Do ASL signers have to move WH-type question signs to the end of the sentence?
Question:
In regard to "American Sign Language (ASL) Lesson 04 (Katelyn) (1080p)" a viewer commented:
"Confused on why at 18:38, the question is signed as WHO HURT YOUR FEELINGS, vs. HURT YOUR FEELINGS WHO. I'm assuming both
would be understood, I just thought WH- signs should go at the end."
Response:
Rightward movement of a
WH-sign works great when the WH-sign is an object (e.g., YOU SEE WHO? or YOU BUY WHAT?). However, moving a subject to the
end ((HURT YOUR FEEL, WHO?)) leaves the verb HURT dangling at the very front without an established actor.
Signing
"HURT YOUR FEEL, WHO" ... forces the viewer to process an action and an affected object before knowing who or what
initiated it. In this situation moving the subject to the end creates an unnatural processing burden. ASL is primarily a
Subject / Verb / Object language. (See: https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/subject-verb-object-asl-sentence-structure.htm
)
At your convenience, to better understand WH-question placement, check out:
https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/wh-question-placement.htm
Also see: https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/wh-rightward-movement-unnecessary-in-very-short-questions.htm
In real life we don't ask people, "YOU HOW?" when greeting them.
We sign: "HOW YOU?" (to ask "How are you?").
It is very common to ask "feeling" type questions with the WH-type concept first. For example: "How are you feeling?"
or "How does it feel...?"
For a real life example check out the seventeen-minute-and-eight-second mark of:
https://youtu.be/UeDzZbf97uY?t=1027
In which we see the interviewer sign:
HOW FEEL SEE YOUR MOVIE LARGE-[screen]?
The point here isn't that one way is right and the other is wrong -- rather the point is that ASL has multiple right
sign orders and that sometimes keeping the WH-sign at the front is actually more clear or efficient.
My favorite
example of leftward-movement of a WH-question is the phrase (collocate) "WHO DECIDE?" (Who decides?).
At the
one-minute-fifty-four second mark of this video
https://youtu.be/udAa5hSHH_s?t=113 we see the signer sign: WHO DECIDE
PRIORITY? PEOPLE SAME YOU-[all]
("Who decides what the NAD’s priorities should be? You!")
Putting the wh-question
first is very common for questions involving "who decides". Another example is:
https://youtu.be/iYbiFq_CaN4?t=63
WHO DECIDE DNR? WHO DECIDE?
If we don't move the WHO to the beginning of such sentences we would end up with
constructions such as
PERSON THEMSELF DECIDE DNR, WHO?
Sure, we could clip the sentence: DECIDE DNR WHO? -- but
that approach requires more marking:
[DECIDE DNR]t, [WHO]wh?
(t = topic/raised eyebrows) (wh = furrowed brows)
That sort of "up then down" eyebrow movement in quick succession also feels awkward -- which may be why so many of us just
go ahead and sign "WHO DECIDE ...?" (and similar WH-type questions) by keeping the WH-question at the front and treating
the sentence as an unmarked SVO sentence which happens to be the most efficient approach.
Finally, if you are still
confused or even just unconvinced -- you might want to consider diving into this article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11225928/
I'll sum up that article for you: Quite a few researchers (and ASL teachers) have over generalized and over claimed
rightward wh-movement.
Notes: