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Just like English, ASL
has contractions (two words formed to make one). But whereas in English
you would say "I'm," or "aren't," ASL uses them in the form of a full
sentence in one sign.
Do-do's,
For-for's, and the Three-of-Us
These little contractions are often people's favorites. They're cute,
they're easy, and so much more can be said without mincing words. We'll
have to take do-do, for
example. In literal English, do-do
means "What
to do?" or "How are you doing it?" Of course, because this is ASL,
those
are definitely not it's only two uses. Try this:
- English:
What are you doing Friday night?
- ASL: Do-do you Friday night or Friday night
do-do you?
The sign for-for has similar
intentions. In literal English, for-for
means, "what for?" or "why?". It can be used for emphasis
on a matter,
instead of just the one sign for why.
For example:
- English: What is
that chair for?
- ASL: Chair (point)
for-for?
Now for the three-of-us. On
the
hand, numbers 2 through 5 are used, turned palm up, and circled
counterclockwise in a horizontal manner to indicate 2 through 5 people.
However, two-of-us is not
really horizontal. An example of using one
of these contractions would be:
- English: Yesterday, Jack, Susie, and I went to
Timbuktu
- ASL: Yesterday, three-of-us go-there Timbuktu
Another little thing you saw me use earlier was the why? in the
middle of a sentence (in Basic
Concepts,
if you've forgotten). Were you
wondering what it was there for? In English, we use conjunctions like
'because' to connect certain sentences, like: "We went to the store because
we were out of food." But in ASL, those types of sentences become a
rhetorical question, or are put into a question/answer form. Two-of-us
go-there store why? have food none. Mostly, they're used to
focus the
reader's attention on additional information to be given. Do not
assume, though, that the word because
is not used in ASL. Not all
sentences want to draw the attention, and because is used.
Chapter
2 | Chapter
4
Email: Has this site helped you? Do
you have any questions? carrie_dr@hotmail.com
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Disclaimer: Much of what is on these pages has
been fully researched and is true to the best of my knowledge. If you
find an error, do not hesitate to email me and I will attempt to set it
straight. Website created by Carrie De Ruyter, Sept 1999. Updated
March 2005.
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