Dr. Bill Vicars Lifeprint.com
ASL Linguistics Linguistics, 5th Edition
Variation and Historical Change
Title of this course?
ASL Structure and Usage
Structure: phonology, morphology, syntax …
Language Structure +
Language Usage Skills =
Communicative Competence
What do we call the study of the interrelationship of language and social structure?
Socio-linguistics [Page 161, 4th Ed.; Page 171, 5th Ed.]
Communicative competence = what?
…able to use language for both…
communicative and social functions.
Communication = describing things
Social functions = interacting with others
Knowledge of how to use…
… the forms of a language, the phonology, morphology, and syntax
Knowledge of how to use the language appropriately:
How to enter or leave a conversation
How to ask for an apology
Match language appropriate to a situation.
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What do we call “different ways of saying the same thing?”
Language Variation
Language variance from location to location =
Regional Variation
Vocabulary variations:
Lexical variation
English: Ex: “sofa” vs “couch”
soda soft-drink pop Coke
Bag vs sack
Supper vs Dinner
ASL Vocabulary variation [Page 163, 4th Ed.; Page 172, 5th Ed.]
PICNIC
BIRTHDAY
HALLOWEEN
SOON
Pronunciation differences =
Accents
Accents = phonological variation
ASL Examples of pronunciation differences:
MOVIE (base hand handshape?)
ABOUT (Base hand handshape?)
PEOPLE (movement path)
SIGN-(general) (movement path)
Other kinds of variation:
Social Variation
Ethnic
Black signing
Gender Variations
Age Variations
Tactile signing
Reasons for variation?
Historical Change [Page 164, 4th Ed.; Page 174, 5th Ed.]
Close ties to FSL
Two hands to one
CAT
COW
HORSE
DEVIL
Become more simple:
HELP and GUIDE formerly on the elbow
Assimilation:
TOMATO
LAST
BELIEVE
HUSBAND
Location change:
WRONG (mouth to chin)
FEEL (left side to middle)
One-handed change to two handed:
DIE
JOURNEY
New terms:
Telephone
Television
Computer technology
“changing channels on the TV”
Old form of HOME
Citation forms of THINK KNOW SUPPOSE
Citation form of DEAF (ear to chin)
Other forms chin to ear
Contact cheek
Morphosyntactic variation
Drops the subject pronoun with verbs that usually require a subject
Verb examples:
FEEL
KNOW
LIKE
Change in progress:
RABBIT
COMPUTER
AFRICA
JAPAN
Regional variation at the phonological level is referred to as what? [Page 161, 4th Ed.; Page172, 5th Ed.]
* Accents
Dr. Bill Vicars Lifeprint.com