GLOSS:
"Glossing" is what you call it when you write one language in another.
The written information is known as "gloss."
When we see someone signing and we write it down or type it out sign
for sign and include various notations to account for the facial and
body grammar that goes with the signs--we are "glossing ASL."
When you gloss, you are not trying to interpret a language. Rather you are attempting to
transcribe it. Your goal is to write it down, type it, or
otherwise
represent it in text form -- word for word.
So, why don't we just call it writing?
The difference between "writing in a language" and "glossing of a
language" has to do with the fact that the target language may not have
equivalent words to represent the original language.
For example, in American Sign Language (ASL) we have a sign known as "PAH!"
Loosely translated it means "At last! Finally! Success! Ta da! Voilą!
Presto!) This "sign" requires a plosive sound to be made as if saying "pah!"
(Which makes the gloss of PAH! a rather obvious choice.) ASL also
uses special signs known as ASL
classifiers that are
difficult to write in English. For example, there is a sign that uses a
"3-handshape" which is commonly used to represent "vehicles." This sign
not only represents a vehicle but it also can include information
regarding the location, orientation, speed, direction, and movement path
of the vehicle.
This sign is glossed as 3-CL: "additional information goes here."
Example: 3-CL: "goes uphill"
You might also see a "classifier 3" glossed as "CL-3" or "CL:3."
Glossing allows researchers (and students) to make notes in their own
language regarding the second language. For example, an
English-speaking researcher would use gloss to transcribe the "clicks"
of the tongue that occur in the Bantu languages of South Africa (such as
Zulu).
Below are some conventional (typical / normal) "glossing"
symbols and notation.
ASL Glossing Conventions
"+" When you see a plus symbol it means to repeat the sign.
"!"
When a sign gloss has an "!" exclamation point after it that means you
should emphasize the sign. Sign it a bit faster, stronger, or more
exaggerated than normal.
"#"
The # symbol, which goes by many names, (number sign, crosshatch
character, pound sign, hash, octothorpe, etc.) is used to indicate the
lexicalization of a fingerspelled word. (For example: #ALL, #WHAT,
#BUSY). When you "lexicalize" a fingerspelled word, you mutate the
spelling so that it is produced more like a sign than a fingerspelled
word.
PRO.1 / PRO.2 / PRO.3
These terms refer to "first person," "second person," and "third person"
pronouns. PRO.1 means "I or me." PRO.2 means "you." PRO.3
means "he, she, him, or her."
For example, the ASL gloss "PRO.3 LOVE PRO.1" is typically translated
as: "He loves me" or "She loves me"-- depending on whether
the subject is a male or female. You might also see these terms glossed
as PRO-1, PRO-2, and PRO-3.
"QM-wiggle"
The gloss: "qm-w" stands for "question mark wiggle." That is the
process of holding an "x" hand up at the end of a sentence and wiggling
the index finger (flexing it a few times.).
DASHES: When you see dashes between letters, that generally means to fingerspell the
word.
Also, sometimes you might see "fs" when someone is writing about ASL. The letters "fs" are
sometimes used as a shorthand for "fingerspell."
IX The "IX" stands for "INDEX." Which means to point toward
a certain location, object, or person.
"CL" When you see a "CL" it generally refers to a "classifier."
3-CL: "additional information goes here." Example: 3-CL:
"goes uphill" You might also see a "classifier 3" glossed as "CL-3"
or "CL:3."
DASHES: When you see dashes between letters, that generally means to fingerspell the
word.
Also, sometimes you might see "fs." The letters "fs" are
sometimes used as a shorthand for "fingerspell."
What is another name for the rules that researchers have
generally agreed upon for typical or standard ways to do things? *
conventions
What term means choosing an appropriate English word for signs in
order to write them down? * Glossing
List some sample conventions of glossing: * Sample 1: small caps,
Sample 2: #, Sample 3: M-A-R-Y, Sample 4: _____t
When glossing, what do we represent with small capital letters
preceded by the # symbol? * lexicalized fingerspelled words
What do we call the facial expressions that accompany certain signs?
* Nonmanual signals (or nonmanual markers, or NMMs)
What kind of features are indicated on a line above sign glosses? *
Nonmanual signals and eye gaze
When glossing, what do we use "small
capital letters" in English to represent? * Signs
When glossing, what is represented by dashes between small capital
letters? * full fingerspellling
What are some glossed examples of lexicalized fingerspellling? *
#WHAT, #BURN, #ALL
Note: The GLOSS label of an ASL sign doesn't equal "English." For
example, the sign glossed as "FINE" doesn't mean all of the things
that the English word "fine" means. I wouldn't use the sign FINE to
sign, "I paid the fine for my ticket." The sign glossed as "GLASSES"
also means: Gallaudet University, Thomas Gallaudet, and Moses.
Sample gloss: YESTERDAY PRO-1 INDEX-[at] WORK HAPPEN SOMEONE!
MAN CL:1-"walked_past_quickly" I NEVER SEE PRO-3 BEFORE. That
sentence would be generally mean: "Yesterday at work a stranger
(some guy I've never seen before) rushed past me.
A challenge faced by curriculum writers and ASL teachers when
describing how to efficiently sign "What is your name?" -- is how to
efficiently gloss the process of signing "NAME" while furrowing your
eyebrows to create the concept of "what" non-manually.
(In other words: Use your face not your hands to create the meaning
of "what?" and add it to the sign "NAME.")
Classrooms are not real life. Teachers use teacher-talk (or in our
case, "teacher-signing") which is analogous (similar) to motherese.
In real life:
Deaf people typically do not sign "YOU WHAT NAME?"
Deaf people typically do not sign "YOU NAME WHAT?"
Deaf people do typically sign "YOU NAME?"-[while furrowing the
eyebrows to create the concept of what]
The point here is that if we want ASL students to learn to sign like
Deaf people then we need to stop using three signs to do the work of
"two signs and a facial expression."
One approach to glossing "What is your name?" while emphasizing the
importance of using facial expressions instead of unnecessary signs
-- would be to lowercase the word "what" and attach it to the sign
NAME.
For example: "YOU what-NAME?" (The lowercase what should not be
signed but shown on your face as furrowed eyebrows.)
Or to help emphasize that we don't need to actually sign WHAT -- we
could type: "YOU [what]-NAME?"
However, students usually don't take the time to ask "Why is the
word 'what' lowercased?"
While there is no perfect approach to writing ASL and indicate the
non-manual features in a way that can be typed easily -- an approach
would be to gloss "What is your name?" as:
"YOU NAME-[what]?"
That way when students mistakenly choose to add a third sign (WHAT)
to the other two signs "YOU NAME" (instead of just efficiently
furrowing their eyebrows and not using a separate sign for WHAT) at
least they will still be putting the "WH"-question at the end.
See:
https://youtu.be/FHPszRvL9pg
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Glossing Instructions
What is
Glossing?
Gloss is a written or typed approximation of (or notes regarding) another
language. ASL gloss is a written or typed approximation of ASL typically
using English words as "labels" for each sign along with various grammatical
notes.
The problem with glossing is the student's
expectation that this sign means that in English, which is not always the
case. Sometimes one sign can have multiple meanings, and the meaning of
that sign is dependent on the context of the sentence or even the
surrounding context.
What's the difference between content and
context?
·
Content
is the words in the sentence. It's essentially all the words that are in
the "container."
·
Context
are the circumstances, the surrounding content, and the meaning behind the
content, which are implied outside of that container.
Let's examine that a little bit more.
The sign
WAKE-UP
can also
mean
SURPRISE. The difference in meaning is conveyed in
the non-manual markers.
Suppose, the person signs: YESTERDAY
MORNING I (WAKE-UP/SURPRISE) 7 O'CLOCK.
Disregarding the difference in facial
expression, let's just take a look at the sign itself. Which sign makes the
most sense in that sentence? Do most people get a surprise at 7:00 am?
When do we normally get a surprise? Are we surprised out of bed? Is
someone holding a surprise party in our bedroom? Most likely not. The best
word for that sentence is WAKE-UP.
Another example:
YOU LIKE (WAKE-UP/SURPRISE) PARTY?
Do you
like surprise parties or wake-parties? Which meaning would fit the best?
So, your challenge as the student is to
watch the sentences in each of the sentence translation assignment and
select the BEST word to match content, as well as the context.
Glossing Conventions
Glossing is a linguistic exercise. For a more in depth look at glossing,
read:
ASL Glossing Conventions.
I do
not require all those the conventions listed on that page. Instead we are
going to use a much more simplified format.
Uppercase vs Lowercase
The
word in UPPERCASE contains the primary meaning/main heading: SHOW
The
word in lowercase tells something about the main heading: SHOW-me
or you-SHOW-me
Notice
how there is a hyphen between SHOW and me? That hyphen connects the object
(me) to the verb (SHOW). And technically if I signed two different words,
then I should type SHOW ME
If
there is no hyphen, then that means two separate words are being signed
here. But that is not the case for SHOW-me. The meaning is shown in the
movement.
Consider this sentence:
TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL.
In
glossing, not including the indexing format, this should read: TELL-me HOW
YOU FEEL.
If you
type TELL ME instead of TELL-me, that will be marked wrong.
If you
type tell-ME, that is not the correct format and it will be marked wrong.
Incorporating Numbers
Consider the word
WEEK
If I
type TWO WEEKS (without the hyphen), that means I'm signing two separate
words TWO and WEEK. However, if I type two-WEEK or
2-WEEK,
that means that the number is blended into the sign. If you type TWO WEEKS
and 2-WEEKS was signed, that will be marked wrong.
Incorporating tenses
If I
type PAST WEEK, that means I'm signing two separate words PAST and WEEK.
But if
I type
past-WEEK,
that means the tense is incorporated into the sign. If you type PAST WEEK
and past-WEEK was signed, that will be marked wrong.
Incorporating repetition
Sign
repetition usually means that the event happens more than once. For
example, the concept of working hard or for long periods of time would
require repetitive movement:
WORK-hard
or
WORK++. Note: the sign "hard" is not
signed at all. It's implied. The plus sign indicates that the word is being
signed more than once and that the meaning changes. For example: WORK vs
WORK++
Indexing
This
refers to the personal pronouns and pointing towards an object: For
example: he, she, it, they, those, that.
This is
where it can get a little complicated. Not interested in complicated
assignments or instructions. If indexing occurs, you have two choices. You
can type out: INDEX-he or you can use the abbreviation IX (for index).
Let's look at this sentence: TODAY I NEED GO WORK
In
glossing, this should read: TODAY IX-me NEED GO WORK.
And
this sentence:
TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL.
In
glossing, not including the indexing format, this should read: TELL-me HOW
IX-you FEEL.
Fingerspelling
To
differentiate between the sign for CAT and the fingerspelled word for CAT,
you need to include some dashes. CAT is the sign. C-A-T is the
fingerspelled word.
For
example, this sentence:
MY GRANDPA WORK FARM.
In
glossing, this should read MY GRANDPA WORK F-A-R-M.
Lexicalized fingerspelling
This is
fingerspelling that has changed over time to take on the characteristics of
a sign. A lexicalized fingerspelled word tends to look like and be expressed
as a single sign rather than a collection of fingerspelled letters. Some ASL
books or articles indicate lexicalized fingerspelling by putting a # symbol
in front of the letters. For example: #ALL.
Here's
a little bit more on the topic:
Lexicalized Fingerspelling
The
fingerspelled word D-O-G is signed with hand up right, palm out. It's just
regular fingerspelling.
The
lexicalized fingerspelling of the word
#DOG is signed with the palm up.
For
example, this sentence:
WALK DOG, YOU MIND?
In
glossing this should read: WALK #DOG, you-MIND?
Instructions: for the sentence
translations:
1.
Each of the sentence translation assignments will contain
ten sentences.
2.
Type out the ASL gloss and then the English translation for
each sentence
·
ASL:
Type the gloss for each sentence in the EXACT order it was
signed. All gloss must be in UPPER case and the descriptors in lower case.
·
English:
Type the translation of the glossed sentence in proper English. The English
translation must be italicized and use sentence case. The sentence MUST
make sense.
3.
Spell-check your work.