Project Perspective in MOTION PREDICATES IN ASL Program Clarence E. Dammon Dean Term Academic Year 2022 Status Accepted Research Area Linguistics Description From a linguistic point of view, Sign Languages are interesting because they share all the formal properties with spoken languages, but they utilize a different set of output channels: visual, spatial, body-motor (hands, body, face, etc…). This project looks at the different mechanisms that ASL uses to encode Motion Predicates (predicates that express how things and entities move from one place to another). The goal of this particular project is to identify the formal properties that distinguish ASL from other SL’s across the world. Different researchers in our group are focusing on different aspects of Motion Predicates. We have collected data from different SL’s using a video animated application depicting animals, humans, things moving around. By using the same ‘collecting mechanism’ we minimize differences and that way we know better where the deep differences are. The signer is video-recorded while signing what they see in the animated clip. Then we transfer the recording to a computer and transcribe the data. We then code the productions for linguistic properties. This research project embeds itself within the activities of the Indigenous and Endangered Languages Lab (IELLab). Supervisor Elena E Benedicto Mentor Type of work required Student will code the video-recordings using a special software (ELAN) while interacting with other members of the IELLab.
For this particular research internship, we are interested in students that will code how the signers take a different perspective on the events they are describing (their own perspective, the perspective of the addressee or a ‘neutral’ 3rd-person perspective) and whether there is any correlation with the type of syntactic structure used.
Student will also interact with other researchers working on different aspects of the project.

Student will receive training for the tasks involved.
Students will participate in the relevant IELLab meetings and will write a (research) report at the end of the semester about the experience. The student will also be encouraged to work with an eye on presenting a poster or writing a publication in JPUR.
Websites https://www.cla.purdue.edu/sis/p/iell/index.html Qualifications Desirable: - 4 semesters of ASL; if 4 semesters are not completed, please contact Prof. Benedicto. - Intro to Linguistics (LING 201 or similar), or willing to catch up on key concepts Must: - Strong intellectual curiosity - Willingness to explore issues on your own. - Ability to work as part of a team. Will need to finish CITI training online. Credit Hours 2 Weekly Hours 6 (estimated)