Example for the Midterm Exam Topic Signing: Compare and Contrast



Mid-Term Exam

Directions:  You will have a whole week to complete the mid-term exam.  Please do the following videos.

1. Free Signing (three minutes):

2. Topic Signing (three minutes): Compare and Contrast Ben Towers below.

 

 

You can email your videos via www.sendspace.com to my work email address cschroeder@clackamas.edu.

Signing Spaces and the Brain

What does deafness of the ears do to it, if the minds hear can?

The only real deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind.

—Besançon, 26 februari 1802, Paris

 

 

The first thing to understand signing spaces in ASL is the brain itself.  In simple terms, there are two sides to every mind—literally two hemispheres of “gray matter” in the one brain—and each side has its own way of doing ASL and its own special functions.

A complex motor skill like doing ASL requires the participation of both sides of the brain.  In fact, I think doing ASL may be unique among languages in the degree of participation and cooperation it demands of each hemisphere.

We are probably already aware of the fact that, physically, the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of our body and that the right hemisphere controls our body’s left side.  Thus, if a person suffers a stroke in the left side of his brain, he risks paralysis in the right side of his body.  This crossover effect is a mechanical aspect of the nervous system.  This chapter is about the special mental faculties that each side of the brain has developed.
The two hemispheres, which for convenience I shall label the analyzer and the integrator, acquired their preferences for doing ASL.  The result is that with the analyzer, or left hemisphere, we do most of step-by-step thinking.  Doing ASL is controlled primarily through the analyzer.  On the other hand, the integrator or right hemisphere has become or skills in creative and artistic endeavors and the signing spaces.
The integrator has intuitive rather than analytic powers.  It can help us in doing ASL to visualize and create images. Also, and of great importance to motor skill performance, the integrator helps us keep ASL oriented in space, in the proper relation to our thoughts.
The five to ten percent of ASL users who are left-handed, incidentally, do not automatically follow this pattern of left brain being analyzer and right brain being integrator.  For many lefties, the pattern is reversed.  But the challenge of doing ASL with a brain consisting of two specialized hemispheres is exactly the same.
The point I am trying to make is that the two hemisphere brain theory is not a figment of our own right hemisphere.  It is an exciting and valid new concept with far-reaching implication—and with intriguing possibilities for doing ASL.
We need both sides of the brain for doing ASL.  The analyzer serves as an evaluator and decision-maker during doing ASL.  It assesses signs and devises expressive tactics for communication.  It checks the parts of signs in the Movement-Hold Models and selects the H-deletions.
Suppose, for example, you are to meet someone that you have not seen for a while.  Here’s how your analyzer might function in doing ASL:
“Let’s find out how he has been, how his parents are doing, and where he is heading for.”
The analyzer may also be active in this situation to ask (HOW-YOU?), to talk (PARENTS-FINE?), and to start a conversation (WHERE-GO?).  During this round of conversation, the integrator serves as synthesizer and executor.  It translates the analytic information about each signs into doing ASL, which permits him to communicate.  The integrator visualizes language patterns, senses doing ASL, and provides the communication.
All signs are made in the space for your need and want.  Your conversation plays them to your own self.  One of my ASL students wrote a good interpretation of what I had taught, and I quote him in part: If you were talking to someone at the dining table you wouldn't yell at them. The same thing can be applied to ASL; when talking to someone at a dining table you wouldn't use a large signing space because you might hit someone sitting next to you or annoy someone around you. Instead, you would use a conservative space near your body (see Singing Space: Dining Table below).

The following are the similar signing space cue cards (with their descriptions by the same student) that I use during the free-signing exercises.

SIGNING SPACE: Theatre

Signing Space: Theater is used in theater or when you're mad or arguing, or when you're very excited telling the climax of a story to a room of viewers.

SIGNING SPACE: Classroom

Signing Space: Classroom is used in a classroom setting. This can be used for giving a speech or telling a story with enthusiasm without being over the top.

SIGNING SPACE: Dinner Table

Signing Space: Dining Table is used at the dining table or in normal conversation.

SIGNING SPACE: Whispering

Signing space: Whispering is used when you want to keep a secret without telling the whole room.

 

The Sideways View of Signing Spaces

 

 

 

Parts of Signs and HMH's

From My LEGO Office

 

 



The following terms will be used and referred throughout this year.

·         GLOSSING is a labeling system for ASL which does not have a written counterpart.  Using the equivalent terms from the English language, glossed in uppercase letters, helps you master ASL.

GLOSS	Equivalent English Terms
HOUSE	house, hut, cabin, mansion, dwelling
MAN	man, men, male, masculine
FIX	fix, repair, adjust, rebuild, restore, tune up
EAT	devour, dine, feast upon, nibble, chow down
GO	approach, hit the road, get off
ANIMAL	beast, barbarian, brute, mammal

 

 

 

·         HANDSHAPE (HS) refers to the specific hand configuration that exists with definable and unique thumb/finger positions.

 

HS: B	Fingers are adducted, and the thumb is abducted.
HS: A	Fingers are flexed, and the thumb is adducted.
HS: S	Fingers are flexed, and the thumb is flexed over the fingers.
HS: C	Fingers and thumb are abducted and semi-flexed.
HS: O	Fingers are bended flatly, and the thumb is extended with its palm contacting the fingers.
HS: 1	The index finger is extended, the middle, ring and pinky are flexed, and the thumb is flexed over the middle finger.
HS: 5	Thumb and fingers are abducted.

 

 

·         PALM ORIENTATION (PO) shows the specific palm position of the hand in a sign.

 

 

PALM IN
PALM OUT
PALM UP
PALM DOWN
PALM SIDEWAYS

 

 

·         START/END LOCATIONS (LOC)            are viewed as a lens through which signs are seen starting and ending.  Each sign, through its different locations, generates a phenomenological different meaning.

 

·         One-Hand Sign

 

SIGN	START/END
GOOD	palm in/palm in chin contact/chin proximity
BAD	palm in/ palm down chin contact/chin proximity
THANK-YOU	palm in/ palm up chin contact/chin proximity

 

 

·         Two-Hand Sign

 

SIGN	START/END
NAME (verb)	HS: 1 (H), 1 (H) PO: sideways, in and move downward LOC: chest proximity, neck proximity à chest proximity, chest proximity
SHORT	HS: 1 (H),1 (H) PO: sideways, in and move forward to sideways chest proximity, chest proximity à chest distance
SIT	HS: 1 (H),1 (H) PO: down, down and move downward LOC: chest proximity, neck proximity à chest proximity
BLOCK (verb)	HS: 1 (H), 1 (H) PO: Sideways, sideways move forward to contact LOC: chest proximity, chest proximity à chest distance, chest distance
LAY-THE-EGG	HS: 1 (H), 1 (H) PO: in, in and both move downward LOC: chest proximity, chest proximity à waist proximity, waist proximity
FUN	HS: 1 (H), 1 (H) PO: down, in and move downward to contact with palm down LOC: chest proximity, nose contact à chest proximity, chest proximity

 

·         NON-MANUAL EXPRESSIONS ((NM) is used as an infix (see figures below) to modify the sign.

·         RED/BRIGHT-RED

RED   HS: 1 à 1 (X) PO: in   LOC: chin contact à chin proximal NM: n/a

BRIGHT-RED   HS: 1 à 1 (X) PO: in   LOC: chin contact à chin distance NM: raised eyebrows

·         TIRED/VERY-TIRED

TIRED   HS: B (palm in) à B (palm up) PO: in à up   LOC: shoulder contact à shoulder      contact NM: n/a

VERY-TIRED   HS: B à B   PO: in  à up LOC: shoulder contact à shoulder proximity NM: closed eyes

·         WHAT/WHAT?

WHAT   HS: 5,1 à 5,1 PO: in à in   LOC: chest proximity, neck proximity à chest proximity, stomach proximity NM: n/a

WHAT?   HS: 5,1 à 5,1   PO: in à in LOC: chest proximity, neck proximity à chest proximity, stomach proximity NM: lowered eyebrows

 

·         MODIFIER MOVEMENT (MV) is an infix that emphasizes an adverb movement to modify a sign and it is generally embedded in the sign.

 

·         RICH/VERY-RICH

RICH   HS: B, O à B, C PO: up, sideways à up, down   LOC:chest proximity, chest proximity à chest proximity, neck proximity NM: n/a

VERY-RICH   HS: B, O à B, C   PO: up, sideways à up, down   LOC: chest proximity, chest proximity à chest proximity, forehead proximity NM: upward eye-gazing

 

·         BAD/VERY-BAD

BAD   HS: B (palm in) à B (palm down) PO: in à down   LOC: chin contact à chin proximity NM: n/a

VERY-BAD   HS: B (palm in) à B (palm down) PO: in à down   LOC: chin contact à chest proximity NM: lowered eyebrows

 

·         WALK/WALK-FAST

WALK   HS: B,B à B,B PO: down, down à down, down   LOC: chest proximity à chest proximity NM: n/a   MV: alternatively

WALK-FAST   HS: B,B à B,B PO: down, down à down, down   LOC: chest proximity à chest proximity NM: raised eyebrows   MV: alternatively and rapidly

 

·         WALK/WALK-SLOWLY

WALK     HS: B,B à B,B PO: down, down à down, down LOC: chest proximity à chest proximity NM: n/a MV: alternative

WALK-SLOWLY     HS: B,B à B,B PO: down, down à down, down LOC: chest proximity à chest proximity NM: half-mast eyes MV: alternatively and slowly

 

·         WALK/WALK-AIMLESSLY

WALK     HS: B,B à B,B PO: down, down à down, down LOC: chest proximity à chest proximity NM: n/a MV: alternative

WALK-AIMLESSLY     HS: B,B à B,B PO: down, down à down, down LOC: chest proximity à chest proximity NM: wandering eyes   MV: alternatively and in circle

Reference:

Valli, C., et al. 2005. Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction. Washington, D.C.: Clerc Books