NYSTCE ASL CST (130) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Five ASL parameters

Handshape, location, movement, palm orientation, and nonmanual markers. Changing any one parameter can change meaning, as in the minimal pairs MOTHER and FATHER.

Nonmanual markers

Facial expressions, head movements, mouth morphemes, and body shifts that carry grammatical meaning in ASL, marking questions, negation, conditionals, and adverbial information.

Topicalization

Moving a constituent to the start of a sentence, often with raised eyebrows and a head tilt, to establish it as the topic before commenting on it.

Rhetorical question structure

A question signed with question facial markers followed by its answer, used to introduce or emphasize information rather than to request a response.

Classifier predicates

Verb forms using handshapes that represent categories of referents, such as vehicle, person, or long thin object, to show location, movement, and manner.

Numeral incorporation

Combining a number handshape with a sign such as MONTH, YEAR, or DOLLAR to produce a single lexicalized form, for example the sign for three months.

Conditional clauses

Clauses marked with raised eyebrows, a head tilt, and a pause, followed by the consequence clause, expressing if-then relationships in ASL.

ASL morphology: compounding

Combining two or more free morphemes into a single sign whose meaning and form may differ from the parts, as in the sign for breakfast.

Verb agreement in ASL

Directional verbs move between the locations established for subject and object in signing space, encoding grammatical relations spatially rather than through word order.

Signing space

The area in front of the signer's body used to establish referents, show relationships, and produce spatial verbs and classifier constructions.

Mouth morphemes

Specific mouth movements, such as th or pah, that accompany signs and add adjectival or adverbial meaning, distinct from mouthing English words.

ASL phonology: minimal pairs

Pairs of signs differing in exactly one parameter, used to demonstrate that handshape, location, movement, and orientation are contrastive units in ASL.

Deaf Gain

A framework reframing deafness as a form of human diversity that contributes linguistic, cultural, and cognitive benefits to society rather than as a deficit.

Audism

Attitudes and practices that assume hearing and spoken language are superior, resulting in discrimination against deaf people and dismissal of signed languages.

ASL literature traditions

Genres including ASL storytelling, poetry, and folklore that use handshape, rhythm, and spatial imagery as artistic devices, often passed down through Deaf community performance.

Residential schools for the Deaf

Schools where many deaf children historically acquired ASL and Deaf cultural norms from peers, functioning as centers of community and language transmission.

Bilingual-bicultural education

An approach using ASL as a primary language of instruction and English as a second language in print, with Deaf culture integrated into the curriculum.

First-language acquisition milestones

Deaf children with early ASL exposure follow babbling, first-sign, and multi-sign combination stages on a timetable comparable to spoken language acquisition.

Language deprivation

Delayed or absent access to a fully accessible first language during early childhood, associated with lasting effects on language, cognition, and literacy.

Educational interpreter role

Providing access to instruction, not teaching or disciplining; the interpreter conveys classroom discourse faithfully while remaining neutral about content and behavior.

IDEA and deaf students

Federal special education law requiring consideration of the child's language and communication needs, including ASL, in evaluation and individualized education program decisions.

Section 504 and ADA

Civil rights laws prohibiting disability discrimination and requiring effective communication access, including qualified interpreters, in schools and public settings.

DeafBlind communication access

Access modes including tactile ASL, close-vision signing, and protactile communication, selected according to the individual's residual vision and hearing.

Language sample analysis

Recording and analyzing a student's spontaneous signing to measure vocabulary, syntax, and discourse development and to plan instruction.

ASL proficiency assessment

Tools that evaluate receptive and expressive ASL skills, often through recorded video tasks scored against rubrics; confirm specific instruments on official materials.

Contrastive structure

A discourse device using body shifts and spatial placement to compare or contrast two people, objects, or viewpoints within a narrative.

Role shift

Shifting the body, gaze, and facial expression to depict a character's speech or actions within a narrative, also called constructed action.

Fingerspelling and lexicalized signs

Fingerspelled sequences may become lexicalized signs, such as the sign for job, with reduced, blended handshapes distinct from letter-by-letter spelling.

ASL syntax: word order

Basic declarative order is often subject-verb-object, but topic-comment order, object shifts, and rhetorical structures are grammatical and common.

Negation in ASL

Expressed through a negative headshake, brow furrow, and negative signs such as NOT or NONE, which may appear with or without a lexical negator.

Register and code blending

Signers adjust formality and may blend ASL with English-influenced signing, such as contact signing, depending on audience and setting.

Deaf community diversity

The Deaf community includes varied racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, CODAs, late-deafened adults, and DeafDisabled people, with distinct cultural practices.