Meaning of Grammatical
Non-Manual Signals: in
American Sign Language
Brenda Liebman Aron
Non-Manual Signals in ASL
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Non-manual signals (NMS) or markers (NMM)
consist of the various facial expressions, head
tilting, shoulder raising, mouthing, and similar
signals that we add to our hand signs to create
meaning.
There are grammatical NMS, transition markers,
mouth morphemes, emotional markers,
backchannel feedback & prosody et cetera
My focus for this presentation is on grammatical
non-manual signals.
Grammatical NMS
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Statement
Topic Comment Structure vs. Topicalization
Wh-question
Yes-no question
Rhetorical question
Negation
Conditionals
Relative Clause
Adverbs
Grammatical NMS: Statement
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Usually statement sentences in ASL do not
signify any non-manual signal. This is also called
declarative sentences. i.e.,(sentences in caps are in
ASL)
Subject-verb-object
I
HAVE CAR.
 I have a car.
I
NEED BUY BOOK.
 I need to buy a book.
Grammatical NMS:
Topic Comment vs. Topicalization
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Topicalization is not the same thing as topic-comment.
Topic Comment means stating a topic and then making a
comment.
Topicalization means you are using the object of the
sentence as the topic.
You can use topic comment sentence structure by using
topicalization.
In ASL, it was thought that ASL is predominantly topiccomment or uses Object-Subject-Verb. Recent research
has shown it was not true. T-C is usually used to
introduce a topic however most of our syntax is S-V-O or
other structures.
See examples of NMS in topic-comment structures on
the next slide.
Grammatical NMS: Topic Comment
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Examples of Topic Comment Sentence Structures:
*comment is also called predicates-which is a word or
phrase that says something about a topic.
In T-C, the eyebrows are raised and head tilted
forward slightly
___t____c__(subject-object)
1. CAR? SOLD!
“Remember my car, it is finally sold!
_t__c__(subject-adjective)
2. HE TALL. He’s tall.
__t______c__(object-subject-verb)
3. MONEY? She-GIVE-me. She gave me money.
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Grammatical NMS: Topicalization
__time_____topic__comment_
 WEEK-PAST I WASH MY CAR.
 __t_______comment________
 MY CAR, I WASH WEEK-PAST.
 Remember the eyebrows are raised and head
tilted slightly forward.
 Using the object of your sentence as the topic of
the sentence is called topicalization.
 In this example, “my car” becomes the subject
instead of “me”. The fact that I washed it last
week becomes the comment.
Grammatical NMS: Wh-word questions
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Wh-word questions are questions that cannot be
answered with just a yes or no responses and uses
interrogative signs like WHAT, WHO, WHEN, WHERE,
WHICH, WHY, WHATS-UP, HOW, HOW-MANY, FORFOR” Usually wh-word occur at the end of the sentence,
but also occur at the beginning.
NMS wh-word questions are:
brows furrowed,
head tilted forward slightly,
Eye contact made with the person being asked the
question
and hold the last sign until a response is received
See examples on next slide:
Grammatical NMS:
Wh-word questions
Example of wh-word questions:
____________wh-q_
1. YOUR NAME WHAT?
________point_wh-q_
2. WOMAN (there) WHO?
____topic______________wh-q
3. YOU GO CALIFORNIA FOR-FOR?
Why are you going to California?
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Grammatical NMS:
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Yes-No Questions
Yes-no questions are questions that receives a
yes or no responses. ASL does not have a sign
for “DO” therefore it is embedded in the NMS
structure.
NMS for y/n-q: Eyebrows raised
Head tilted slightly forward
Eye contact made with the person being asked
the question
And hold the last sign until a response is
received.
See examples on next slide.
Grammatical NMS:
Yes-No Questions
______y/n-q__
1. YOU TEACHER? Are you a teacher?
_point_ y/n-q___
2. YOU HAVE GUM? Do you have gum?
point____________point y/n-q
3. YOU KNOW WHO HER?
Do you know who she is?
Grammatical NMS: Rhetorical Questions
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Rhetorical questions are not true questions since the
addressee is not expected to respond but rather provide
a way for the signer to introduce and draw attention to
the information s/he will supply. Rh-questions are
accompanied by
A brow raise,
Head slightly tilted
A wh-word question usually occurs with this type of
question.
In other words, rhetorical questions differ from Whquestions is that the eyebrows are raised for rh-q and
furrowed for wh-questions.
Often new ASL signers would use rh-q in almost every
sentence. That is not the norm for most ASL signers. We
only use rh-q in specific instances.
See examples on next slide.
Grammatical NMS: Rhetorical Questions
_________________rh-q________
1. I FLY CALIFORNIA WHY VISIT BROTHER.
rh-q_____
2. I GO CALIFORNIA HOW FLY.
________________rh-q_________
3. I GO CALIFORNIA WHEN NEXT-WEEK.
________________rh-q________________
4. I GO CALIFORNIA REASON MY BROTHER
WEDDING. (not a wh-word question)
Grammatical NMS: Negation
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Negation in ASL are is usually accompanied by a
headshake,
Brows furrowed
Sometimes the body is tilted backwards
and/or adding the sign: NOT, NO, NONE, CAN’T, DENY,
REFUSE, DON’T, *DON’T WANT, DON’T LIKE, DON’T
UNDERSTAND etc.
Negative expressions do not always require a sign
showing negation i.e.,
__neg____
1. ME HAPPY. I am not happy.
_
neg____________
2. PRESENTER BIG-WORDS ME not-UNDERSTAND.
I cannot understand the presenter because he used a
lot of complicated words.
Grammatical NMS: Conditionals
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Conditionals express a condition upon which
the topics being discussed depend. An example
of a conditional sentence in English is: “If it rains
tomorrow, the game will be cancelled.”
Conditionals in ASL are usually accompanied by
Raised eyebrows,
A head tilt;
A short pause between if and then
Can be constructed in ASL with NMS & without
the use of signs to show the conditional
See examples on next slide
Grammatical NMS: Conditionals
_cond_____________
1. RAIN GAME CANCEL.
___cond affirm_____
2. YOU GO, ME GO WILL.
_cond____neg_________
3. RAIN, ME NOT GO SWIM.
*There are three ways to express conditionals,
with the sign for IF, # IF and only with NMS.
Grammatical NMS: Relative
Clauses
Relative clauses is not often used in ASL.
 Usually if it is used, the NMS is as follows:
 Head tilted backwards slightly
 Eyebrows are lifted at the topic
 Eyebrows return to normal after topic
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Grammatical NMS: Relative
Clauses
rel cl._______
1. RECENT DOG CHASE CAT COME HOME.
rel cl.________________
2. MY CAT DOG CHASE
My cat, the dog chased it.
_______________________neg
3. PURSE WOMAN FORGOT NOT.
____rel cl.________________________
It is not the case woman forgot the purse.
Grammatical NMS: Adverbs
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Adverbs in ASL: an adverb modifies the meaning of a
verb, adjective, or other adverb. ASL uses a number of
methods to modify the meanings of signs. You can
modify the speed and direction of a sign. This is called
inflecting the sign. For example, SLOW or VERY
ASL uses NMS to modify the meaning of signs: th for
careless, furrowed brows with pursed lips means
intensely; lower lip puffed a bit, head tilted back, content
look on face means routine or normal. Cha means
something is big or immense,
Grammatical NMS: Adverbs
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Examples:
Practice exercises
FINI
For more information:
 Contact Brenda Aron,
Baron@sccd.ctc.edu
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