Auslan: Second Language Learner F–10 Sequence / Levels 5 and 6 / Understanding / Systems of language
Content description
Develop understanding of the important role of non-manual features in adverbs and joining clauses, and know that spatial relationships in Auslan are typically expressed with depicting signs
Elaborations
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.
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
