Running head: LANGUAGE COMPARISONS

Language Comparisons Staci Cobabe ENGL 1200-002 May 6, 2013

LANGUAGE COMPARISONS Introduction

I am an American, born and raised in California. My first language is English, and my second language is American Sign Language. I learned English from the time I was born. My family all spoke English and no other languages. I developed normally in speech and had no developmental delays or production issues. I went to elementary school where I was not exposed to any language other that English both in spoken and written forms. The only exceptions were the cultural celebrations where we learned about Hawaiis Christmas celebration traditions and songs, and about Cinco de Mayo. These activities only presented a few generic words to learn and no real grammar instruction. I was first introduced to sign language through my oldest brother. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and had been asked to learn sign language partway through his mission. When he returned home, I was 8 or 9 years old, and he began teaching me a few signs and phrases, just a few at a time. However, the language he was teaching me was not American Sign Language, or ASL. It was similar, but more geared toward English grammar, it was called Signing Exact English, or SEE. SEE used ASL base words, and then added different hand-shapes and signs for affixes. For example, if I wanted to say I had a really good time. I would sign I with an I hand-shape instead of just pointing to myself, have plus a past tense marker made by moving one hand over my shoulder to indicate behind me, sign a real plus the -ly ending sign, sign good and sign time. After about a year of just being instructed by my brother, the building I attended church in gained a new group of Deaf individuals as a congregation. This group started offering sign language lessons, and I started taking them on a weekly basis. I quickly found out that I had not been learning ASL, but had learned a lot of the base signs from learning SEE. I started to learn about ASLs grammar and

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syntax. I started learning the rules of production and culturally appropriate behavior. I attended these classes for 1 hour every week from the time I was 10 to the time I was 16. At the age of 12, my parents allowed me to attend the Deaf congregations church services as well as my own. With no interpreters, usually, and very little vocalization or lip movement, I began to pick up a more native-like production of the signs. Immersed in the culture and customs, I learned quickly about Deaf culture and pride. Shortly after I turned 16, I became involved in a performing group that met at the same time as the sign language classes, so I could no longer attend. However, I was still able to attend church services until the congregation moved to another building when I was 18. Luckily, shortly thereafter I moved to Utah to attend BYU for 18 months. While there, I took several ASL classes including two level 200 vocabulary and grammar classes, an interpreting class, and a Deaf culture class. Only the vocabulary classes were taught by a hearing person. I took a total of 15 credit hours of ASL classes at BYU. From there, I moved back to California, where I attended a community college, American River College. While there I took several more ASL classes. Some were just skill workshops for finger spelling, number systems, lifestyle vocabulary, and the use of body language. I also took several interpreting courses, a 300 level vocabulary and grammar course, and a course about teaching Deaf students. Every class except the interpreting classes were taught by a Deaf teacher, some without the aid of an interpreter. I took a total of 10.5 credit hours of ASL classes at American River College. At this time I was employed as an interpreter in elementary and junior high schools. There I learned the technical signs needed for specific social studies, science, and mathematic terms from other interpreters and also from Deaf students.

LANGUAGE COMPARISONS Phonology

Phonemic components of ASL include handshape, orientation, location, movement, facial expressions, and body movements. Changing only one of these elements can change the meaning of the word. For example, you can make the letter y and it means the letter y, but if you shake your hand making the y, it means yellow. The motion involved can change the meaning of the word. (Bahan, 1996) In English, speakers often alter the sounds or syllabic stress in a word depending upon the words surrounding it. The best example of this is the use of the schwa vowel sound for the unstressed vowel sound in a word with two or more vowels, such as in the word America being pronounced as /mr k/ . English also uses assimilations such as flapping, evidenced in words with a t or d between two vowel sounds. The /t/ is changed and pronounced as /d/ as demonstrated in the words butter and better. (OGrady, Archibald, Aronoff, &Rees-Miller, 2010) ASL uses similar changes when fingerspelling the letter e. The signer will only use the number of fingers needed by the letter before the e. For example, if someone was spelling text, the signer would use the index finger and thumb to make the t, so they only use the index finger and thumb to make the e instead of all five fingers. Signers do this to conserve energy, motion, and to help prevent repetitive motion injuries. Morphology English uses affixes to establish tense. ASL uses another sign to indicate tense. The base sign almost always is the present tense form of the action. If a signer wants to indicate that something has already happened, they can use the sign for finished, before, or success after the actions sign. To indicate that something will happen in the future, the signer can use the sign for will, some day, far, or future after the actions sign.

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Furthermore, ASL uses reduplication in many signs to indicate plurality instead of the affixes used in English. For example, to sign child, the signer uses one hand and gestures as though touching a child on the head. To sign children the signer uses one or both hands and does the same action, only repeating it as though patting several children on the head. ASL also uses a type of backformation called lexicalized words. These are words that had no sign, but their fingerspellings were accepted as a sign. Lexicalized signs often slur letters together or essentially eliminate them as indicated in the lexicalized word job. The signer spells J-O-B, but the O is very fast and sometimes dropped all together, so the signer looks as though they have signed J-B. This is accepted as the sign for job. Syntax ASLs grammar and sentence structure differs greatly from Englishs. ASL does not use tense affixes, articles, or plural affixes. (Bishop & Hicks, 2005) ASL has classifiers that are a large part of its grammatical structure. Each classifier is considered a morpheme which consists of one phoneme. Each classifier is comprised of two components: a classifier handshape, and a movement root. The classifier handshape represents the whole object which may also indicate attributes and can look like a pantomime or iconic portrayal of the object or action. The movement root can contain up to three morphemes: a path, a direction, and a manner. Consequently, the path, directionality, or manner of a signs can change the meaning of the word or sentence. The directionality of a verb sign can change the subject verb object order of the whole sentence. For example, if someone signs boy girl and the sign give moves from the boy signs established place to the girl signs established place, it means the boy gave something to the girl. However, reversing the movement means that the girl gave the boy something, even if the boy signs position is established first. (Bahan, 1996)

LANGUAGE COMPARISONS Semantics

Phonology, morphology, and syntax all combine to influence the semantics of ASL. A sentence can be altered in meaning simply by the signer shaking their head no. For example, a signer could say me happy to indicate they are feeling happy, but they can express the opposite by shaking their head no after signing. In effect the signer is then asking a reciprocal question, and giving an answer by signing the equivalent of Am I happy? No. Sarcasm can be similarly expressed by using exaggerated signs paired with a blank or contrasting facial expression. Acquisition The acquisition of ASL is difficult for most native English speakers. The main reason for this is the conceptual nature of ASL paired with the word order used. In ASL, the signer can sign one concept several ways. To say I went to the store, a signer could sign I go finished where<eye brow raised>, <body shift>store, store I go finished, I store go finished, finished store I go, or finished I store go. However, native English speakers want to sign I finished go store which is not grammatically correct. I believe the best way to acquire nativelike grammar and production of ASL is to be immersed in the Deaf culture, and to be taught vocabulary and grammar by a Deaf teacher. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be immersed in Deaf culture and language for many years, and have been told I have very natural and almost perfect native-like usage. I think it is only due to the age I began, the immersion, and the constant practice that allowed that native-like level acquisition. Conclusion Through this assignment I have learned that the similarities between ASL and English are primarily in the phonology, acquisition, and in certain aspects of semantics in each language. The main phonological similarities are the adaptations used in English schwas, English

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flapping, and ASL modified fingerspelling. Additionally, most English words have an equivalent in ASL, even if it is just by being fingerspelled. The main similarity in acquisition of English or ASL is that the languages are learned best by usage, practice and immersion. The main semantic similarity is in how the information is conveyed. English relies a lot on tone of voice to relay semantic information, and ASL uses body language to convey similar information. Through this assignment, I have also come to understand that the morphology, syntax, and semantics of English and ASL are very different. English uses affixes, and typically uses the subject-verb-object word order in sentences, while ASL does not use affixes, articles, and a variety of word orders in sentences. Through this assignment I have come to appreciate the complex processes that are required in learning a new language fluently. As a future teacher, this information helps me to better prepare for my students whose first language is not English.

LANGUAGE COMPARISONS References

Bahan, Benjamin. (1996). Non-Manual Realization of Agreement in American Sign Language. Boston University. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/asllrp/dissertatns.long.html#bahan Bishop, M. & Hicks, S. (2005). Orange Eyes: Bimodal Bilingualism in Hearing Adults from Deaf Families. Sign Language Studies 5(2), 188-230. Gallaudet University Press. Retrieved May 1, 2013, from Project MUSE database. OGrady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M., & Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary linguistics: An introduction (6th ed.). Boston, MA. Bedford/St. Martins.