<<In a message dated 9/23/2010 12:56:29 A.M.
Pacific Daylight Time, pgfernandez@ writes:
Good morning,
I am a hearing person who's become hard of hearing in my late youth...I have
a somewhat academic question that, while it might not be of general
interest, I hope you'll find intriguing enough to answer; it regards the
expression of verb mood in ASL. I understand how one can convey by means of
facial expression the difference between the indicative mood, as in "you go
to school", and the imperative mood, as in "go to school!", but is there a
way in ASL of attach the sense of wish, opinion or possibility, but not
fact, to a signed verb? As an example, how would one sign "God save the
Queen", meaning, "we wish that the Queen be saved by God" as opposed to "God
saves the Queen", meaning as a statement of fact that "God actually rescues
the queen"? English provides the distinction in meaning between the first
and second sentence by means of putting the verb "save" in the subjunctive,
recognizable by dropping the "s" in the third person. The first sentence
expresses desire, whereas the second reads (in my opinion quite comically)
like a newspaper headline publicizing divine intervention on royalty. How
would the two sentences be replicated in ASL?
Many thanks and all the best,
Pedro Gonzalez>>
Dear Pedro,
I believe that indeed the subjunctive form (verb mood) is expressed in ASL.
The process is not neatly cataloged anywhere that I've seen yet, but using
your example, "God save the Queen" we would modify the sign SAVE by doing
the initial hold a little longer, the actual movement a little faster, and
the end movement a little stronger. We would look upward toward God
with a somewhat pleading facial expression that becomes into a slightly
worried facial expression as we return our gaze to our communication
partner.
If a person were to discount such modifications to the sign SAVE then he or
she might think that there is no subjunctive verb form in ASL. But I think
it is important to recognize such modifications:
1. Signing speed
2. Length of hold
3. Facial expressions
4. Eye gaze
Those modifications are morphemes (bound or otherwise) and need to be
included when we consider whether we have "modified" a verb or not.
Cordially,
Bill