer to nonpresent noun: Reality Principle, where referents are placed according to their arrangement in real space. When reality principle cannot be used, there is often the use of patterns.

45 When using a pronoun to refer to nonpresent noun: Once a signer establishes a referent in space, all future references should be consistent with that initial location unless the referent has clearly been moved. Once a signer has established a reference point, other signers in the conversation will also make consistent use of that space when referring to same person (with exceptions depending on the proximity of signers to each other).

46 Pronominal reference points can be made in the following ways: Making the sign in a particular location. Fingerspelling the name of the referent in a particular location. Directing head and eye movements toward a particular location while making the sign or fingerspelling the name of the referent. This strategy can be used alone or paired with other markers. Using a pronoun (POSS-rt, SELF-lf) right after the sign is made. Using a classifier that represents the referent. Using a directional verb (LOAN).

47 Non-dominant hand referents This is a modification of the listing technique and there are several ways referents can be established: Pointing to a specific finger on the non-dominant hand and then fingerspelling with the dominant hand. Resting the butt of the dominant hand on the nondominant finger while spelling the referent. Showing the non-dominant finger and then signing the referent, or vice versa.

48 Pro-Drop A pro-drop language (from "pronoundropping") is a language where pronouns can be deleted when they are in some sense pragmatically inferable The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite intricate. Wikipedia.com

49 Pro-Drop In everyday speech there are often instances when who or what is being referred to can be inferred from context. In a pro-drop language, the pronouns that in other languages would have those referents can be omitted, or be phonologically null. Wikipedia.com

50 Pro-Drop Among major languages, a clear cut case of a pro-drop language is Japanese (featuring pronoun deletion not only for subjects, but for practically all grammatical contexts). Mandarin and American Sign Language also exhibit frequent prodrop features. Wikipedia.com

51 Group activity

52 Vowels Front Mid Back eve /i/ bird / R/ boot / u/ it / I/ up / A/ foot / U/ hate / e/ obey / o/ met / E/ all / c/ at father / a/