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Glossing (Quick & Dirty): Don't let the term "glossing" scare you. It is a very simple process for something you do almost instinctively when you watch someone sign. Basically, "glossing" means "label" or "transcribe".
ASL is an unwritten language. Glossing is a technique (a code, actually) that linguists and educators use to “write” in ASL. There are other methods of writing in ASL. One that has some (limited) support by some members of the Deaf community and by some educators is called “SignWriting”. You can learn more about SignWriting at this website: http://www.signwriting.org/. This and other notational systems are addressed in FHPO and in Glossing Module: Writing Unwritten Languages. This article will be assigned at a later date. It is important to
understand that ASL users, as a general rule, are bilingual individuals.
That means that they have the ability to use 2 languages (although it
does not mean that they necessarily use both languages well).
ASL users tend to sign in ASL and write in English. If an individual is a “balanced
bilingual” it means that s/he can use 2 or more languages equally well. Most people are not balanced bilinguals.
Most people have stronger skills in one language.
Many Deaf people, because they never hear English, do not develop
native-like skills in English. The concept
of bilingualism is also addressed in FHPO and in Glossing
Module: Writing Unwritten Languages. Sometimes, when Deaf people write in English, you can tell that they are not native speakers of English. Their English contains second-language errors. (The same thing happens when second-language learners from China or Mexico try to write in English.)
Making
mistakes when writing in English does not mean that Deaf people are dumb or ignorant.
It simply means that they have not developed native-like grammar in a
language that they can never hear. Writing (of spoken
languages), by the way, reflects what is heard.
Writing (of signed languages) reflects what is seen. Glossing is “WYSIWYG”
… “what you see is what you get”.
To gloss an ASL sentence you simply write every sign you see in CAPITAL LETTERS. ME LIKE CAT.
If what you see is not a sign but a gesture, you write in “lower-case letters” between quote marks. "come here".
Instructional information, like "fingerspell the next stuff you see", is also written in lower-case letters. "fs-ALYSSE".
Facial grammar is shown on a line over the top of the word. Here is an example of a wh-questions (your eyebrows -- lowered brows -- should be all "frowny" when you sign this sentence): YOU
NAME “what” |
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Copyright 2010, Alysse Suzanne Rasmussen; TeachASL is owned and operated by Alysse Rasmussen
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