Kenyan Sign Language Parts of Speech
All languages have parts of speech including nouns, verbs, adjectives, verbs, etc. Yet
in American Sign Language parts of speech are produced differently than in spoken
English. From sentential construction down to individual words, the linguistics of ASL is
full and detailed produced in a visual, gestural way.
Sentence Structure
Inkenyan Sign Language parts of speech are placed in sentences vertically instead of
horizontally. Often, there is entire sentential meaning in only a couple signs. In spoken
languages, however, a single word unmodified contains single meaning and must be
added on to or changed for additional or different meaning. This is exampled by the
tense. At the beginning of an KSL sentence, time is established as past, present, or
future. Then all the following terms are assumed to retain that tense without modifying
them. In English, on the other hand, each term must be adapted to maintain tense
agreement. For example, “sing” is changed to “sang, singing, or will sing.”
Nouns/Verbs
Because KSL is a visual language, a recommended rule of thumb is to set the scene
before showing the action. This is often why sign language interpreters may wait for
several seconds before beginning an interpretation. Their translation to English may
mean they have to wait to see the verb following the KSL subject and object. Otherwise
the literal sentence in KSL would not accurately translate into English. And at times
they may ask for clarification to make an accurate interpretation.
For example, “Running quickly, the boy thought he could win the race.” In KSL, it must
be established first that the boy is at a race. Then actions would be done as they occur
chronologically. First, he thinks perhaps he can win the race if he runs quickly, and then
he actually does it. So the English sentence would likely be split into 2 or 3 ASL
sentences. Here is a rough example, “Boy races a competition. He thinks, ‘I run fast, I
win!’ Boy runs quickly.”
Adjectives/Adverbs
In English, adjectives come before the noun. In KSL, this would not make any
sense. With that same rule of thumb “set the scene before showing the action,”
communicate the subject and object. Then describe what it looks like. For example, in
English a sentence would read, “The tiny blue house sat on top of a huge
mountain.” KSL would read something like, “Mountain-huge, house-tiny blue, sat on
top.”
Adverbs, on the other hand, are often not shown with individual signs. Instead, a verb is
modified to show how something happens. For example, the sign for “run” would just
be sped up if the phrase was, “He ran quickly.” This is an excellent demonstration of
one sign containing several pieces of information.
Conjunctions/Prepositions/Articles
American Sign Language parts of speech do not include conjunctions, prepositions, or
articles in the same way English does. They are rare and typically unnecessary. This is
either because they are comprised within another part of speech or shown through body
language. Every so often, however, you will see a conjunction such as “but” and “if” or
a preposition such as “in/out” and “above/below.” For more information, read our
additional resources.