Grammar

fishycracker

fishycracker

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Would anyone be willing to tutor me on ASL grammar? It seems so simple but I still get confused. Probably because it's so different from English and English is my first language. Or does anyone know good resources (free) that explain it past simple sentences like I'm going to the store?
 
Yeah, but then complicated sentences just make no sense and I have no idea how to construct them.

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There are books at the library and you can request free books from some schools/centers.
The book I got also came with a CD to interact on the computer. Take a class at a community college for ASL I and get started.
 
I took ASL my senior year but my local community college doesn't offer ASL. But I can check the library

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fishycracker said:
Yeah, but then complicated sentences just make no sense and I have no idea how to construct them.

First off, I am not here to bash ASL, 75% or better of my deaf friends use it. ASL makes no sense to me either. I am profoundly deaf and have been signing for 48yrs. ASL gives me headaches (still!). The sentence structure is FUBAR it is also fast and furious! My poor brain/noodle just cannot handle it. I perfer SEE (Sign Exact English). SEE is mellower and slower than ASL and follows the proper English grammar or whatchmacallit.

I love all my close deaf/hoh friends. I just hafta tell them to please slow down and please repeat. Or get me a damn terp. :)
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SEE can be fast-- though not quite as it's cumbersome- to me at least. I had to learn SEE as part of my major in college. PSE would be more your speed probably.

I can do ASL well but it's the fingerspelling (in ANY mode!) that kills me due to my crappy assed vision. I make my friends slow down with that no matter what. Many are well aware of deaf-blind issues anyway so that helps. ASL can be slower not necessarily at breakneck speed. Just depends on the person. Some sign super fast some do sign slower and mellower.

:)
 
DeafDucky said:
SEE can be fast-- though not quite as it's cumbersome- to me at least. I had to learn SEE as part of my major in college. PSE would be more your speed probably.

I can do ASL well but it's the fingerspelling (in ANY mode!) that kills me due to my crappy assed vision. I make my friends slow down with that no matter what. Many are well aware of deaf-blind issues anyway so that helps. ASL can be slower not necessarily at breakneck speed. Just depends on the person. Some sign super fast some do sign slower and mellower.

:)
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IDK if is PSE is what I'm trying to describe, Im just a old timer, redneck trying to be mellow and make conversation w/ my deaffies.
 
fishycracker said:
Yeah, but then complicated sentences just make no sense and I have no idea how to construct them.
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Unlike English sentence structure which can build a complicated sentence by adding a string of clauses, ASL works more like layering. The layers can start small and build outward, or start large and build inward, or build chronologically. That means, your ASL sentences aren't one long complicated one, but a series of simpler sentences either wrapping around each other outwardly, or peeling the layers inwardly.

Cappy said:
First off, I am not here to bash ASL, 75% or better of my deaf friends use it. ASL makes no sense to me either. I am profoundly deaf and have been signing for 48yrs. ASL gives me headaches (still!). The sentence structure is FUBAR it is also fast and furious! My poor brain/noodle just cannot handle it. I perfer SEE (Sign Exact English). SEE is mellower and slower than ASL and follows the proper English grammar or whatchmacallit.
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If you wouldn't use English grammar for German or Chinese, then you wouldn't use English grammar for ASL. Therefor, you have to learn the grammar of whatever a language is. That makes sense.
 
Cappy said:
IDK if is PSE is what I'm trying to describe, Im just a old timer, redneck trying to be mellow and make conversation w/ my deaffies.
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PSE is the old term that meant Pidgin Signed English. The newer terms are MCE (Manually Coded English) and CASE (Conceptually Accurate Signed English). The truth is, signing is on a continuum with ASL at one end and English at the other. The big range in-between is the PSE/MCE/CASE signing, some leaning more ASL and some leaning more English. They aren't true languages but are contact languages, as a bridge between two language groups.

Essentially, the more English signing includes more initializing, more use of articles and verb endings and English word order, and less role shifting, directionality, classifying and facial expression.
 
Reba said:
PSE is the old term that meant Pidgin Signed English. The newer terms are MCE (Manually Coded English) and CASE (Conceptually Accurate Signed English). The truth is, signing is on a continuum with ASL at one end and English at the other. The big range in-between is the PSE/MCE/CASE signing, some leaning more ASL and some leaning more English. They aren't true languages but are contact languages, as a bridge between two language groups.

Essentially, the more English signing includes more initializing, more use of articles and verb endings and English word order, and less role shifting, directionality, classifying and facial expression.
Click to expand...
Thanks Reba- I knew there was a newer term(s) for that but could not remember it for the life of me. PSE was the one I knew when I first learned sign waaay back in.. um...well... quite a few years- more than 1 decade at least lol :).
 
Well, thanks everyone who skooled me and took me to the woodshed. Learn something new everyday.So many diff types of sign language, making my head spin. I'm no longer certain what type of signs I use! :)
 
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