Pre-Interpreting ASL – II

The following global ideas guide the design and delivery of this course:

• ASL tends to be highly descriptive and detailed as well as narrative in nature.  ASL uses techniques such as three-dimensional space, explaining by example, contrasting, describing-then doing, reiterating, couching (or nesting) and faceting.
• Fluent users of ASL structure their discourse according to real-time sequencing and have a diverse semantic range in which classifiers, spatial locatives, directional verbs and affect markers are used to provide specific semantic information.
• Fluent ASL signers use correct grammatical structure and are able to incorporate sign sequencing with visual grammatical markers to communicate in a variety of registers.  They can adapt their language to linguistic rules of various contexts, including special ways of communication with Deaf children and youth.
• Native users of language provide a rich resource for learning the nuances and complexities of conversational forms of ASL and cultural norms of group interaction.
• Language and culture cannot be separated.  Deaf people rely on ASL narrative to portray themselves and reaffirm their identities as members of a distinct cultural group.  Therefore, readings from the academic literature can augment cultural studies.
• Literary forms specific to Deaf people (ASL poetry, narratives, folklore, etc.) provide an excellent medium for studying culture and is a vital component of any foreign language study.
• Social and community events, where native users of a language gather, provide a rich resource for learning the nuances and complexities of conversational forms of that language and cultural norms of group interaction.