QUESTION:
A student noticed a sample practice sentence in ASL that was glossed (written)
as: YOU SNORE YOU?
The student asked: "Why the double 'you'?"
ANSWER:
The second "you" that sometimes occurs in a signed question tends to fill the
same function or role as the word "do" in the following American-English
sentence:
"Do you snore?"
Note that you could (in English) also say or write:
"You snore?"
Which raises the question: Why do English speakers (and/or writers) use the word
"Do" in the sentence: "Do you snore?" -- when they could just as easily ask,
"You snore?"
American-English speakers often use the interrogative "do"to make it clear that
they are asking a question -- without having to rely on intonation (the raising
of the tone of their voice at the end of the sentence).
ASL signers use the interrogative "pronoun copy" (such as signing YOU a second
time at the end of a sentence) in addition to the use of facial grammar (in this
case -- raised eyebrows) to make it even more clear that we are asking a
question and would like an answer.
Notes:
Notes: