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Adjective Placement in ASL:
Can adjectives come before nouns in American Sign Language?
Question:
A student doing their dissertation writes:
<<Hello Dr. Vicars,
Thank you so much for all this great information. I read the articles which were very helpful.
I need to clarify one thing that is not addressed in the articles. If I understand correctly, it is acceptable to place an adjective before a noun (e.g., "red truck") ...? Members of my dissertation committee asked me to confirm this detail in particular because they thought the reverse order was correct in ASL (e.g., "I see truck red").
...
(Student's name removed and slight editing to respect student privacy)
>>
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Response:
██████,
The "all caps" typed in this information are due to ASL glossing and/or other conventions and are not yelling.
It is generally acceptable to place adjectives describing physical characteristics before a noun, e.g., "YELLOW HOUSE" (Valli & Lucas, 2000, p. 123-124).
If you place an adjective before a noun in ASL it functions as and is labeled as an adjective.
If you place an adjective after a noun it is functioning as a predicate adjective.
In English predicate adjectives typically use linking verbs. In ASL we drop the linking verb.
Perhaps one of the reasons why people get confused about this is because various "psychological, physiological, and emotional states like STUPID, FUNNY, HEALTHY, HAPPY, CONFUSED, and UPSET" tend to be placed after the noun in ASL (Valli & Lucas, 2000, p. 124).
To be clear, it is 100% acceptable to sign "RED TRUCK" in ASL. The fact that you can also sign, "TRUCK RED" doesn't change the acceptability of signing "RED TRUCK."
ASL is not limited to a single word (sign) order.
Unfortunately, many -- even those who consider themselves experts in ASL -- make claims or statements about the nature of ASL that are not representative of the documented principles of ASL grammar nor how ASL is actually used by fluent native signers in everyday communication.
I'm available to visit ████████ University and present a workshop on ASL Linguistics.
https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/workshop-rate-card.htm
You have stated, "the video clips of the signs you provide to YouTube include ads." Hmmm... are you seeing ads on videos from https://www.youtube.com/@aslu/videos ? My longer instructional videos use ads but I do not put ads on 99% of my shorter video clips showing individual signs.
Try using this link from a desktop (not mobile) browser: https://www.lifeprint.com/search.htm to find specific sign examples.
YouTube Premium offers a free one-month trial for new users. To access this trial, you can visit https://www.youtube.com/premium
It's important to note that a credit card will be required to sign up, but you won't be charged during the free trial period. After the trial, the subscription will automatically renew unless canceled. Using the trial you can watch videos uninterrupted and/or download videos. For example, go to a YouTube video that you want and click on the three dots menu and click on the download this video option and then choose to do the trial and you will be able to download videos from YouTube.
Warm regards,
+ Bill
________________________
William G. Vicars, Ed.D.
ASLUniversity
https://Lifeprint.com
https://YouTube.com/billvicars
BillVicars@aol.com
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Reference: Valli, C., & Lucas, C. (2000). Linguistics of American Sign Language: An introduction. Gallaudet University Press
Notes:
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