Download BSL 320. Linguistics Exam 1.1 Describe the difference between a

BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
Learning outcomes
On completion of
this unit, the leaner
will:
Assessment criteria
On completion of this unit, the learner can:
1. Understand key
features of BSL
1.1 Describe the difference between a spoken and signed language
The vast majority of human languages make use of the ‘vocal-auditory’ channel – they are
produced by the mouth and perceived by the ear. All writing systems also derive from or
are representations of spoken language. Sign languages are different, they make use of
the ‘corporal-visual’ channel – produced by the body and perceived by the eyes.
What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is the study of languages.
- Sociolinguistics is about family, educational aspects, social, ethnicity, and regional
areas in language
- Historical Linguistics is about the history of languages and how they have changed
over time.
What is BSL?
A natural language of signs that has developed over time in Britain. BSL is a living language
that is subject to change.
What is not BSL?



1|Page
Cued speech – Hand cues are made near the mouth, to identify the different speech
sounds which look the same on the lips. The system does not use signs at all. It
focuses on speech. Eight hand shapes show groups of English consonants, and when
these handshapes combine with different lip patterns, it is possible to identify each
sound. Cued speech does not use BSL signs, and it always follows spoken English
mouth patterns. The cues have no meaning on their own.
Signed English – This uses basic BSL signs in English word order, and also has sign
markers to show English grammar. It also uses fingerspelling. It is almost always
used with speech. It is very slow, and a message takes longer in signed English than
in either BSL or English. This means that spoken English accompanying Signed
English becomes unnaturally slow. There is also no one-to-one match between
English and BSL lexicons.
Fingerspelling – This represents the written form of English, not speech. It is
possible to recreate any English word by fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is not BSL
because it does not use BSL vocabulary. The manual alphabet was invented by
hearing people and fingerspelling is always derived from English, so it can be seen as
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam


a threat to BSL because of the power of English. The manual alphabet is used for
fingerspelling whole words that do not have equivalents in BSL, and for the names
of people and places.
Sign Supported English – in SSE the key words of a sentence are signed, while the
person speaks. This means the main vocabulary is produced from BSL, but much of
the grammar is English on the mouth. Remember that SSE does not refer to a single
way of communicating. Someone who is fluent in both English and BSL will use SSE
differently from someone who is fluent in BSL but knows only a little English.
Paget Gorman Sign Speech (PGSS) – Paget Gorman is a sign ‘system’ not a sign
language. It provides a one-to-one, sign to word match. The signs do not come from
any sign language, but have been created to represent English words and English
grammar. There are signs for pronouns, prepositions e.g. at, on, and also separate
signs for grammatical endings to English words like ‘-s’, ‘-ing’, and ‘-ed’. It has 37
basic signs for categories such as colour, time, animals and buildings. One hand
makes the sign for the basic category; the other hand makes the sign for the
particular meaning referred to. Paget Gorman is not BSL because it uses a different
lexicon ad grammar from BSL, and it is not used by the British Deaf community.
Give examples of changes that happen in BSL. Consider technology!
Culturally correct language?
As technology has changed, younger signers have changed signs to reflect the new
appearance or means of operating or handling new appliances, while older signers often
maintain the sign in its earlier form. The BSL sign TELEPHONE has changed over time as
telephones have gone from a two-part apparatus with the mouthpiece held in one hand and
the earpiece in the other, to a dumbbell shaped apparatus, and now to one with an aerial
that is held in the palm of the hand. Similar changes may be seen in signs such as TRAIN,
CAMERA and WATCH where technology, and consequently the form, has changed greatly
over the last 70 – 80 years.
1.2 Describe what is meant by established and productive lexicons
Signs in the established lexicon are those found in a dictionary. These established signs are
easy to learn. Many of the signs in the established lexicon are nouns and many of them
can be easily translated in to English words. They exist in citation form. That is, they can
be understood when they stand alone, without any context to clarify the meaning.
The productive lexicon is created by signers from component parts that are combined to
create a new meaning. These component are:
 the range of permitted handshapes
 the range of permitted movements
 the range of permitted locations
 the range of permitted orientations
2|Page
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam

the range of permitted non-manual features
To create a new sign, the signer must know the rules for the assembly of a sign using these
basic components.
The new sign always draws on visual motivation in some way. The visual nature is central to
the role that productive lexicon plays in BSL
1.3 Describe the different types of BSL verbs

Plain Verbs
Examples of plain verbs are RIDE-A-BICYCLE, LOVE, RESEARCH, RUN, SMOKE, THINK, and
UNDERSTAND.
These verbs show little modification and do not move through space to show grammatical
information. Most can show information about aspect, although some do not e.g. static
verbs like HAVE. Manner and aspect are marked in these verbs by speed of the repetition
of the verb and presence of non manual features e.g. THINK-HARD is made by a small
circling repetition of the sign, with an ‘effortful’ facial expression.
Any information about ‘person’ and ‘number’ in plain verbs needs to be given separately
by pronouns. Plain verbs include information about manner and aspect, and sometimes
direct object e.g. changing handshape depending on the object, but other information about
person and number is given in different signs.

Agreement Verbs
Examples of agreement verbs are ASK, GIVE, TELL, TELEPHONE, CRITICISE, and FILM. This
group of verbs contains those that are sometimes called ‘Directional Verbs’.
Agreement verbs allow the inclusion of information about person and number of the
subject and object. This is accomplished by moving the verb in syntactic space. That is,
information about who is carrying out the action, and who or what is affected by the
action is shown by changes in movement and orientation of the verb. Information about
manner and aspect can also be given by changing the movement of the verb and adding
non-manual features, similar to plain verbs.
Agreement verbs may agree with first, second and third person. For the first person, the
verb is directed to, or located at, where the signer is. For the second person, the verb is
directed to, or located at, the conversational partner. The third person may be marked with
an index (or a proform) or the noun may be located at that position with the agreement
marker moving between the locations.
In an agreement verb, there is a start point (subject agreement marker) then a linear
3|Page
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
movement (verb stem) and then an end point (object agreement marker)
There are a few verbs with ‘backwards’ agreement where the start point marks the object
and the end point marks the subject, examples include INVITE, CHOOSE and BORROW.
Verbs in number agreement differ in how they show different information about number for
the subject and the object. In some instances, all the information about number in the
subject and the object is shown by the movement of the verb, in other instances a pronoun
is used to give some of this information. Number agreement may be for singular, collective
plural, dual, triple and exhaustive.
4|Page

Singular is marked by a single movement from the subject marker towards the
object marker e.g. I-ASK-YOU

Collective plural is shown by a sweeping movement of the verb across an arc that
refers to the plural object. The verb is not repeated, but rather, displaced. This
sweeping movement to show collective plural is for object agreement only e.g. IASK-YOU-ALL, it is not used for subject agreement e.g. the verb form WE-ALL-ASKHIM is unacceptable. For plural subjects, the signer uses a sweeping proform.

Dual Agreement is marked in various ways. If the object is dual e.g. I ask the two of
you, this can be shown in one of three ways
a) We can make the verb movement twice with the endpoint of the second
movement at the location of the second object. The verb moves from the first
person to the first location (R) and then repeats the movement from the first
person but to the second location (L)
b) If the verb is one-handed e.g. ASK, TELL we can also double the verb stem to a
two handed form and move both hands simultaneously or one after the other.
Again, objects are placed at locations (L) and (R) but this time both hands make
the handshape for ASK, and the right hand moves from the first person location
to location (R), at the same time as the left hand moves to location (L).
Alternatively the right hand can move to location (R) and be held there, while
the left hand moves to (L). This is not an option that is possible if the verb is two
handed.
c) A third option is the use the single movement towards one of the objects, and
then use pronouns like TWO-OF-THEM. The verb ASK is moved from first person
to a third person location near (R) and (L). The signer then signs the pronoun
TWO-OF-THEM referring to (R) and (L). This option is preferred for the verb
when the subject is dual.

Triple Agreement works in a similar way to dual agreement marking, but uses a
triple end point to verb stem or uses both hands to duplicate the verb sign. As it is
impossible to use three hands, both hands are used, and one hand repeats the end
point. Again, another option is to use the pronoun THREE-OF-THEM.
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam

Exhaustive Agreement is shown by repeating the verb stem at least three times,
with the end point moved. Three is the conventional number of repetitions.
All modifications occurring in agreement verbs are in the horizontal plane. The exception to
this is that it is possible to move agreement verbs through an inclined plane for example, if
there is a perceived height difference between subject and object.
Some agreement verbs do not change direction of movement to show agreement; instead
they change orientation of the fingers e.g. I-LOOK-AT-YOU, YOU-LOOK-AT-ME.
A third group of agreement verbs change direction of movement to show agreement, but do
not change orientation of the fingers e.g. ANSWER.
Agreement verbs do not only show information by using syntactic space. Information about
the direct object can be shown in the handshape e.g. I-THROW-YOU-BALL, the direct object
– the ball, can be incorporated into the handshape, but the handshape would change
depending on the direct object.

Spatial Verbs
These verbs use topographic space, not syntactic. They may inflect to show manner and
aspect, but they do not inflect for person or number. They can give information about the
path, trajectory and speed of movement of the action described by the verb and about the
location of the action.
The movement and location of these spatial verbs are ‘isomorphic’ with the real world
meaning that whatever the movement or location of the referent, the verb moves in the
same way.
They can also give some limited information about the class of noun of either the subject or
the object.
Spatial verbs include RUN-DOWNSTAIRS, PUNCH (-someone), PUT (-somewhere)
There is not always a clear distinction between agreement verbs and special verbs. Verbs
that appear to behave as agreement verbs also behave as spatial verbs e.g. LOOK-AT
appears to act as agreement, however I-LOOK-AT-THE-FLOOR acts as a spatial verb because
it tells us the location of the looking.
Spatial verbs can move in a vertical plane, or indeed in any plan, the movement is not
limited to the horizontal plane in the way that agreement verbs are. In the verb PUT the
movement can vary to show that we can put things high up r low down. Movement in
special verbs can be anywhere within the signing space.
There are different types of spatial verbs.
5|Page
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
Spatial - run, downstairs, drive to - Verb uses topographic space
What are verbs in BSL?
Seven groups







Verbs which have one movement away from their neutral space. Example: help
Verbs in neutral space which change direction and orientation. Example: criticise
Verbs which use one hand to change direction while the other hand remains still.
Example: visit
Verbs where one hand changes direction and movement and the other hand
changes orientation. Example: tease
Verbs which take place away from the body. Example: stab
Verbs which normally contact the body. Example: ignore
Verbs which take place with another sign that can show direction Example:
Minicom
1.4 Give examples of the different sign types






Frozen (or established) - Sign has one meaning only, often with English mouth
pattern and equivalent word in English e.g. brother, car
Productive (e.g. classifier) - Has more than one meaning. Hand-shape tells us
about an object or person. Movement tells us about how the object or person is
moving e.g. jar-open, car-go-uphill
Indexical - Used to point to things and tell us what or who we are talking about.
If the object/person is there we can point to it/them. If not there, we can use a
pronoun e.g. I, you, we, they
Numbers - Signs to represent numbers
Name signs - Signs to represent numbers
Fingerspelling - Use of the fingerspelling alphabet
Signs can be one- handed or two -handed






6|Page
One handed signs. Example: salt
One handed signs that connect with body. Example: live
Two handed signs, where both hands are the same shape, are active and perform
identical or symmetrical actions without touching the body. Example: bicycle
Two handed signs with identical hand shapes and perform identical actions and
contact with each other. Example: talk
Two handed signs where both hands are active, have the same hand shape,
perform identical actions and contact the body. Example: cow
Two handed signs where the dominant hand is active and the non-dominant hand
serves as the location for the movement, they may have the same or different
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
hand shapes. Example: butter
2. Know a range of 2.1 Describe the features used in negation
sign language
sentence
Negation is a grammatical way of using negative BSL signs and has three main elements:
structures, applying
- Facial Expression
signs and set
phrases in varied
- Head Movement
work or social
situations
- Negation Signs

Facial expression – This alone does not negate a sentence. For something to have
grammatical negation, there also needs to be a shaking of the head, or a negation
sign. There is more than one negation facial expression. There are different degrees
of general negation facial expression.
- mild: lips pushed out a little bit and the eyes slightly narrowed
- extreme: the eyes can be almost closed, the nose very wrinkled and the mouth very
turned down, or the lip very curled.
Facial expression also involves mouth patterns, without the mouth pattern they are not
complete. Examples include 'boo' 'vee'.


Head movement - there are two kinds of negation head movement in BSL.
-
The negation head turn - the head turns and is held there. It may then be
returned to a forward facing position. This half head turn often occurs as part of
a negation sign rather than as a way of negating a sentence. It occurs with some
specific negation signs, such as those that are accompanied by ‘boo’ and ‘vee’
-
A repeated side to side movement of the head. The repeated side to side head
shake can occur all through a sentence or just at the end. This may occur with
other non-manual markers such as nose-wrinkling or drawn down lips. This
head-shake on its own can negate either a sentence or a sign.
Negation signs - English has many negation words. i.e. no, never, none, un..., etc.
BSL has negation signs which can be found in the BSL dictionary.
-
7|Page
flat hand, palm down and twisting up, with 'vee' mouth pattern, used for
denial of possession, presence or experience. It can be used on its own or
attached to a verb as a sort of suffix e.g SEE + neg or HAVE + neg.
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
-
-
fist with thumb extended moved out from the under the chin, often used to
mean ‘not’.
-
B handshape moved from side to side. This is particularly used to deny
something or as a negative answer to a rhetorical question.
-
Spread ‘5’ hand that may be used as a suffix by some signers e.g. WON’T, WHYNOT, NOT-BAD, SHAN’T
-
Regional Welsh sign (open 8 hand) This manual sign is accompanied by the
mouth pattern ‘thaw’ and can be glossed as ‘NOTHING’. Not well known outside
of Wales.
BSL verb SAY-NO. Some people claim that this borrowed from ASL. It is
sometimes glossed as meaning ‘NO’ but actually it is a verb.

flat hand across the mouth with mouth pattern 'boo' or 'poo', uses the half
head turn and is often used for denial
flat hands, palm down, crossed, moving out in a cutting action, uses the half
head turn again, often user with commands or instructions, so may be
translated into English as ‘don’t’
‘O’ or ‘F’ hands circling, sometimes glossed as ‘NOTHING’ and ‘NOBODY’
fists, with palms away from the body, moving left and right, with a mouth
pattern of ‘shhhh’, usually glossed as ‘NOT-YET’
Separate Signs
There are also signs that have their own negation form. These are often verbs of experience
or sensation, such as ‘DON’T-KNOW’, ‘DISAGREE’, DON’T REMEMBER, DON’T LIKE etc.
Many forms of non-standard English use multiple negation, just as BSL does. In BSL, a
sentence such as ‘DON’T-KNOW NOTHING is just a strong form of negation.
2.2 Describe the types of BSL question forms
Questions in BSL conform to a set structure which include:

8|Page
A word or sign that signals a question
An intonation pattern or facial expression
A characteristic word or sign order
Yes-No Questions (Closed) – These occur when the person asking the question asks
for an answer that is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (also confirmation and negation). Instead of using
special question signs, yes-no questions in BSL are signalled by facial expression. A
yes-no question is usually accompanied by raised eyebrows, opened eyes and a
slight backward thrust of the head and shoulders. Sign order does not change in BSL
yes-no questions.
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam





Open - where a longer answer is required.
WH Questions – These request new information from a wide range of possibilities.
Unlike yes-no questions, these do have a special question sign. Many of these signs
have a repeated movement (WHAT, WHAT-FOR, WHO, WHICH, and WHERE have a
side to side movement, and WHEN, HOW-MANY, HOW-MUCH, HOW OLD have an
internal movement. WHY and HOW fit less well into this pattern however they are
also question signs. Facial expression is also important in WH questions. The general
rule for Wh questions is that the brows are furrowed, the eyes slightly closed and
the head is thrust slightly forward or slightly tilted to one side. Puzzlement or anger
can lead to lowered eyebrows. The brows are furrowed to show a puzzled face for
Wh, but only when the questioner genuinely does not know the answer.
Tag Questions – are a form of Yes-No question. They are attached to the end of
declarative sentences. In BSL tag questions are formed by signing a sentence that is
not a question, then adding a sign that can be glossed as RIGHT or TRUE.
Alternative Questions (Which) – These questions only allow for an answer already
provided in the question e.g would you like coffee or tea? The only possibility is
answering coffee or tea. In BSL these questions are mainly distinguished from YesNo questions by the optional use of the question sign WHICH e.g. LIKE TEA COFFEE
WHICH?
Rhetorical Questions – Rhetorical questions are one type of question that does not
expect an answer. They are not real questions as they are not a request for
information. The task of a rhetorical question is to emphasise what the person is
saying. Rhetorical questions occur when signers ask a question with no expectation
that it will be answered by the conversational partner, or when talking or signing to
themselves e.g. ‘Where did I put that? Oh yes, in the kitchen!’
2.3 Define classifiers and describe how they function
Classifiers are a productive part of BSL vocabulary and use handshapes and space to add
meaning. A Classifier is a handshape that is combined with location, orientation, movement
and non-manual features to form a predicate. It is a symbol for a class of objects. Classifiers
can be used to represent various aspects of objects, people and their movements.
There are 3 different parts:



9|Page
Size and shape (Entity) specifiers - describe the physical features of objects - their
size and shape.
Example: flat objects are represented by flat B handshapes.
Tracing classifiers - closely linked to size and shape specifiers, the hands give a clue
to the shape.
Example: geometric shapes have G handshape - window, square.
Handling and instrument classifiers – mimic actions and categorise objects in terms
of how people handle them.
Example: the closed fist is used to show gripping of narrow cylindrical objects such
as ski pole
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
Classifiers are found in many languages, not only in sign languages. In the broadest sense,
they label referents as belonging to a particular group, such as referents that share the same
shape, are living or dead, or are male, etc. French uses le and la to classify nouns' referents
as masculine or feminine. English does not have many classifiers, but there are some
examples like sheet of paper, piece of fruit, head of cattle, stick of wood, or blade of grass.
All these words put the noun referents into certain classes. Similarly, a suffix can be added
at the end of a word to add more information. For example, the suffix 'ess' can be added to
the ends of words such as, stewardess, hostess, actress, etc., and means female. This is an
example of classifier use.
2.4 Give examples of connectors that link and complete sentences.
Connectors help to link and complete sentences. Examples: Pauses, “as well” “also”
“because”, head nods.
3. Understand a
range of BSL
structures, facial
expressions, mouth
patterns and use of
space to express
meaning
3.1 Explain the difference between formal and informal registers.
a. different audiences and different topics of conversation

Situational Varieties – The language used by any member of a language community
will vary according to the social situation. ‘Social situation’ includes:
- The topic of conversation
- The reason for the conversation
- The person or people who make up the conversational partners
BSL changes according to whether a signer is addressing one person, a small group
or a large gathering. It also changes when a signer meets someone who does not
have a good command of BSL. It also changes depending on whether a situation is
informal or formal.

Informal Signing - In more casual BSL (Informal signing) the signing space tends to
be larger and more expansive than in formal signing. Informal BSL uses less
fingerspelling and a greater variety of non-manual features, including more marked
facial expressions.
There is less influence from English and the sign lexicon may include signs only
appropriate to informal conversation, including idiomatic signs and creative
metaphors.
Signs may be less clearly articulated, so that, for example, a two-handed sign may be
made with only one hand, or may be articulated in the space in front of the body,
rather than a specific location on the body. There may be greater use of signs more
like ‘gestures’, for example, a simple shrug instead of the sign DON’T-KNOW
10 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam

Social Variation – In spoken languages, linguists expect to find differences according
to different social groups within the language community. We can expect
differences in language according to the social class of the speaker, their age, sex,
ethnic identity, religious identity and whether they have experiences bilingual
situations.
- Social Class – The most noticeable ‘social class’ distinction in BSL derives
from family background. Only 10 per cent of Deaf children in Britain are
born to Deaf parents, while 90 per cent have hearing. Those born to Deaf
parents are more likely to have had early exposure to a fluent model of
adult BSL. Those born to hearing parents usually only begin to learn BSL
when they are sent to school, or even after they have left school. Deaf
signers from Deaf families use features of BSL such as syntactic space,
mouth patterns, and proforms very differently from those signers from
hearing families.
-
Age – There are many features that differentiate older and younger signers.
In sign languages the differences are often far greater than in established
languages such as English. This arises because of the breaks in passing the
language from generation to generation. Older Deaf people often use much
more fingerspelling and many fewer clearer English mouth patterns than
younger Deaf people. Many younger Deaf people use a form of BSL that is
more heavily influence by English grammar and uses relatively little
fingerspelling. Signers from different age groups also use different signs for
the same referents.
There are 3 main factors affecting differences:
a) Few Deaf people have Deaf parents so rarely learn to sign from their
parents
b) Educational changes for Deaf people - acceptability of signing in
educational settings
c) As technology changes, old signs die out or change
-
Gender – In most languages women and men use language differently. The
differences between men and women in English are relatively small. In some
sign languages the difference between men and women are great to the
extent of mutual unintelligibility (such as Ireland). This is not the case in BSL,
differences between men and women are as slight as in English. Since most
teachers working with Deaf children in primary schools are women, they
may be the major source of signing for both boys and girls, so from an early
age boys do not have an adult male role model for signing.
Ethnic Variation – In America, there are some dialects of ASL that are easily
identifiable as ‘Black’ ASL and others that are clearly ‘White’ ASL. A history
of black and white segregation has led to language variations based on racial
group. The variation in BSL between Black and White signers appears to be
less marked. There were few Black people in Britain until the 1950s, and
-
11 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
-
Black Deaf children went to mixed Deaf schools where they were often in
the minority and so learned the ‘White’ dialect of BSL.
Religious Groups – There are some differences in BSL arising from
membership of religious groups. There are clear reasons for this, especially
in relation to education or membership of social groups. Different religious
groups have special signs relating to practices or beliefs of their religions.
British Muslims have their own signs for religious terms as do other
religions. One clear difference in BSL is in Roman Catholic and Protestant
signing. The signing of Deaf British Catholics is strongly influence by Irish
Sign Language because monks and nuns have provided education for
Catholic Deaf children. Catholic signing uses many initialised signs that are
based on the Irish manual alphabet. At one time there was a school for
Jewish Deaf children in London. This was an oral school but some signing
was permitted. After the school closed the Jewish school for the Deaf dialect
began to decline. However Israeli sign language is now influencing the
signing of Jewish British Deaf people.
b. the difference between signing to adults and signing to children
BSL changes when a signer is signing to a small child, rather than an adult, for example a
different child-directed sign may be used (WHAT).
3.2 Explain the types and meaning of signing space and how they contribute to the
meaning of words or statements
There are two types of signing space in BSL Linguistics, Topographic and Syntactic. The
signing space is exactly the same but used in 2 different ways :

Topographic space – Recreates a map of the real world. It is a spatial layout in
signing space of representations of things as they really are.
Example: when a shopping area is described in BSL things are placed in signing
space according to where they are in relation to other things. If a church is opposite
a post office and the post office is next to a hairdresser, then each is placed in their
location within the signing space.
If the signs for these things are placed incorrectly or not placed at all
topographically, then it is grammatically incorrect.
English does not need this spatial information from its speakers.

12 | P a g e
Syntactic space – created from within the language and may not map onto the real
world. Uses grammatical structures which move in space between grammatically
defined points. This puts two ideas together to create a visual image of what is
happening even though they are not actually there.
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
Example: “I gave my sister an apple”. In this scenario, the signer would place the
sister in the signing space and give the apple (with an agreement/directional verb).
The sister does not actually need to be where the signer placed her in the sentence.

Placement and referents in signing space
Placement: Enables the setting up of information in a visual way and is used in both
forms of signing space.
Referents: Once an object/person has been placed in space, it can be used as a
reference by pointing to it and interacting with it with directional verbs.
3.3 Describe how the following can contribute to the meaning of words or statements:
a. mouth patterns
b. facial expression
c. eye contact
Non manual features (NMF) in BSL are a hugely important part of conveying language and a
formal aspect of BSL Linguistics.
Key elements of non manual features include:
-
Mouth patterns
Facial expression
Role shift, including eye contact
Head nods & head shakes

Mouth Patterns - There are many mouth patterns that convey grammatical and
phonological information in BSL. One of the things BSL has borrowed from English is
the mouth patterns from English words. There are times when these mouth
patterns are borrowed and times when they are not.
Spoken Components – These have various uses:
a) To represent spoken language mouth pattern in combination with signs
b) To represent spoken language mouth patterns with first letter signs
c) To distinguish other manual homonyms
There are some mouth patterns used in BSL, that come from English but a nonsigning English speaker would not recognise as English. Using spoken components
may help non-fluent signers to recognise the accompanying sign.
In BSL less influenced by English, there is still considerable use of spoken
components. They frequently serve to identify or establish a sign. They are used
especially for proper names e.g. people, towns, countries. Most of the components
are found with nouns. Spoken components accompany far fewer verbs , an
13 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
exception being the group KNOW, WANT, THINK which do regularly occur with
spoken components. Spoken components often do not represent the full English
word, even with nouns e.g. ‘hsp’ with HUSBAND and ‘fsh’ with FINISH.
Sometimes the hands and mouth give the same information, but in a different
order, for example the hands may sign WORK NONE while the spoken component is
‘no work’. It is also possible for the signer to sign different elements on the hands
and mouth e.g. WORK FINISH? May be signed with WORK on the hands and mouth
articulating ‘fsh’.
Spoken components with first-letter signs – There are many single manual letter
signs in BSL that are derived from the first letter of fingerspelled English words.
These usually have accompanying spoken components to make the meaning clear
e.g. GEOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, GARAGE. Spoken components also often
accompany full fingerspellings.
Spoken components to distinguish other homonyms – Sometimes pairs or small
groups of signs have identical manual components such as ‘coincidental’ manual
homonyms – signs that have the same form but different meanings, such as
BATTERY and UNCLE where the spoken component is used to ambiguate them. In
some cases, such as APPROPRIATE and AGREE, the signs are similar in meaning, and
spoken components may be used to distinguish them.
Parallel mouth / hand movements – These used to be called ‘multi-channel signs.
The movement of the mouth parallels the movement of the hands e.g. really,
gobsmacked, nodding
Manner and degree adverbs – Oral components which serve as adverbs can be
added to give extra information about the manner or effort of an action. The same
oral components can be used to show the extent or size of an object or the degree
(e.g. bigger, biggest) of the adjective.

14 | P a g e
Facial Expression – Important parts of facial expression to note are the actions
of the cheeks, brows, eyelids and eye gaze. These are used to achieve a number
of things:
a) Mark a question – the eyebrows are furrowed for puzzlement and Wh
questions, and raised for Yes-No questions and those where the questioner
has an idea of the answer.
b) Mark a topic – the brow raise as a topic marker is an example of the user of
facial expression as a grammatical feature.
c) Mark a conditional (if) – a conditional clause can be marked by brow
movement as well as head tilt and (optionally) the sign IF.
d) Show emotional state – emotional facial expressions are also used
linguistically. They must accompany the relevant sign for an emotion.
However, they can also be super-imposed on to other signs.
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam


Head nods – Head nods are used by both BSL signers and English speakers to
mean ‘yes’. In BSL nodding is an important part of feedback in conversation to
show attention. This is a disclosure feature, it is not part of the language but it is
used during sign conversation. Nodding also has grammatical functions in BSL,
apart from topic marking. The number of nods and their speed and intensity is
important:
a) A head dip can be used to indicate first person (I). Instead of signing I
REMEMBER, the signer can nod while signing REMEMBER
b) Fast head nods can used when insisting on the truth of something.
c) A single small head nod or two small head nods can indicate that a comment
upon a topic, or given phrase is complete.

Head shakes – Headshakes can serve for ‘no’, and can also negate a rhetorical
question, a topic or a whole clause. They can also indicate emotion during a
sentence that is grammatically positive. These movements carry information in
BSL in the following ways:
a) To respond to a Yes-No question
b) Negation (side to side shakes, and half head turns)
c) To express emotions such as regret, frustration, disbelief or sorrow.
Eye Gaze – Eye gaze has at least 5 important uses in BSL:
a) Lexical distinction – In some signs eye gaze is obligatory e.g GOD, HEAVEN. The
signs GOD and BOSS differ in eye gaze only (GOD eyes looking up, BOSS eyes
looking forward)
b) In conjunction with the location of movement of referents in signing space –
we can point to locations in the signing space that have been assigned to
referents, but it is also grammatical to just look at the locations. Eye gaze is also
important for indicating the difference between the second person (you) and
the third person (he or she).
c) To indicate role shift – Changes in gaze allow a signer to take different roles of
different characters in a story. When a signer is shifting between narrator and
character roles, the eye gaze shifts. When a signer is narrating, eye gaze is
directed at the conversation partner, when role shifts to that of a character,
gaze is towards whatever the character is looking at. The Body is used to show
the identity of a chosen character or entity can be used left to right, forward to
back. Can be large or subtle. Character style shows the character through
signing style e.g. age, physicality. Example: an old frail person who needs
support to walk would have a different body posture to an athlete. Use
movement and facial expression to show this.
d) For distinguishing pseudo-questions and genuine questions – If a question is
not functionally a question (e.g. rhetorical) the signer does not look at the
conversational partner, since this signals turn taking.
15 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
e) To invite someone else to sign – this is a disclosure function. When a person is
signing, direction of gaze changes frequently, but there are brief gazes at the
conversational partner for feedback. The main signal for relinquishing a turn of
signing is by gazing directly at the conversational partner and holding the gaze
there.
f) For marking time – Looking to the side can indicate past, while looking directly
ahead or down can indicate the present time and looking up can indicate a
future time.
3.4 Give examples of gestures used in English and BSL
Signs, like any use of the body for communication can be called gestures, but they form only
a small set of the possible gestures and they differ in specific ways from most gestures.
We might think that some gestures are completely natural and that their meaning is obvious
to anyone, but in fact gestures are often specific to certain cultures. Many gestures are used
outside of language, but with language. This use of gesture outside of a language is
sometimes termed ‘extra-linguistic’ gesture.
Emblematic gestures that are part of British culture are used both by English speakers and
BSL signers. In English, it is fairly easy to distinguish between gestures and words because
they exist in two different modalities. It is not so easy in BSL, where signs can look just like
extra-linguistic gestures on the surface.
In the broadest sense, just as words are ‘audible gestures’ signs are visible gestures with
conventional form and meaning and which obey specific formational rules.
Signs can be joined together into sentences according to grammatical rules of BSL. Gestures
cannot be combined into grammatical forms or sentences. Some gestures are used by
hearing people and also in BSL e.g. “shrug”.
16 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
This unit will cover the following:
Classifiers/Proforms
Proforms
A “proform” is any form that stands in the place of, or does the job of, some other form, which is
often a noun. The terms “proform” and “pronoun” may seem to mean the same, but we keep the
term “pronoun” to mean I, you, he, she, it, we, them etc., and we use “proform” for a more
specific type of BSL structure.
Understanding and using proforms in BSL is essential for the understanding of the syntax of BSL.
A proform is anything that refers to, and stands in the place of, something previously identified.
Usually a noun, for example:
CAR has a related proform (a ‘B’ hand) that is used to provide more information about the
location of the car and the action it is involved in.
MAN has a related proform (a ‘G’ hand) that can be used to show the man walking away from or
coming towards the signer etc.
CAT (‘G’, ‘V’ or ‘V^’, depending on the context) shows the cat running away.
There are many proforms in BSL but we are going to focus on three basic groups of proforms used
frequently in BSL (and a fourth hand shape which is slightly different):
1. A single finger (‘G’): The ‘G’ hand is used when an object is represented as having one
dimension (length or height) and this stands for referents which are considered to be long
and thin: PERSON, PENCIL, TOOTHBRUSH, TUBE-TRAIN, etc.
2. A flat hand (‘B’): this stands for referents represented as having two dimensions (i.e. flat),
such as BED/S, PLATE and TABLE. CAR can also be represented by the ‘B’ hand in two
different ways, either vertically or horizontally, in describing for example rows of parked
cars. PICTURE can be shown by using one or two ‘B’ hands as illustrated. Further examples
include: WALL, VEHICLE (this could be any vehicle, such as a lorry or tractor etc.), FAX,
PAPER, BICYCLES etc.
3. A curved “clawed” hand (‘5’): this stands for referents represented as having three
dimensions, whether square or round, for example a house or any building, a rock, a cake,
etc. A slightly different hand shape is used, with the palm facing sideways, for MUG or
CUP etc.
4. Two fingers extended and spread (‘V’ or ‘V^’): These are slightly different from the
previous examples, because they illustrate movement rather than dimensions. For
example, the ‘V’ hand can be used to show the movement of eyes as they look around, or
legs when jumping up and down. An example of a sentence that would use these
17 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
handshakes is ‘The child ran down the stairs, then ran outside’.
In BSL the full sign is normally produced first, followed by the proform. The full sign is needed to
identify the referent otherwise, while it will be possible to identify some features of the referent
as, e.g. flat or long, it will not be clear what it is.
Proforms allow signers to move signs freely in signing space. This freedom is important because
BSL uses space to provide much grammatical information. The placement and movement of signs
in space indicates their relationship to each other.
Pronouns
Pronouns are a familiar type of proform to those who know English. A pronoun stands in place of
a previously mentioned noun. "Pronoun" literally means "in place of a noun".
Pronouns contain information relating to who is being talked about, and how many of them there
are. This information is called “person” and “number”.
Person - refers to who is being talked about. In the ‘first person’, the speakers or signers refer to
themselves, or themselves and some others.
Number - tells us how many individuals are involved: one, two of us, three of us, all of us etc. The
English number system only has singular and plural, so we only know if there is either one person
involved or more than one. The BSL number system is more complex.
Pronouns can only have meaning when the referent can be identified. In the sentence "that’s his
book" we need to know who "he" is.
Pronouns in BSL are articulated by pointing to a location associated with the noun. The form of
the point is the same in all pronouns, but the location of the point varies depending on the
location assigned to the noun. Pointing has many other functions in BSL so we use the term
"index" to refer to pronoun pointing.
Pronouns in BSL are similar to those in English, but there are five main differences:
1. BSL does not distinguish between "he" and "she", but English does. Many languages do
not mark this difference, for example Finnish and Hungarian. This does not mean that
these languages are somehow less perfect than English. It just means that they are
different.
2. BSL has many more pronouns than English. English has pronouns for one, and pronouns
for more than one. For "singular" (pronouns referring to one), English uses I, he, she, it,
and you. For "plural" pronouns (referring to more than one) English uses we, and they.
They can also be used instead of he, she and it, and you remains the same whether it is
singular or plural. English pronouns do not show exactly how many people are involved; 3,
4, 5 etc.
BSL uses pronouns meaning WE-TWO, WE-THREE, WE-FOUR and WE-FIVE and is different
from English in this way.
18 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
3. BSL does not always use possessive pronouns the way English does. BSL uses a closed fist
for MY, OUR, YOUR etc. when referring to temporary objects / possessions. However, BSL
also uses pointing as a possessive pronoun when the object is 'inalienable' or 'permanent'.
For example, in MY NAME a pointing finger is used to signify MY instead of a closed fist.
OUR (TWO OF US) MOTHER uses two pointing fingers moving between the signer and one
other person to signify OUR, instead of a closed fist. MY KIDNEYS similarly does not use a
closed fist to signify MY because the kidneys are not temporary possessions.
4. BSL pronouns include additional information about the noun. In the signed form TEACHER
(where we sign TEACHER, and then point - meaning "the teacher, he ...”) the pronoun
refers both to the teacher, and also to where he is. English pronouns do not tell us where
a person is.
5. The English pronoun it refers to almost anything that is not a person. English uses it to
refer to a house, a dream, an aeroplane, an enormous strawberry gateau, the whole of
the USA, the whole world, or a tiny virus. In English it is used for anything of any size or
shape, just so long as it is not human. BSL can simply point with the index finger to refer
to any "it", but BSL can also indicate different shaped and sized referents by the use of
various hand shapes, which English does not do.
Predicates
A predicate is anything that makes a statement about a noun or a noun phrase. Predicates can be
nouns, verbs, verb phrases or adjectives. In the BSL sentence SOMEONE PASS "A person passed
by", the subject is SOMEONE and the predicate PASS; in MAN ILL "The man is ill", the subject is
MAN and the predicate is ILL.
In other examples, the hand shape in the predicate does not appear in the subject noun phrase.
For example, in "The car drives up the hill" or "The car drives downhill" the classifier hand shape
for the car (the 'B' hand shape) only occurs in the predicate.
Time and Aspect
Aspect
Aspect allows the signer to show the timing of events, how long it went on for or is still in
progress. This is done by:






Repetition (slow or fast). Example: knock
A change from straight to arcing movement
A sudden hold at the end of a sign. Example: think
An initial hold of the sign. Example: cross-road
Moving the sign bit by bit. Example: wind up by degrees
Moving the sign slowly: Example: gradually-approach
19 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
Other ways of showing aspect:


The use of: finish, been
Often, always, frequently, normally
Role Shift
The Body - can be used to show the identity of the chosen character or entity. Role shift (body
shift) can be a left to right shift or a forward to back shift. The movements can range from large
side to side movements to subtle finer movements.
Character styles - this is where the age, physical and psychological state of a character can be
shown by the style of signing. Example: the character of an athlete is physical fit and energetic. An
old frail person who needs support to walk would have a different body posture to an athlete.
Movement and facial expressions would be used to illustrate this.
Eye gaze - orientations are an essential part of role shifts, however, they are less obvious of the
shift makers. Eye gaze is used, on most occasions, in conjunction with other character markers.
Once the signer has taken the role of a character, the signer’s eye gaze can also represent the eye
gaze of the character. Example: a character looks down, then the signer looks down.
Eye gaze has at least 5 important uses in BSL






The eye gaze is part of the sign
In conjunction with the location and movement of referents in signing space
To indicate role shift
For distinguishing false questions and genuine questions
To invite someone else to sign
For marking time
Also, eye gaze is important in establishing height or position of characters. Example: look down
when talking to a child.
The eye gaze is part of the sign - in some signs, eye gaze is obligatory. Example: God. The sign
changes if the required eye gaze is not given.
In conjunction with the location in signing space - can be used to show difference between the
second and third person. Can also be used to follow movements traced by the hands. Example:
ball flies through the air. .
Mouth patterns
20 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
In BSL there are two types of mouthing patterns; mouthing and mouth gestures.
Mouthings are related to spoken English whereas mouth gestures are not. Mouthings show many
things: topic, nouns, they are morphologically simple, have a fixed vocabulary, signs related to
English mouthings.
Mouth gestures are for; clarification purposes, comments, verbs, morphology complex,
productive, sign is not linked to an English mouth pattern.
Mouthings
BSL uses mouthings a great deal. Research into BSL, including the various forms of signs produced
and how they are produced, shows that an average of 69% of signing is linked to mouthings. This
is strong evidence that mouthings are an important part of BSL and is not English dominated. In
BSL the production of sign controls the mouth. Signers who think strongly in English influence
their sign production.
Different Uses in BSL
BSL uses mouthings and mouth gestures in different ways. For example in BSL if an explanation is
given or a fact is being described then there will be more mouthings involved, whereas if a story
or an action is being described there will be less mouthings used and more mouth gestures. This is
backed up by evidence found through research. This research involved life history interviews
where the spoken and oral components were assessed.
Mouthing with Signs
So far we have looked at 5 different components of BSL; facts, who, what and where. The last 2 of
these components are related to the description of people, actions. These use more mouth
gestures compared to mouthings. Mouth gestures are linked with signs used, for example the
number of signs is matched with the number of lip patterns. Sometimes it can appear that the
mouth is following full English but this is not the case, lip patterns may look like full English but
this is definitely not so. This is due to our knowledge of English.
Homonyms
Mouthings have manual homonyms. This is when one sign may have many different meanings in
English, for example (see sign shown) this can mean ‘KING’ or ‘QUEEN’. You have to follow the
mouthing to know which meaning is the right one. Sometimes the mouthing does not relate to
the sign at all for example ‘DEAF YOU?’ Only one mouthing but two signs, this happens a lot. This
happens in indexical signs such as ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘they’, or AREA. For example, ‘CORNWALL AREA’, one
mouthing spreads over two signs.
Mouthing Gestures
Mouth gestures have a variety of uses and are possibly the most important part of sign language.
The Citation Form has many elements; one is enacting or sometimes called mouth forms or M4M
for short. This is visually motivated, the mouthing having a connection with an action such as
‘HOLDING-BREATH’, ‘YAWNING’, ‘PUT-ON-LIPSTICK’, ‘BLOW’. Other signs can have a connection to
21 | P a g e
BSL 320. Linguistics Exam
the mouth e.g. ‘KISS, ‘CHEW’, ‘BARK’ or ‘BITE’! Parallel hand mouth movements relate to multichannel signs. Most but not all of these multi-channel signs are used when interrupting, to show a
feeling for example; when told a story, the listener can show their feeling or thought, ‘WOWREALLY’. The movement of the mouth changes to match the hands/sign for example ‘REALLY’.
One Scottish example is, ‘REALLY’. Other examples include, ‘BRILLIANT’, ‘CAN’T-BE-BOTHERED’,
‘GOBSMACKED’.
Multi-channel signs
Signs that are not multi-channel, where the hands control the mouth. Many signs have mouth
patterns, which match the hand movements. There are many examples, see video clip. Some signs
have mouth patterns that go with the sign but are not enacting or related to the sign, for example,
‘HAVEN’T-SEEN-FOR-A-LONG-TIME’.
Morphological Information
Nouns, adjectives and verbs have visually motivated mouth gestures to add morphological
information. This has a strong visual motivation. The mouthing gesture is relevant to what is being
signed, for example 'a tall narrow house'. This mouthing gesture (shown) means 'NARROW'. The
same can be seen when talking about a wall, "IT’S A HIGH WALL" and 'HIGH' matches the mouth
gesture (shown). Mouth gestures modify verbs, nouns and adjectives. Sometimes the lip pattern
may look the same but gives a different meaning. For example; 'NARROW' or I may sign 'RIDING A
MOTORBIKE', here the mouth gesture means "CAREFUL", so you can see the lip pattern is the
same but the meaning is different. There are a variety of mouthing gestures such as 'OO', 'EE',
'MM', 'SHH'. There are many.
Mouth Gestures Movements
We have mouthing gestures, which have no sign. There are very few of those in BSL and most of
them are rude, like (TONGUE-IN-CHEEK) means you fancy that person, or (PUFFED-CHEEK) can
mean ‘I have my period’. In other sign languages like Norwegian or American mouth gestures can
show feelings and emotions or can link to the personality of the person or can link to another
person at a different time. Really mouthing gestures can show emotions linked with the facial
expression. They are not separate. Emotions have links with the Citation Form but rarely in
conversation, for example; SURPRISED, IMPRESSED, AFRAID, SADNESS, HAPPY, ANGRY.
Sometimes mouthing gestures can add information but these are not linked to linguistics. It’s
possible to show the emotions of a person at a different time, in a different place, showing a
different character. If something were signed without the mouthing gesture it would take away
the full meaning for example a person is very angry and storming off, the sign would show that
the person is storming off but the facial expression and the manner would show that the person is
angry. The sign ‘ANGRY’ would not need to be signed.
22 | P a g e