Topics: context, tense, syntax, pragmatics
Question:
Hi Bill! If i wanted to sign something like (English sentence:) “It would be
cool if you watched Bill’s video today”, what would be the best way to translate
it to ASL?
Response:
The "best" way is going to depend on context.
Your relationship with the other signer (or signers).
How much they know about the topic.
Do they know my name sign?
Have I been established at a certain position in your signing space and can be
indexed?
Are you signing with a group? If so, are they sitting in a semi-circle?
Are you signing as an interpreter for a Deaf student taking a test in an
English-based school?
Are you nagging the person about something they know they should have done and
you want them to get it done "today"?!
Have you watched the video and they complimented you on it but now you want to
emphasize that it would be cool if the other person (not just you) watched the
video?
Are you signing with an adult?
Are you signing with a child?
Are you signing to a very large audience?
Is the other signer bilingual and understands several signs for the concept of
"cool" and that by "cool" you really mean "vogue or excellent?"
Do you want to be silly and use the pun version of cool done by using the
eyeballs as the "oo" of your word?
Do you actually mean that you would appreciate it if they watched the video
today?
Are you holding a phone in one hand?
Is there some sort of text on display in the background?
Is the video cued up on a monitor in the signing environment that you could
point to?
I could keep asking questions about context but I'm going to go ahead and share
with you the gloss for "a" way (but not "the" way) to sign the concept
about which you asked:
VICARS, HIS VIDEO, IF YOU WATCH TODAY, THAT COOL!
There are those who will claim that you should (supposedly) put the time concept
first.
Let's not over apply specific grammar
concepts beyond their appropriate usage. If the time concept is part of a
conditional phrase -- then the time concept belongs grouped with the rest of the
conditional phrase, not ripped out and placed at the beginning of the sentence
to establish "tense." Tense is already assumed to be "the present."
Depending on the context such a sentence might be reduced to "YOU WATCH? THAT
COOL!" (Assuming there is a video of me cued up or playing on a nearby screen
and you do the sign WATCH in the direction of the screen and it is obviously
happening today because it is happening "now," etc.)
If you ask anyone what the best way to sign something in ASL is and they,
without asking about context, show you "a" way -- just add it to your list of
possible ways to sign that concept but don't assume that you are being shown
some sort of mythical "best" way to sign something.
Context matters.
Even with context that doesn't mean there aren't two (or a dozen) different
equally fine ways of signing something in ASL.
Notes: