How did ASL grammar and English grammer get to be so different in the USA?

[metalangel]

I was talking to a guy in work about ASL and told him a few typical statements. He said it reminded him of when you hear people who speak, for example, an Eastern European language natively but have now learned English.

Many parts of Spoken English grammar just aren't there for them, things like determiners and some pronouns aren't something they'd use, their language* is about communication and all the 'flowery' extras of English (that aren't necessary to be understood) are a foreign concept to them.

*this is all in very general terms. I don't know much about Eastern European languages and how they're structured but the point he was making was the difference between the native English speaker and the English-as-a-second-language speaker, for example:
"I am just going down to the store now."
"I am go to store now." (putting a Boris and Natasha "yes?" on the end is optional )

 

[Anij]

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

...As for SEE, I consider this a bridge between English and ASL. Please correct me if I am wrong. ...

SEE is not a bridge between English and ASL. SEE is more like a detour between English and ASL.

"Recalculating...."

Lol ... I was going to say "traffic jam" ... Detour works too

To the previous poster who thought SEE was primarily used for toddlers etc , this isn't actually the case at all.
SEE is primarily used to teach ASLers written English ... It's used in the classroom to show specific parts of English which exist as "stand alone" words in English (to, at, the, an, a, be etc. ) while in ASL are integrated into other signs using movement, shape changes etc.

 

[Reba]

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

Lol ... I was going to say "traffic jam" ... Detour works too

...SEE is primarily used to teach ASLers written English ... It's used in the classroom to show specific parts of English which exist as "stand alone" words in English (to, at, the, an, a, be etc. ) while in ASL are integrated into other signs using movement, shape changes etc.

It might be more accurate to say, that's what SEE was intended to do. Sadly, SEE came to be used as a substitute for ASL, especially in mainstream public schools. After a few decades of that travesty, educators starting to see the light, and move back to using ASL as the primary language for school, and SEE as a teaching tool only. The transition back to ASL in mainstream schools is ongoing; not yet there 100 percent.

At least, that's what happened in the USA.

 

[Anij]

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

We're fortunate - our School for the Deaf switched back to teaching in 100% ASL in the early 80s ... After using SEE for only a few years (and watching grades fall because of SEE use).


Since then ASL has been the language of instruction for those both at the Deaf school, but also mainstreamed students with interpreters


Though some older people use SEE (or aspects of SEE) it's rather rare, definitely the exception.


The only place we see SEE now is in English classrooms while teaching English reading and writing using both ASL (to explain and instruct) and SEE to show specific parts of English speech.

 

[PowerON]

ASL save their time than use SEE. They have reason to doing that.

 

[kellycat]

The reason ASL grammar may seem to resemble an Eastern European person speaking English (or some other immigrant) is that ASL shares some characteristics with those languages. Russian, for example does not have the verb "to be" or use articles. So in Russian you say "Boy very happy" for the same concept that in English we would express as "The boy is very happy."

Mandarin Chinese, and, I believe other nearby languages, do not use verb forms. Past, present, future are all the same verb form, with a marker of time. Glossed into English the concept of "Yesterday I went to the store, now I am going to the mall, tomorrow I will go to the farm." would come off something like "yesterday I go to store, now I go to mall, tomorrow I go to farm.". (my apologies for not totally correct Mandarin grammar, I only know about 8 words of that language)

 

[Lily7]

The reason ASL grammar may seem to resemble an Eastern European person speaking English (or some other immigrant) is that ASL shares some characteristics with those languages. Russian, for example does not have the verb "to be" or use articles. So in Russian you say "Boy very happy" for the same concept that in English we would express as "The boy is very happy."

Mandarin Chinese, and, I believe other nearby languages, do not use verb forms. Past, present, future are all the same verb form, with a marker of time. Glossed into English the concept of "Yesterday I went to the store, now I am going to the mall, tomorrow I will go to the farm." would come off something like "yesterday I go to store, now I go to mall, tomorrow I go to farm.". (my apologies for not totally correct Mandarin grammar, I only know about 8 words of that language)

That's fascinating. And it makes total sense.