Words in Hand

So far we have talked a lot about the actual position of people and objects. But if we look more carefully, what we often see is information about who is doing that action, and who – or what – is affected by that action. We can often get information by noticing the direction signs make, or the position it’s made in.

Let us look at the sign translated by the word 'attack' in a situation where there is attacking and defending. The signs show two teams battling it out by going backwards and forwards.

In another example, we have the lions attacking the goal. Here the direction of the movement changes, and the 'attack' sign goes towards the goal, like this.

In English this information would have to be given by the order of words in a sentence. We know who is attacking because you normally place them first in a sentence: The lions were attacking the goal. We know what and where is being attacked because it is normally placed after the verb.

So when we are talking about 'subject' and 'object' in BSL however, it's not so much the order of these elements or signs, but the position we put them in space and directional movement.

When Gerry tells us that Bruno's team is talking about what to do (because they are down 3-1), he uses a modification of the sign for 'talk'. This is how the team is talking to each other. But what is also important to notice is that we know it’s Bruno’s team talking and discussing because we put the 'talking' sign where we have already put Bruno's team, and previously emphasised that location by pointing at that area. So when you put the 'talk' sign over there, we know without having to be told again that it's Bruno's team discussing.

So important information is given without any extra signing. It's not dependent on the English word order, as it’s given through the choice of location.

We are going to be talking more about how verbs and signs can change their direction later in this tape. But for the moment, let us have another look at a bit of signing. This time it is Clark talking about a visit to Orkney. It is a long piece, with lots of information packed into this tape. So we suggest that you watch it a few times before you turn up the sound and listen to our comments.