Meaning?

[stormpraiser91]

How would you explain "cha" and "pah" to a hearing person who's an ASL beginner?

 

[DeafCaroline]

Never heard of "cha" but "pah" - it's like an exclamation point.

 

[Reba]

"Cha" is the mouth morpheme that accompanies classifiers indicating an object is a large size. Examples: the size of a dog, a stack of paperwork to be done, a tree that fell.

"Pah" indicates or emphasizes finally, success at something particular. Examples: passing a test, winning a competition, getting a promotion, winning a dispute.

 

[Mountain Man]

"Cha" is what you mouth to indicate that something is very large (as in volume). There are different adverbials used to indicate height ("tah") and distance ("fah"). "Pah" is commonly used with the sign for SUCCESS and could be interpreted as "Finally!". While it is coupled with other signs, I can't think of them at the moment.

Edit: Ah, man, Reba beat me to the punch! lol

 

[Reba]

"Cha" is what you mouth to indicate that something is very large (as in volume). There are different adverbials used to indicate height ("tah") and distance ("fah"). "Pah" is most commonly used with the sign for SUCCESS and could be interpreted as "Finally!". While it is coupled with other signs, I can't think of them at the moment.

Edit: Ah, man, Reba beat me to the punch! lol

I just type faster.

 

[stormpraiser91]

What does morpheme mean?

 

[DeafCaroline]

What does morpheme mean?

It means the smallest meaningful unit in a language.


For example: the word "break" has just one morpheme (it cannot be broken down into smaller units or meanings) but "unbreakable" has three morphemes: un/break/able.

Another example: "dog" has just one morpheme but "dogs" has two - dog/s - the "s" being a plural marker.

 

[stormpraiser91]

It means syllable?

 

[Bottesini]

It means syllable?

No it has to have a meaning on its own.

 

[stormpraiser91]

oh. how do you use it? would you mouth pah and then sign success, or after the sign, or at the same time?

 

[TWA]

It means syllable?

No. Not syllables. It cannot be explained any more clearly than how DC put it.

 

[TWA]

oh. how do you use it? would you mouth pah and then sign success, or after the sign, or at the same time?

The Pah! itself is the sign. It is a morpheme. You would sign BOOK READ ME FINISH, and then mouth "Pah!"

 

[Reba]

Check out this site:

By "mouth morpheme" I'm talking about a type of facial grammar employed by ASL. This facial grammar can be used to show size or manner. For example, you might notice that when talking about something huge, skilled ASL signers might make a mouth movement that looks as if they were pronouncing the letters "cha." When describing something that is very thin or small they use a mouth morpheme that looks as if they are pronouncing the letters "oo."

American Sign Language (ASL)

 

[DeafCaroline]

It means syllable?

Google morphemes and you'll find all kinds of explanations.

 

[Mountain Man]

oh. how do you use it? would you mouth pah and then sign success, or after the sign, or at the same time?

Usually at the same time as the sign you want to emphasize.

 

[Mountain Man]

Check out this site:

By "mouth morpheme" I'm talking about a type of facial grammar employed by ASL. This facial grammar can be used to show size or manner. For example, you might notice that when talking about something huge, skilled ASL signers might make a mouth movement that looks as if they were pronouncing the letters "cha." When describing something that is very thin or small they use a mouth morpheme that looks as if they are pronouncing the letters "oo."

American Sign Language (ASL)

Another name for these is adverbials.