What's Your Sign for Pizza?: An Introduction to Variation in American Sign Language

2. Signs Have Parts

12 2 Signs Have Parts The symbols that make up languages can be broken down into smaller parts. The signs of sign languages have several parts. ASL signs have five basic parts: handshape, movement, location, palm orientation, and nonmanual signals (facial expressions). Different signs may have the same part. For example, the sign FEEL has the same handshape as the sign SICK, the same movement as the sign HAPPY, and the same location as the sign COMPLAIN . We know that these parts are important because a change in one part may create a difference in meaning. For example, the signs SUMMER, DRY, and UGLY share the same handshape, movement, and palm orientation, but they differ in location. We know which sign is being signed by the location. Similarly, RED and CUTE share the same location, movement, and palm orientation but differ in handshape; SHORT and TRAIN share everything except for palm orientation, while SIT and CHAIR differ only in movement. When pieces of a language are responsible for a difference in meaning in this way, they are said to be contrastive. (See Figure 4.) ! Clip 2. The concepts discussed here are also covered in the Signs Have Parts section of the CD. ! Nonmanual signals may also be contrastive. The signs LATE and NOT YET are often distinguished only by the facial expression that accompanies them. Many signs are not correctly produced without a nonmanual signal. For example, the sign meaning “finally” and often glossed as PAH requires Figure 4. Pairs of signs that differ in only one parameter 14 Chapter 2 the mouth to open during the production of the sign; NOT YET is usually made with the mouth open and the tongue slightly out (see Figure 5). Just as words in spoken languages are made up of sequences of vowels and consonants, the signs in sign languages are made up of sequences of movements and holds.4 Holds are periods of time during which all aspects of the sign are in a steady state, not changing, while movements are periods of time during which some part of the sign is changing. More than one part can change at once. For example, in UNDERSTAND, only the handshape changes; in MISS, both the location and the handshape change. The sign DEAF is composed of a hold, then a movement, and then a hold. The sign can begin at the ear and move down to the chin, but it can also start at the chin and move up to the ear. Holds and movements are called segments, and each segment has parts: handshape, location, palm orientation, and nonmanual signal information. Figure 6 shows an abstract representation of the parts of the sign DEAF in the form that is used in ASL dictionaries. Figure 5. Two versions of FINALLY Figure 6. The structure of the sign DEAF Figure 7. Examples of possible sign structure 16 Chapter 2 The structure of DEAF is hold-movement-hold (H M H). DEAF has a 1 handshape, and the palm is generally oriented inward. In standard or dictionary form, the sign begins just below the ear and ends near the corner of the mouth. It thus has two locations. In standard form, the first location is at the ear and the second in the area of the chin. Of course, the hold-movement-hold structure of DEAF is only one of many possible combinations of movement and hold segments. Figure 7 illustrates some other possibilities. This way of analyzing signs as sequences of movements and holds, each of which can be further described depending on the handshape, location, palm orientation, and nonmanual signals, proves to be very useful for describing variation in ASL, as we shall see in the next section. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. For each of the following signs, find another sign that has the same features for handshape, movement, and location: Same Same Same Handshape Movement Location Example: FEEL SICK HAPPY MY FORGET CUTE ENJOY WORSE DISCUSS 2. What feature differs between the signs in each of the following pairs? a. SUMMER/DRY c. SHORT/TRAIN b. RED/CUTE d. SIT/CHAIR ...