Pronouns in ASL and English (2004)

This paper was first published on my old blog back in 2004, as such the information for this topic may be out of date. Still, it can be useful as a historical document. I am bringing it here in order to have everything in one place. This series of squibs were written between 2002 and 2004. They can be read for CEUs at CEUs on the Go!

1.         ASL, like English is a complete and naturally occurring language.  Both share features that linguists have described as endemic of all languages.  First, language is infinitely variable; it can be used to discuss any and all concepts that humans can conceive.  This means that language can be used to discuss things, events and concepts that are not immediately present.  Both ASL and English have symbols to represent the concepts of time, place, conditional events and things that are entirely fictional.  This infinite variability also allows the language to be used in order to analyze itself.  It is clear that English possesses these qualities because without them it would not be able to write this paper. 

Being infinitely variable means that a language has ways of introducing new symbols to refer to new concepts and things.  Both ASL and English have come up with symbols that refer to modern technology and concepts.  Another feature that allows languages to adapt is that single symbols may have more than one meaning.  This polysemousness allows new meanings to be introduced without the creation of new symbols. 

Languages involve sets of symbols that are used to encode meaning.  An example of this in English is letters and words, in ASL and example would be signs.  These symbols may be either arbitrary or iconic.  That is, they can clearly represent their referent (iconic), or the symbol may bear no relation to its referent (arbitrary).  An English example of iconicity is found in words that are onomatopoeic like “cock-a-doodle-doo” or “bang”.  An ASL common ASL example of iconicity is the sign MILK in which the hand mimics the motion of milking a cow.  These symbols are made up of discreet, meaningless parts called phonemes, which combine to form meaningful parts called morphemes.  English phonemes are the different sounds that speakers make that are part of the language.  In ASL phonemes consist of handshape, location, palm orientation, movement, and non-manual markers.  Morphemes in English are words and other units that have meaning, for example the affix “-s” that makes a singular noun into a plural. 

In ASL morphemes are individual signs as well as other features such as numeral incorporation that can modify the meaning of a basic sign.  These morphemes are then combined to form clauses, which combine to form sentences, which combine to form texts.  Combinations at each level are governed by rules that vary from language to language.  On the larger levels, these rules are referred to as “grammar”, the system of rules that governs how words are put together to make sentences, and “syntax” the rules that govern the order and relationships between words and other structural elements in sentences and larger texts.  These rules establish a system in which language is used to communicate information, as well as relationships between chunks of information.  The grammars of ASL and English are different.  An example of this difference can be seen in how each language uses tense to refer to time.  In English speakers use affixes and internal modification to show when an event took place.  For example, walk (present tense) and walked (past tense).  ASL does not use affixes to show tense; rather the signer will establish the time first and then give the action.  For example, MAN WALK (present tense) and YESTERDAY MAN WALK (past tense). 

For more on ASL as a language and differences between ASL and English see Valli & Lucas (1992) and Klima & Bellugi (1979)

2.         The remainder of this text will discuss basic pronoun systems in ASL and English.  Pronouns are symbols in a language that are used in place of nouns and function as simple noun phrases.  Languages may use these parts of speech in place of a noun that has already been established earlier in the text in order to refer back to that noun.  Pronouns may also be used to describe referents that do not have an antecedent.  Pronouns fall into the following categories:

-Personal: Generally refers to people or animate nouns

-Possessive: Shows ownership

-Reflexive: Refers back to a noun within the same sentence, often functions as an object

-Reciprocal: Shows a “mutuality of action[1]”

-Relative: Refers to an antecedent that was previously established.  Can initiate a relative clause.

-Interrogative: Can be used to begin questions

-Demonstrative: Indicates specificity

-Indefinite: Does not refer to a specific referent

            While languages are constantly evolving, adding new words and meanings while others fall into disuse, pronouns are considered a minor category.  This means that the set of pronouns within a language is fixed and that no new forms may be added to the lexical category “pronouns”.

For more on the definition of pronouns see Teschner & Evans (2000) and Valli & Lucas (1992)

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[1] Teschner and Evans, pg. 183

3.         As described in the definition above ASL pronouns refer to nouns that have already been established earlier in the text.

ASL personal pronouns can be used to refer to three classes of referent, the speaker (1^st person), the person being addressed (2^nd person), and other nouns that are not the speaker or the addressee (3^rd person). The referent in this case will be established somewhere in the signing space.  For example #BOB IX-rt establishes that, until the topic shifts, or a new referent is established, and “Bob” is no longer a topic of conversation, the signers may use a pronominal sign to point to that space when referring to “Bob”.  The sign is generally produced using the  “1” handshape with the index finger pointing towards the referent.  According to Valli & Lucas (1992), “The third person pronoun in ASL can also be produced with the thumb” (pg. 102).  However the pronouns for these three referents have only two forms, 1^st person and not 1^st person.  Which referent the signer is referring to depends on the context in which it appears.  Because sings with a 3^rd person referent are made in space consideration has been given to the function of space in ASL pronoun use.  The consensus is that the space “is articulatory – that is location is simply part of the pronoun sign and it does not have independent morphological meaning” (Valli & Lucas, 103[1]).  This has been determined because the 3^rd person referent can be established anywhere in the signing space, therefore the space itself does not have meaning, it merely holds a spot for the referent.

There are two sub categories that indicate ownership, possessive determiners, which function syntactically like other determiners, and possessive pronouns.  Again ASL seems to only make distinctions between 1^st (MY, OUR) and non-1^st person [POSS-straight-line (singular), POSS-trace-path (plural)[2]] forms.  It is not clear whether or not ASL uses possessive pronouns.

ASL has three indefinite pronouns, these are glossed as SOMEONE, NOTHING, and NONEosc[3].  The form SOMEONE is also used to represent the idea expressed in English as, “something”.  As stated above these pronouns do not have a specific referent.  This is emphasized by the fact that these are not pointing signs, that is, they do not indicate any specific part of the signing space.  Rather, they are produced in neutral space.

ASL has three demonstrative pronouns, these are glossed as THAT, THAT-PRO, and THAT’S-THE-ONE.  As stated earlier these pronouns indicate a degree of specificity.  For example, “REMEMBER LAST-WEEK SEE CAR BLUE?  THAT.”

For more on pronouns in ASL see Valli & Lucas (1992)

4.         English pronouns stand in place of other nouns that have already been established in the text.  In English, sentences must be constructed in such a way that it is clear which antecedent is being referred to.  Here are some examples of personal pronouns in English[4]. In the English sentence, “Bob and Joe went to the park, and then he went home.” it is not clear to whom “he” refers.  On the other hand, in the sentence, “Bob went for a run and then he had lunch.” it is clear the “he” refers to “Bob”.  Still, English pronouns do not always need to have an antecedent in the text if the referent is clear form the context.  For example, in the sentence, “You don’t have any money” it is clear that the pronoun “You” refers to the addressee.  English also shows ownership by using possessive determiners and possessive pronouns.  These two classes are distinguished in English “by the word final /s/ in all but one instance[5]”, that is, adding an –s to the possessive determiner form creates a possessive pronoun for all forms except “my”, which becomes “mine”.

            English reflexive pronouns are used as objects to refer back to subjects in the same sentence.  Thus, the subject and object of the sentence have the same referent.  For example in the sentence, “Moe hit himself with a hammer”; “himself” refers back to Moe.  Therefore, “Moe hit Moe with a hammer.”

            English uses reflexive pronouns to show “mutuality of action: A does to B what B does to A.[6]“ In these cases the reciprocal construction appears in the same clause as its antecedents.  For example “Bob and Joe ran into each other” but never “Bob went into town and Joe ran into each other.[7]”

            English uses demonstrative pronouns to show specificity.  Note the difference between “Bob was gored by a bull” and “Bob was gored by that bull.”  In the first sentence any bull could have been responsible, the image conjured up in the listener’s mind is that of whatever a typical bull is to them.  The pronoun “that” in the second sentence has a specific bull as its referent[8].

            Indefinite pronouns are the opposite of demonstrative pronouns in that they do not have a specific referent.  As such, they do not always bear an antecedent.  In fact the only indefinite pronoun to bear an antecedent is “one; in “That’s the one I saw yesterday”, “one” refers to “that”.  The other indefinite pronouns are combinations of “any” or “some” with “body”, “one”, “thing”, or “where”.  That they do not need antecedents is proven by the sentence, “Someone stole my car.”  In this case the speaker does not know who stole his or her car, therefore “someone” does not have specific referent, thus no antecedent is possible.

            Relative pronouns in English tend to initiate relative clauses.  These pronouns replace other nouns that function as the subject of the relative clause.  This subject is identical to that of the object in the first clause as in “Bob hit himself with the hammer that was used to build the barn.”  Here we have two clauses that could stand as sentences; “Bob hit himself with the hammer” and “The hammer was used to build the barn.”  The relative pronoun “that” replaces “The hammer” in the second clause.

            Finally, English uses interrogative pronouns to begin questions.  These are well known by journalists as what, when, when, where, why, how and variations of who (whom/ whose).  These can be use to begin questions such as, “Whom did Bob hit with the hammer?”

For more on pronouns in English see Teschner & Evans (2000)

5.         ASL and English both use pronouns to perform similar functions.  However they do not perform all of the same functions, nor do the pronominal forms of each language encode the same information. 

Many personal pronouns (including possessives) in English encode information regarding person (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd), gender, (male, female) and case (subject, object) in the form.  For example “I” (1^st, subject), “you” (2^nd), “him” (masculine, 3^rd, object), and “she” (feminine, 3^rd).  Conversely, ASL shows only 1^st and non-1^st person, and does not encode information regarding case or gender in the form.  Case information in ASL is dependent on context and the order of signs in a sentence. There are also some English forms that do not encode case or gender information, such as, “you”.

 Both ASL and English encode number related meaning in their pronominal forms, but they do it in different ways.  Both languages have forms that indicate plurality without indicating a specific number.  For example, English has “you”, “they” and “we”, while ASL has YOU-ALL, THEY, and US among others.  ASL, unlike English, also has plural forms that show a specific number. By using numeral incorporation ASL can encode specific numbers from one through five.  One example is the ASL sign FOUR-OF-THEM produced palm up with a “4” handshape and an oscillating movement.

As discussed, reflexive pronouns in English are used as objects that are co-referential to the subject of the same sentence.  English also uses reflexive forms that are not used to express reflexive concepts but instead are used to express emphasis or exclusivity.  For example, “The bull gored Bob all by itself.” indicates that the bull did not receive any help in goring Bob.  ASL also has a sign that appears to function in this manner.  The sign is glossed as SELF and is used in sentences like, “BOY SELF LEARN++” meaning the boy learned without help.  The one possible reflexive use of SELF in ASL is the sign THINK-SELF, which means “think for ones self”.  In the sentence “IMPORTANT THINK-SELF”, THINK-SELF means that the referent should think for them self, thus the implied subject and is also acted upon by the verb, thus the subject and object are co-referential.  This idea has not been proven and is provided for discussion purposes.

Finally both ASL and English use demonstrative pronouns.  In English the demonstrative form also encodes information as to the proximity of the referent.  The forms “this” (singular) and “these” (plural) indicate referents with a closer proximity to the speaker than the forms “that” and “those”.  ASL demonstratives do not encode information regarding proximity.

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[1] Valli and Lucas cite Liddell (1993, 1994, 1995)

[2] Liddell power point handout 10/22/02

[3] Liddell, power point handout 10/22/02

[4] For a list of personal pronouns see the appendix.

[5] Teschner & Evans pg. 181

[6] Teschner & Evans pg. 183

[7] For a list of reflexive pronouns in English see the appendix.

[8] For a list of demonstrative pronouns in see the appendix.

Appendix

Appendix Personal Pronouns: English[1]:                                                              Possessive                 Possessive   Subjects                  Objects               Determiners               Determiners I            we            me         us           my         our              mine        ours you       you          you        you         your       your            yours       yours he         they         him        them        his         their            his           theirs she       they          her        them        her         their            hers         theirs it          they          it           them        its          their            its            theirs ASL[2]:            1st Person                        Non-1st Person N 1     PRO-1                              PRO U  2    WE-2                               THEY-2 M 3    THREE-OF-US               THREE-OF-THEM B  4    FOUR-OF-US                 FOUR-OF-THEM E  5    FIVE-OF-US                   FIVE-OF-THEM R Pl.  WE                                   THEY Possessive Determiners:                 1st person               Non-1st person singular:   MY                     POSS-straight-line plural:      OUR                   POSS-trace-path Reflexive Pronouns: English:                                                     singular                plural 1st person                                    myself                 ourselves 2nd person                                   yourself               yourselves 3rd person masculine                  himself                themselves 3rd person feminine                    herself                 themselves 3rd person neuter                         itself                   themselves ASL: SELF, this sign is generally not used reflexively. [1] English charts from Teschner & Evans Chapter 5 [2] ASL charts from Liddell power point handout 10/22/02