1. Lesson 3

2. Facial Expressions Conveys feeling, interest, or focus. Signer must use eyes to exhibit a range of emotions from sadness to excitement. Facial expressions can transmit: –Interest, Enthusiasm, Cheerfulness –And more A deadpan, expressionless face is undesirable.

3. Number Practice Practice numbers 1-20

4. Initialization Initialization is the process of using the ASL fingerspelled letter that represents the first letter of an English word as the handshape for a sign. Warning:Warning: Overuse of initialization is frowned upon by the Deaf Community. It is true that quite a few initialized signs have found their way into general usage in the Deaf community Use initialization as little as possible if you are trying to develop your ASL skills.

5. ASL Syntax ASL Sentence structure: –“Time” + “Topic”+ “Comment” Also known as: –“Time” + “Subject” + “Predicate” ASL also uses SVO quite often. (Subject + Verb + Object) Remember: ASL doesn't use a "subject" + "be-verb" + "object." Lets deal with this one piece at a time.

6. Tense ASL sentence structure: –“Time” + “Topic” + “Comment” No tense within individual words. Established first, when present. Time indicators: TodayYesterdayTomorrow RecentlyPastFuture Long time ago

7. Predicate ASL Sentence structure: –“Time” + “Topic”+ “Comment” Also known as: –“Time” + “Subject” + “Predicate” A predicate is a word, sign, or phrase that "says something" about the subject. Example: Sarah is sleepy. –Sarah is the topic or subject. –The comment or predicate consists of "is sleepy.“ –No "be verbs" sentence signed as "SARAH SLEEPY" while nodding your head.

8. Suffixes s, ed, ing ing, ed, and other suffixes are not used in ASL. "s" is a pluralization. topic already covered. "ed" is established by using a "tense marker" like PAST or is understood by context. To change "learn" into "learning" I simply sign it twice to show it is a process. Many times the "ing" is implied.

9. Sign Characteristics The four general parameters or characteristics of a sign are: 1. Handshape 2. Location 3. Movement 4. Orientation (palm orientation) A fifth parameter that is often added to this list is 5. "Facial Expressions" and/or "Non- manual Markers."