2 - A sketch of the grammar of ASL

Summary

This chapter begins with a brief description of the abstract system of parts that compose individual signs followed by an overview of the types of complex signs found in ASL. The chapter concludes with a description of some aspects of ASL sentences, focusing on the ordering of subjects and objects and concepts related to transitivity. Although these descriptions are not comprehensive, they are intended to provide sufficient background to make the examples appearing later in the book understandable.

Phonological representations

Signs as simultaneous bundles of features

One of Stokoe's first major accomplishments in his work with ASL was demonstrating that signs, like spoken words, are constructed from a limited number of parts used over and over again in new combinations (Stokoe 1960, Stokoe et al. 1965). This is a characteristic found in all spoken languages. English, for example, uses roughly forty-five distinctive sounds in the construction of English words. These sounds combine over and over again in different arrangements to produce all the words of English.

Stokoe divides signs into three aspects. These three aspects are location, what acts, and movement. In this analysis, every sign consists of one location, one handshape (what acts), and one or more movements.