Words in Hand

Hello again. In this tape we are going to talk about how BSL uses space. We could say that the use of space includes all the different aspects of BSL structure because BSL is a visual spatial language. It's made and produced in space. The space around the sign and the body. Sign language makes use of patterns in space, and we should recognise those patterns.

Here, we are going to narrow the focus and concentrate on two aspects of space in BSL. They are both closely related. First, the use of space to give locational information and second, the use of space to give grammatical information.

For the first area, you will find it easy and obvious.

Information about location is something we can express very easily in all languages. In a language like English we simply use location words, which are sometimes called 'locatives'. In English it happens to be, normally, prepositions. So we have words like: under, on, beside, behind, above, in, inside.

So I can say in English:

• The cup is on the table. (An 'on' example.)
• The chair is in the corner. (An 'in' example.)
• The man is beside the woman.

As you can see there are some individual signs for that notion so BSL does have signs for 'on', 'under', 'beside' and so on. But the biggest difference between the way BSL gives information about location and the way that English gives information about location is simply because BSL is made in space. Therefore I can use that same space to show location for one thing relative to another thing without always having to use separate signs.

Let us start with a simple example. If you want to say in BSL: The cup is on the table. I show the table, and then place the cup on top of it. This hand becomes the table, and this hand becomes the cup. I don't need to have a separate sign for 'on'. The cup is on the table. Of course, I may use a separate sign to show exactly where it is on the table. So what is actually happening there? One hand is representing one object – the table – and this hand is showing another object.

Let us give you a few examples that have already come up in previous tapes. Do you remember Clive's joke about the Hell's Angels on tapes one and two? He didn't sign every word of 'the man got on the motorbike' or 'the man got off the motorbike'. He simply included that information in the way he produced the signs. So the left hand stays here for the motorbike, and the right hand is showing the man getting on and off the bike.

In Bear Hunt, when Clark talks about the two men getting out of the car: so, the left hand shows the car, and the right hand shows the two hunters getting out of the car. You don't need a separate sign for 'out'.

When Clive talks about people rushing into an underground station, he uses the left hand to show the underground entrance and the right hand to show the rush of people. There is no separate sign for 'in'.

So if we stop and think about it, there's a little bit of a difference between those last examples and the cup of tea example because in those last examples we've been talking about an action of people rushing into a shelter, and someone getting onto a bike – but the principle is the same.

When we are talking about a set location, it is established there already. Or when we are talking about somebody putting something there, or doing an action that involves that special place, we very often show this information by one hand showing one thing, and the other hand showing the relationship between the object or the person related to this.

In many ways it is common sense. Even if I sign: I can see in the distance a beautiful house with smoke coming from the chimney. If I put the house there, it would be strange if I put the chimney over here. It would be visually wrong. Yet it is surprising how often hearing people make that visual mistake in BSL, because we as hearing people aren't as familiar with a language like BSL, making full use of the possibilities of space.

I think it's time we had an example from a deaf person. Let us watch the opening few seconds from Maureen's story Fourteen rats and a rat-catcher. We are looking at the story in more detail later, but let us look at how she presents information about location in a precise and clear way.