In a message dated 8/27/2007 3:00:52 P.M. Pacific
Daylight Time, nasha5(at)verizon.net writes:
Hi Dr. Bill,
Barbara here. I study ASL at a community college here
in NY. My dilemma is that I am confused with the sentence structure in
ASL. I was previously taught Topic comment sentence structure and Time-
Topic- Comment structure. This semester my instructor tells me that only
Topic-Object-Subject-Verb structure is acceptable. I am very confused
because I thought the topic was the subject. Could you please give me some
examples of this new structure. Why is Topic comment not acceptable now?
Please answer me soon I have a test coming up and want to practice this new
structure before my exam.
thanks
Barb
Barb,
Two issues.
1. The first issue is getting the grade you want out
of class. To do that you need to follow whatever method your current
instructor wants you to follow. Thus regardless of what I tell you,
regardless of what any book or expert tells you, regardless of what you see
in the Deaf community--if you care about your grade, you need to do it the
way your current instructor wants it. I often tell my in-class students,
there are many ways to sign. For the next 15 weeks, my way is the "right"
way. Heh.
2. The second issue is ASL grammar.
I've written quite a bit about ASL Grammar already and
posted it to the Lifeprint Library. Go to:
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/topics.htm
and scroll down to the "Grammar" heading.
Here I will respond to your confusion regarding the
terms "topic" and "subject."
Let me state up front: ASL follows several different
word orders depending on what is needed.
Which word order you choose depends on what you are
trying to do: explain, remind, confirm, negate, cause to consider, etc.
Much of your confusion (and that of others) has to do
with the fact that you can use either a subject or object as your "topic" in
a sentence.
If you use the subject as your topic, you are using
"active voice."
Example: The boy threw the ball. (BOY THROW BALL)
If you use the object as your topic your are using
"passive voice."
Example: The ball was thrown by the boy. (BALL? BOY
THROW).
Note that the active voice: BOY THROW BALL is
definitely SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT word order.
The passive voice is: OBJECT-SUBJECT-VERB word order.
Both of those can be considered TOPIC COMMENT:
Topic: BOY Comment: THROW BALL (active voice)
Topic: BALL Comment: BOY THROW (passive voice)
In the passive voice sentence the "ball" which is
actually the object is being used as the topic, and the comment is that it
"was thrown by the boy."
So, you can see that the topic can be either a subject
or an object.
A "topic" is simply that to which a comment is
referring. A topic is what you are talking about.
My topic can be a "BOY" or it can be the "BALL" he is
throwing.
The BOY can be the subject of the sentence: BOY THROW
BALL
The BOY can be the object of the sentence. BALL HIT
BOY
The BALL can be the subject of the sentence. BALL HIT
BOY
The BALL can be the object of the sentence. BOY THROW
BALL
My comment can be "THROW BALL"
My comment can be "HIT BOY"
Therefore a TOPIC-COMMENT sentence structure can use
either a SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT word order, or it can use an OBJECT, SUBJECT
VERB word order.
When you use "OBJECT, SUBJECT VERB" order you are doing
something called "topicalizing" or you are using "topicalization."
Topicalization simply means to take the object of your sentence and turn it
into your topic.
You do this by using "yes/no question expression"
(raised eyebrows) while signing the topic, and then making a comment about
the topic. During the comment portion of your sentence your facial
expression should match the intent of the comment, (negation, affirmation,
declaration).
At this point in the discussion you might be wondering:
"When should I use passive voice instead of active voice?"
Another way to ask that same question is, "When should
you use topicalization?"
Another way to ask that same question, "When should you
put the object at the front of the sentence while raising your eyebrows?"
There are several situations when you should
topicalize. A few examples applying to ASL are:
1. Unknown subject: When the subject is unknown: MY
WALLET? GONE! (I don't know why it is missing, if it was stolen, or who
stole it. Thus to state this with active voice I'd have to sign something to
the effect of, "SOMONE STOLE MY WALLET" – which takes longer.)
2. Irrelevancy: MY CAR? SOLD! (It doesn't really
matter who sold it. Just that the process is over. So why should I waste
time explaining who sold it? Maybe it was my friend's uncle that sold it to
his coworker. So what. It's gone!)
3. Expediency: MY SIDEKICK? FOUND! (If I explained to
you last week that was at the county fair and lost my text messaging device
I don't want to have to explain it to you again if you still remember what I
told you before. So I sign "SIDEKICK" with my eyebrows up and then when you
nod in recognition that tells me you do indeed remember the conversation,
then I go ahead and tell you that it was found.)
Unfortunately some instructors overemphasize
topicalization or give the impression that the majority of ASL communication
is topicalized. The fact is many (if not most) ASL sentences are simply
SUBJECT-VERB (transitive)-OBJECT, example: "BOY THROW BALL" or are
SUBJECT-VERB (intransitive), for example: "HE LEFT."
Now let's be clear that TOPIC COMMENT is not the same
thing as topicalization.
TOPIC COMMENT means stating a topic and then making a
comment.
Topicalization means that you are using the object of
the sentence as the topic.
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure without
using topicalization.
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure by using
topicalization.
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure by using
SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure by using
SUBJECT-VERB (HE RUN.)
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure by using
SUBJECT-NOUN (HE HOME = "He is home.")
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure by using
SUBJECT-ADJECTIVE (HE TALL = "He is tall.")
You can use TOPIC COMMENT sentence structure by using OBJECT, SUBJECT-VERB
("MONEY? she-GIVE-me).
All of the above constitutes only a partial list of
ways to express grammatically correct ASL. In each case the topic is simply
what you are "talking about."
Cordially,
Dr. Vicars
The MYTH of Topic Comment
By Bill Vicars
Many languages use SVO as their main word order --
including English and ASL. Both English and ASL mainly use SVO
but also use other "word orders" for specific tasks. (Such as
establishing context.)
Here is
a principle for you:
ASL Grammar Principle: Topic/Comment (T/C) grammar tends to take place
in low context situations to assist in confirming or establishing
context. Once context has been established T/C is abandoned and replaced
with SVO and other structures.
I challenged a 5th Generation Deaf woman (and one of the best
ASL signers on the planet) observe the real
life usage of T/C and SVO sentence structures by individuals who are
Deaf as she attended Deaf events.
This was her report:
In a message dated 3/17/2008 10:45:38 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
she wrote:
I went to a fundraiser party last Sat nite. Studied deafies' signs
with Topic/Comment in mind. They use TC mainly when not in context
so to establish one. But for subsequent conversations, TC is
abandoned for reg SVO and other structures I need to do more
observations. That's getting interesting.