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Transcript

American Sign Language

Summary

1. Establish one topic on non dominant side

2. Nod and shift body slightly towards that side

3. Orient the signs about that topic towards that side

4. Then do the same for the other topic (dominant side)

Establishing spatial referents and then referring to them using body shift with appropriate agreement between the body shift and the referent as you contrast various characteristics about those referents.  

Contrastive structure is good for such times as when you are talking about how many sisters and brothers you have,  where divorced parents live, or your living situation--where you grew up and then  moved to, etc.

Contrastive Structure

The movement of the signer's body shows that he is mentioning two categories without using the sign AND.

The first referent is located on the signer's non-dominant side (the right side for a right-handed signer).

What is "contrastive structure"?

A small, simple movement of the shoulders from one side to the other shows the distinction between two referents being discussed.

The second is located on the dominant side (the left side for a right-handed signer).

  • If you're talking about your two brothers, you would start by assigning them a space.

Whenever you want to say something about one or the other, you would just point to that spot rather than needing to finger spell their names every single time.

When talking about people, places, or things (called referents) that are not visible, these referents need to be "placed" in a virtual space in front of you so you can refer back to them simply by pointing to that space.

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