We will begin to practice signing cohesive sentences this week. This will require you to have a basic understanding of ASL gloss.
'Glossing' is a way of writing a language in another language. ASL gloss is not the written form of American Sign Language, it is not a language at all. It is a just way of representing or transcribing a language.
Sign Language is a rich language that is visual, gestural, and spacial. No written form of ASL has been accepted by the deaf community. Glossing is a tool we will use in this class to help learn ASL.
Here is a great source that goes into detail about glossing ASL: http://lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/gloss.htm
For this class, here are the basics you need to know:
- A capitalized word in gloss represents a sigle sign in ASL
- ex/ DEAF, GOOD
- Two or more words joined together by a hyphen is a single sign in ASL
- ex/ DONT-KNOW, PUT-DOWN
- Words with letters joined together with hyphens represent fingerspelled words or abbreviations
- ex/ J-U-L-I-E, A-P-T
Also: (Pronouns and Possessive Pronouns)
- IX=1 means I, me
- IX=2 means you
- IX=3 means they, he, she
- POS=1 means my, mine
- POS=2 means your, yours
- POS=3 means their, theirs
Here are some examples of glossed sentences:
- Is she a teacher?
- IX=3 TEACHER IX=3?
- What is your name?
- POS=2 NAME WHAT?
- John is tall.
- J-O-H-N IX=3, IX=3 TALL. (or) J-O-H-N IX=3 TALL IX=3.
This is all you need to know for now. You will learn to gloss ASL in English next year in ASL II!
***Extra Credit:
Using the above information and the link I provided you, try glossing the following sentences:
- My name is Carol.
- I am a student here.
- Where can I study?
For up to 6 points extra credit, email me your gloss transcription by Tuesday before class.
