Please answer to each student with 130 word thx:
Nyisha VargasFeb 11, 2022 at 8:23 AM
In American Sign Language there is no such thing as genders unless you’re talking about gender context and thats where the pronouns come in. Spatial referencing is achieved in American Sign Language by eye gazing. Eye gazing communicates with who the signer is talking to or it can indicate a referent. For example if there are two people having a conversation The signer would be talking to signer A looking at them directly but finger pointing at signer B which would indicate “he/she” but if the signer is talking to signer A and pointing at Signer A as well then that would mean “you”. Although in English personal pronouns are used with words and ASL is more finger pointing, the similarity is that the pronouns are used the same way just communicated differently. Spacial referencing is very important to American sign language because it helps with better communication and understanding for those who are deaf.
Conversational regulators is communicating with body language. This helps understanding and adding more information to spoken messages. Regulators include movements such as, finger lifting or head nodding to signal things like “wait one moment” or “i am not ready to talk”. This helps people figure out when to talk, when to stop talking, and who’s turn it is. Conversational regulators also include facial expressions such as, direct eye contact, or a surprised or confused face to explain how a persons feeling without actual words but you would still know how they’re feeling based on their facial expressions. This is also important when greeting someone or saying goodbye. It’s important to be aware of these behaviors when interacting with a new culture so you can fully understand the conversation and learn more about how the person is feeling even without using words.
Without spacial referencing and conversational regulators conversations would have less meaning, it would be difficult to understand people emotions fully, and it would make the conversation less exciting as well. Body language, facial expressions, and pronouns are what help us communicate better and understand what we are feeling and saying even more even when you are not deaf. This works for both ASL and English because we use body language and facial expressions to communicate in both languages but ASL its more focused on it since deaf people are more visual learners.
Alexander Marnell (He/Him)Feb 9, 2022 at 12:00 PM
In ASL spatial referencing is achieved by using pronouns or different words to change the flow of the sentence so it is not repetitive. In ASL you use pronouns by pointing. You can use brother, cousin, teacher, etc. instead of saying the person’s name over and over. You can use it instead of using the object’s name over and over as well. I think spatial referencing is prevalent to sign languages because it is an easy concept to understand your point at someone or in the direction of someone you’re talking about them. People do it every day across the world. If you’re in a conversation and you’re talking about someone across the room usually would either point or describe the person.
In English, you also use he, she, it, and other words to make the sentence flow better and not use the specific word a lot of times in the sentence. I also feel in English we do it with other words as well. If we’re talking a lot we often times substitute a word that we’ve used a few times to another word with a similar meaning to help the sentence flow better. We do this while talking but it is most common in emails, text messages, and school work.
I think conversational regulators are important and show respect. If someone is talking for a while and you don’t have much room to talk usually you’d keep eye contact or nod to show you are listening. In one culture nodding, your head while talking could be respectful and in another, it could be seen as interrupting. I feel like eye contact is a big conversational regulator that is consistent across many cultures.