Linguistics in ASL

• theory of language to build a framework to look at languages- both spoken and signed languages

• the framework of linguistics provides tools to look and analyze language

• Speech is a behavior

• Speech is one way of expressing a language

• Thus, Speech is language

•The symbol represents Not Equal To

•Signing is a way of expressing language. Writing too

• Linguistics is the study of languages

Language is a set of principles relating to:

Sounds and meanings- spoken languages

Forms and meanings- signed languages

All languages have a

• Phonological System

• Morphological System

• Syntactic System

•Semantic System

Functions of Language:

• refer to world

•express feelings

• direct actions

• regulate behavior

•create imaginary worlds

•establish one’s own identity (cultural)

• be bound to larger community (community sense)

Aspects of Language:

Language-

System

Changes through times

Community of Users

Relatively Arbitrary Symbols

Grammatical Signals

• A language has symbols and grammatical signals

• A language has symbols and grammatical signals that members of the community share

• A language is a system of symbols and grammatical signals that members of a community share