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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!sbcs!bnl!jeffy
From: jeffy@bnl.UUCP (Jeff Mattson)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: American languages
Message-ID: <244@bnl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Nov-83 02:00:36 EST
Article-I.D.: bnl.244
Posted: Fri Nov 11 02:00:36 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Nov-83 16:51:09 EST
References: <1013@uvacs.UUCP>
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Lines: 24

How can we discuss American languages without mentioning the third most
used language in America; namely, American Sign Language (ASL).  Despite
anything you may have heard, it's more than random gestures and mime. 
It's a legitimate language.  Some interesting facts about it:

* It has no verb "to be."  

* Verbs don't express tense.  Instead, adverbs for time are usually
  placed in the front of the sentence.  

* It's a great deal like Latin or German in that the order of the subject
  and object in a sentence doesn't matter.  In place of nasty declensions
  or endings, in ASL there are certain facial expressions.  To show 
  some word is the object, for example, you raise your eyebrows like
  you just saw something interesting.

* There's no gender at all.  For pronouns, you point.  If the person is 
  nearby, you point toward him/her/it.  Otherwise, you establish a point
  in space for the person, and everytime you refer to himl, you point in that
  direction.

Welll, the computer is acting awfully tempermental, so I'll be going.

-Jeff Mattson