2nd L (F–10) 5-6
Understanding
Systems of language - Elaboration 3
- recognising that quantifiers such as FEW or THREE are also types of
adjective signs
- noticing that sometimes Auslan signers have information about how a verb
happens through NMFs not separate signs (for example, WRITE-carelessly)
- recognising that some adverbs modify adjectives, not verbs, for example VERY,
and that these modifications to adjectives can also be expressed with NMFs, for
example changes in mouth patterns and movement of signs can intensify
adjectives, for example, RED-really, PLEASE-really, TALL-really
- distinguishing between the citation form of a sign and the adverbial NMF
overlaid and what meaning each part carries, for example: MAN SPRINT (base
form), MAN SPRINT-fast (manner added)
- recognising how conjunctions such as plus, if or but are used to join clauses
and create cohesion
- recognising that signers can give information about how a verb happens over
time by changing the movement, for example, signing WATCH versus
WATCH-for-a-long-time, or with lexical signs such as WATCH AGAIN++
- recognising that typically signers use DSs to show spatial relationships, not
separate signs such as ON or UNDER
- recognising that some nouns are not signed overtly in a clause, for example in
the clauses below, the noun (the swimmer) is given in the first clause but not
repeated in the second
PRO2 SWIM DETERMINED SWIM, NOT WIN
You swam really hard but you didn’t win.
(* Auslan video example on this is in
the ACARA website)
- noticing that clauses are elaborated and made more vivid by adding adjectives
and adverbs and by enacting or using DSs, and that they can be joined by
conjunctions to make longer sentences
- noticing that parts of a sentence can be signed simultaneously in Auslan,
making it hard to establish word order
- recognising that the element of a sentence that a signer wants most focus on
is sometimes signed first and that this process of topicalisation involves
particular NMFs