Linguistics of American Sign Language

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• You will be able to identify and describe the different parts of language, including a) phonology, b) morphology, c) and syntax.
• You will be able to identify, describe, and analyze the different parts of ASL phonology (“parameters”), including: a) handshape, b) location, c) movement, d) palm orientation, and e) non-manual markers.
• You will be able to identify and describe modality-specific parts of language, such as gesture and classifiers.
• You will be able to compare and contrast linguistic elements of spoken languages and signed languages.
• You will be able to comprehend and describe how deaf children acquire signed language.
• You will be able to comprehend and describe how the brain manages multiple languages, and uses a first language to help learn a second one.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Assignments	25%
Reading Question	15%
Iconicity Research	10%
Syntax Paper	10%
WeeJ	15%
Major Project	10%
Video Response	15%

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
95-100%	A
90-94%	A-
87-89%	B+
83-86%	B
80-82%	B-
77-79%	C+
73-76%	C
70-72%	C-
67-69%	D+
63-66%	D
60-62%	D-
59% and below	F

Attendance/Participation:

Attendance/participation is not a graded component included in the student's final grade for this course.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

Hill, J., Lillo-Martin, D., Wood, S. (2019). Sign Languages Structures and Contexts., New York: Routledge.