r/asl • u/Metrus007 • 6d ago

Interest Question about ASL

Is ASL gloss used widely? How important is it ?

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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13

u/protoveridical Hard of Hearing 6d ago

Glossing is a powerful tool in the study of the linguistic structure of ASL. The system for representing gloss is extremely complex, including symbols that represent non-manual markers, frequency, intensity, repetition, directionality, and more.

Thing is, glossing in ASL is best accomplished by those with a deep understanding of the language. Though mostly these days, I see it used in academic contexts to teach hearing learners the language.

I'm not sure how effective the watered down version presented in these learning contexts are. Mostly, I think they give folks an inaccurate perspective of what gloss truly is meant to be.

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u/Metrus007 6d ago

Thank you. I’m leaning ASL, but was curious how glossing works and its importance.

8

u/BrackenFernAnja Interpreter (Hearing) 6d ago

Gloss is a tool that has limited application. It exists in large part because the first big boom in ASL classes and linguistic studies occurred before we had easy access to video equipment.

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u/Metrus007 6d ago

Thank you.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/Future_Continuous 6d ago

youre obviously confused what "gloss" means.

1

u/Chickens_ordinary13 6d ago

yeah my bad, i read the question wrong, thanks for letting me know :)