DEPEND-ON / rely on / count on:
The single movement tends to function as a transitive verb or verb
phrase such as "depend on" or "rely on." By "transitive verb" what I mean
is you tend to also need an object. For example, "I/ME CAN DEPEND HIM/HER" (I
can depend on him.)
You will also see this sign done with a double movement and start taking on
meanings more along the lines of "it depends," "depending on," or "that
depends." Example:
Signer A: YOU GO PARTY YOU?
Signer B: DEPENDS. I/ME MAYBE START NEW JOB. (It depends. I might be
starting a new job.)
DEPENDS / it depends / depending on
Notes:
In advanced signing if a signer has established an absent referent off to the
side (for example you have identified "Bob" and he is represented by pointing
off to the signer's right) the signer can do the sign "depend on" a bit off to
his or her right-side and it would mean "depend on Bob." I don't see this
done very often and would generally not try to make this sign "directional."
However it can be done.
Also see "count on."
the English "depend" is variable
regarding negative or positive association. Which is to say that the English
"depend" can mean "predict / plan on / expect based on previous experience"
and refer to either good or bad.
As I examine my own usage and that of everyday Deaf life the idea of pairing
DEPEND with a negative concept feels "odd."
English: you can depend on him to be good
English: you can depend on him to be bad
However in ASL there doesn't seem to be depending on someone to do something
bad.
ASL: YOU CAN DEPEND IX-[him] = positive.
It seems that in ASL -- if a person's behavior is negative we choose some
other way of describing the person that doesn't use the DEPEND sign.
Compare: stink vs smell.
You can say or sign something smells good.
You can say or sign something smells bad.
But you can't say / sign something "stinks good."
Just as "stink" infers negative.
It seems to me that (in ASL) "DEPEND" infers positive unless we specifically
add CAN'T or NOT (or some similar negation).
To "me" the phrase: "YOU CAN DEPEND IX-him/her/them ALWAYS LATE" doesn't
seem reflective of native Deaf usage. It just feels "odd" and I can't recall
seeing that sort of signing.
DEPEND tends to default to the positive in ASL usage.
================
Examples:
CAN'T DEPEND = bad
CAN DEPEND = good
CAN DEPEND IX-her/him/them SHOW-UP on-TIME! = good
KNOW-THAT IX-her/him/them ALWAYS LATE! TEND-to THEIR-THEIR. = bad
(Note: I suppose THEIR-THEIR might be glossed as POSS-3+ or some sort of
other notation as in a repeated third person possessive)
I would thus humbly suggest that based on "observation" and "gut feelings"
it would seem the ASL meanings for DEPEND are slightly different than the
English meanings for "depend."
If we see real-life native or very-near-native examples that disprove the
delimitations of:
DEPEND=positive
DEPEND=conditional
I would enjoy seeing them.
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