Classifiers:

A student asked:
"What is the difference between a handshape and a classifier?"

Response:
Handshapes are one of the five fundamental building blocks of a sign: Handshape, movement, location, orientation, and nonmanual markers. Nonmanual markers include those aspects of body language that do not involve the hands such as shoulder movements, head tilts, and facial expressions. The handshape is literally the shape in which we form our hand during the production of a sign.

The movement or shape of certain signs can be modified in such a way as to include information about a referent's type, size, shape, movement, or extent. Those signs which have this ability are "classifiers."
It might be more accurate to call them "potential classifiers" since whether or not these "potential classifiers" become actual classifiers depends on how they are used in context.

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Discussion:

DrVicars: What is a classifier? What do you think Art?

Art: I think you caught me not doing today's homework.

DrVicars: Heh, sorry, for putting you on the spot.

Heather: It's the form of the fingers or hands to indicate a type of sign. Such as... if you want to sign a cup or a plate, you form either a small circle with the hands, or you form a larger circle with the hands.

Tigie: Like long narrow things and round flat things

Daniel: Signs that represent classes of objects such as land or water vehicles as a group.

DrVicars: Those are some great answers, I think we are getting there. :)
Now give me another example... [time passes] ...Anyone feel free...

Sandy: Like using the index finger to show long skinny things?

DrVicars: Good, right. Let me explain it a bit more for you. If I want to show a person walking and I have established him to the right I can take the right index finger and move it to the left to represent "Fred" moving across the room or whatever If I do it with a smile It means Fred is happy If I do it quickly It means Fred is hustling etc. [The smiling and manner of movement are what you would call "inflecting" the sign for meaning.]

Sandy: What I didn't understand in looking at this was - isn't it overly broad? Is it really
understood?

DrVicars: Think of classifiers as a type of pronoun.

You have to identify your pronoun before you can use it. Also you have to use it in context. I cant just start a conversation with you by signing, "HE WALK." I have to set up some sort of situation or context, then I spell F-R-E-D, and then point to the right then form the INDEX-finger-classifier (or "Classifier 1" also shown as CL:1) and move it to the left.

Tigie: How do you know that classifier "F" isn't part of a word instead of a small round thing?

DrVicars: Great question. The answer is context. It is the same way you know the letter O and the number 0 are different. It depends where they show up.

Sandy: So, classifiers are used later on in the "sentence,"--it makes more sense now.

DrVicars: I don't expect you all to be experts at classifiers, just want you to know they exist.
An example on that "F" concept: If I sign "I BUY NEW SHIRT" then I touch an F on my chest and throw it off suddenly it could mean: "and the button popped off." The "F" classifier acquired the meaning of "button" because of the context and placement.

Tigie: would anyone understand that a button popped off and not for instance a bottle cap?

DrVicars: Remember this concept: "Show, don't tell." It is much faster to create an imaginary person or object then show what happens to it or him--than to describe every item in the situation. In the case of the bottle cap I would have had to indicate a bottle of some kind before using an f classifier. The only possible meaning for the classifier in the shirt example would be a button, because that was the context. People normally don't wear a row of bottle-caps down the front of their shirts.

Heather: Why would you use the "F" sign to show a button popped off? Wouldn't you use a "B?"

DrVicars: Because an "F" has a round hole representing the shape of a button. Remember ASL is not linking to English it is linking to a concept.

Heather: Thanks, that makes perfect sense.

Some of the more popular classifiers:

CL:1 Things that are (relatively) long and skinny. A pencil, a stick, a person.
CL:A an object in a certain location. A house, a lamp.
CL:3- vehicles, [motorcycle, park a car, row of cars, accident, garage]
CL:4-[CURTAIN]
CL:5-[scads of]
CL:B- flat things[roof, flat, wall]
CL:C-[thick things, round pole-like things]
CL:C-(index and thumb) pepperoni, cookies, campaign buttons
CL:F
CL:G- thin things (or degree of thinness)
CL:L(bent)-[large, big-headed/egoistic/conceited, check, card, square]
CL:L-[check, card, square]
CL:V- legs, a person walking-(upside-down V), two people walking, [stand, walk-to, lay down, toss-and-turn, dive, jump, skate board, scooter, get up]
CL:V (bent fingers) = a small animal, or a larger animal sitting.
CL:Y Very wide things. A fat person walking. A hippopotamus's mouth.

Classifiers are signs that are used to represent general categories or "classes" of things. They can be used to describe the size and shape of an object (or person). They can be used to represent the object itself, or the way the object moves or relates to other objects (or people). Another definition is: "A set of handshapes that represent classes of things that share similar characteristics."

Below are some examples of "types" of classifiers. I don't expect you to get a handle on these just because I list them. This list is from a study guide I hand out to my students while giving a two-hour seminar during semesters or times when I'm teaching from the Vista, Signing Naturally curriculum (Lentz, Mikos, & Smith, 1988) but I thought you would enjoy seeing a sample the diversity of classifiers out there (there are thousands more than I'm indicating here). Note: I've modified the list a bit and added some of my own information .

• Descriptive Classifiers (DCL), are also known as size and shape specifiers, (SASSes). They describe a person or object.

DCL:B (or bent B) "extremely tall" [Explanation: to represent the descriptive classifier "extremely tall" you hold the "bent 'B' hand" high in the air while using an appropriate facial expression."]
DCL:B (or bent B) "short"
DCL:4 "long hair"
DCL:1 "bulletin board"
DCL:1 "black board"
DCL:4 (claw) "freckles"
DCL:4 "striped"
DCL:G "thin"
DCL:4 (claw) "curley hair"

• Semantic Classifiers, represent categories of nouns. For example, people or vehicles.

SCL:1 (person) "walking fast"
SCL:1 (person) "person walks to...____"
SCL:3 (car) "drives to____"
SCL:Y (fat person) "waddling"
SCL:flattened-O (fast-car) "cruising"
SCL:bent-V (row of chairs)

• Locative Classifiers, show placement or spatial information about an object. Sometimes indicate movement.

LCL:C/LCL:B "place cup on napkin"
LCL:5 "leaf floating to the ground"
LCL:1 (sticks) "one here-one here"
LCL:B "shelf" (over to the right)
LCL:1 "goal-posts"
(2h)LCL:L "adjust a picture"

• Plural classifiers
Indicating a specific number or a non-specific number.
PCL:2 "two people walking"
PCL:4 "long line of people"
PCL:4 "people moving in line"
PCL: 5 "hordes of _____." Often called "scads of."
PCL:V "people seated in a circle"

• Instrument Classifiers, you use your hands (or an other part of your body) to manipulate an "object."

ICL "driving"
ICL "hammer in a nail"
ICL "play checkers"
ICL "play chess"
ICL "light match"
ICL (broom) ICL "sweep"
ICL (water) ICL"pour in"
ICL (garbage) ICL "dump out"
ICL (wash-clothes) ICL "hang up"

• Body Classifiers/Mime
You use your body to "act out" or "role play." Sometimes this is like "mime." Other times you just show the action (or interaction) that is going on. Often this involves "role shifting."

"yawn"
"acting tough"
"give hug to child"
"running hard/pumping arms"
"wave to crowd"
"listen for strange noise"

• Bodypart classifiers
A specific part of your body is doing an action.

(2h)BPCL:F "look at"
BPCL "kick back" (relax)
BPCL "cross legs"
BPCL ""tap foot"
BPCL "use gesture looking up"
BPCL:flat-C "big grin"
BPCL:L "red face" shy
BPCL:B "mouth frowning"

Student: I don't get what it means in the outline where it says: SCL:1 (person) "walking fast"

DrVicars: Oh okay then... let me clarify that.

The SCL simply identifies the general category.
The ":" means what a normal colon means the "1" represents making a "one" handshape with you index finger.
The ( ) tells you what it is representing--you have to pre-identify this.
The manner is in the "quotes"
So if I wanted to show "Bob" walking fast, I would fingerspell his name, then hold up that finger and move it quickly across my signing space. That would be a classifier indicating how he is moving.

In a message dated 4/2/2006 12:52:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, kiwi_deelydiate@yahoo.com writes:

I have a question for you, can you give me a definition for "Classifier Predicates"?

John,
Classifier Predicates:
A classifier (in ASL) is a sign that represents a general category of things, shapes, or sizes.
A predicate is the part of a sentence that modifies (says something about or describes) the topic of the sentence or some other noun or noun phrase in the sentence. (Valli & Lucas, 2000)
Example: JOHN HANDSOME
The topic is “John” the predicate is an “adjective predicate” describing John’s appearance.
Example: JOHN RUN
The topic is “John” the predicate is a “verb predicate” stating what John did or is doing.
Example: JOHN BED
The topic is “John” the predicate is a “noun predicate” stating John’s location.
Example: JOHN CL:FF “eyes quickly looked at right”
The topic is “John” the predicate is a “classifier predicate” indicating that John quickly looked to his right.
Whenever you use a classifier to describe the shape, size, movement, or location of a noun, you are using a “classifier predicate.”
Bill

Classifier: 1 or index finger CL:1
Classifier: 3 CL:3
Classifier: 5
Classifier: A
Classifier: B and Classifier; BB
Classifier: F
Classifier: H,R, and 4
Classifier: Inverted V and bent inverted V
Classifier: Quantifiers
Classifiers: Size, Location, Movement

Nikki Horrell-Schmitz sent:

+Element classifiers, describe things that do not have specific shapes or sizes, and are usually in constant motion.

ECL:4 "a running faucet"

ECL:5wg "a candle flame"

ECL:1 (zig zag) "a flash of lightning"

ECL:flat O----->spread C "twinkling lights"

References:

Lentz, E. M., Mikos, K., Smith, C., & Dawn Sign Press. (1988). Signing naturally teacher's curriculum guide. San Diego, CA: DawnSign Press.

Valli, C. & Lucas, C. (2000). Linguistics of American Sign Language. (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.