ASL – THE TOPIC OF SENTENCES
NAME:_____________________
BLK: ___
DATE: ____________________
When we speak English (or another spoken language) our tone of voice naturally inflects to bring attention to the focus of
our sentence. Our natural pauses and breaks in speech can clarify what the important parts of sentences are and can help
our listeners connect and understand what we are trying to say a bit more clearly. In ASL, however, we have to rely on nonmanual signals (NMS) to give others these cues. People who are watching you sign read your facial expressions to gain the
grammatical and emotional information that is usually shared with tone of voice. This means when you sign, you have to
show emotion on your face in a way that is more exaggerated than you are used to. It also means that you need to practice
“inflecting” with your eyebrows, using them to show important grammar modifiers.
One of these grammar modifiers is topicalization, which is how we show the topic of a sentence. The topic is what the
sentence is about and helps establish frames of reference for people to connect to later. In ASL, we raise our eyebrows
when saying the topic and write in down in gloss as __t__. To find and show the topic of a sentence, follow these steps:
1. WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY IN TOSVL WORD ORDER
Topic is one of the last things that you designate in your sentence, so start by building your sentence as you normally would.
Be sure that you can sign all the words and that you understand what you are trying to explain. Remember your correct
grammatical word order (TOSVL = TIME OBJECT SUBJECT VERB LOCATION) and consider any classifiers or descriptors
you will need to use. If you need help with this part, refer to your glossing handout and your grammar handout.
Example: YESTERDAY MY BOOK ME BRING-HOME. IT ME FORGET IX LIBRARY DOWNTOWN IX.
Example: TOMORROW DO-YOU-MIND MY BOOK IX YOU GET FOR ME? LIBRARY FRONT-DESK IX HAVE.
2. ADD IN ALL THE OTHER NON-MANUAL SIGNALS THAT YOU KNOW
Once you have your words in place, read your sentence carefully. Is there a question? Are you negating anything (is
something NOT happening)? Are you describing a conditional statement? Designate these non-manual signals first.
_____n_____
Example: YESTERDAY MY BOOK ME BRING-HOME. IT ME FORGET IX LIBRARY DOWNTOWN IX.
_______q_______
Example: TOMORROW DO-YOU-MIND MY BOOK IX YOU GET FOR ME? LIBRARY FRONT-DESK IX HAVE.
3. FIGURE OUT THE TOPIC AND GLOSS IT
The topical commandment: Thou shalt always make the object the topic. If there is no object, thou shalt use the subject.
Find your topic in each sentence and use the non-manual signal marker ___t___ to show it in your gloss. Your topic includes
any possessive articles (eg: my, your, his) as well as any deixis (IX) that goes with the object (or subject). Note that topic is
considered the “least important” non-manual signal – if there is anything else that needs to be expressed, it should be done
instead of topic. You may find that adding topic results in you raising your eyebrows more often than you are used to. This is
normal – in general spoken language users are not as expressive as manual language users, and it can be difficult to learn to
move the muscles in the face simultaneously with the hands. Be aware that sometimes you can have two topics if your
sentence is a compound sentence!!! More complicated sentences will especially take practice to learn how to construct, so
keep asking questions and try your best!
____t___
_____n_____ t_
Example: YESTERDAY MY BOOK ME BRING-HOME. IT ME FORGET IX LIBRARY DOWNTOWN IX.
_____t____ _______q______ ________t__________
Example: TOMORROW DO-YOU-MIND MY BOOK IX YOU GET FOR ME? LIBRARY FRONT-DESK IX HAVE.
4. SIGN IT
Sign the sentence, raising your eyebrows whenever the topic marker tells you. Remember: accuracy is better than speed.
PRACTICE
Underline, circle, or highlight the topic in the following sentences.
1. Yesterday I bought four apples at the store.
2. My binder is blue and purple.
3. One week from now, my dad will visit my aunt in China.
4. I have already put the book on the table.
5. Stop it, I’m annoyed now.
6. I have to go to school.
7. Lately I’ve been losing sleep.
8. I dream about the things we could be.
9. I’ve been praying hard.
10. We’ll be counting stars.
Gloss the following sentences completely (ASL word order ALWAYS).
1. I like to eat vegetables.
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2. My cat sleeps all day.
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3. When I go to school, I see my friends.
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4. I don’t know how to ski.
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5. Ms. Smith should win the lottery.
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6. Ms. Smith should share the money when she wins.
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7. Africa is a big continent.
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8. Asia is bigger than Africa.
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9. Cactus is a funny word.
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10. Pictures are good for remembering people.
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11. I miss swimming every day.
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12. I don’t know what’s going on right now.
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13. Don’t kill spiders, put them outside!
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