BSL structure…. what? (Yes, that’s it)

Okay, so what is BSL structure? Here is a quick story in it, to help you get your head around it.

"Pigs little, three. Live where? One, house. Made what? Straw. Two, house. Made what? Mud. Three, house. Made what? Brick. Wolf want what? Pigs. Why? Yummy. House, which? One. Wolf do what? house blow down. Pig do what? Run away. scared.House, which? Two. Wolf do what? House blow down. Pig do what? Run away. Cry. House, which? Three. Wolf do what? house blow down try. Impossible. Try hard. Wolf upset. Pigs Happy. Finish."

See how concise it is. And how different the lay out is to English.
Confused? Don’t be, it’s pretty simple, and with practice you will learn to automatically use it.
Basically-

Time: (recently, last week, 20 minutes ago) Usually, time goes first. You must decide what is appropriate. For example if you are saying ‘I’m looking over the fence’ you would put the fence first. When saying ‘recently I looked over the fence’ put recently first, and if you are saying ‘a long time ago I looked over the fence’ you have a choice between simply signing ‘a long time ago do what? Look over fence’ or ‘looked over fence. When? Long time ago’. It depends on what you fancy.

Objects: (ball, wall, house) Objects go after time but first before most other things, when appropriate. Why? Because if you did the sign for ‘looking over’ before you sign the fence you are looking over, you may sign the fence in completely the wrong place. Signing is a lot about placements, so it is important you get the objects in the correct place first.
 E.G- wall look over. ( I looked over the wall)

People and animals: In the middle/where appropriate. Sometimes put first.
 E.G- Zebra do what? Watches Deborah. (The Zebra is watching Deborah)
          Recently met Kelly, why? (Recently I met up with Kelly because….)

Emotions: In the middle/ where appropriate. Usually put after person/animal.
 E.G- Barney upset. (Barney is upset)

Questions: Always go at the end. In BSL level one you may put them at the end and the start, but in BSL level two it is usually just at the end. E.G- Name what? (what is your name)

Words that are not used in BSL.

If you are new to sign, you may not know that some words are not used in BSL.

BSL is a very concise language so often words that are not important are disregarded.
-There is not a sign for ‘and’, ‘the’, ‘is’ or ‘it’.

-Words like ‘But’, ‘if’ and ‘will’ are used sparingly. 

-'Should, would, could’ are all the same sign.  

-Complex words, such as disregarded, impeccable, or discern are simplified- so you would sign 'ignored' 'perfect' and 'recognize' instead.

-Sayings such as 'its raining cats and dogs' or 'have you heard' are not used in BSL, as it is much simpler to just sign 'raining hard' or 'you know?' instead.

Its odd how much can be said when the language is culled down to a few small signs, and how so many words can be disregarded and yet things can still make perfect sense.
It really makes you think how much time we have wasted writing and saying words that don't really need to be used.

The difference between BSL, Sign supported English (S.S.E), Signed English (S.E) and Makaton.

Many people have difficulty understanding the difference between the types of sign language used in Britain. So here is a brief outline of the main four different sign languages.

BSL is a whole different language to English. Although it is closely linked to English, it has many different variations in grammar, structure, and the amount of words used.
For example, words such as ‘and’ ‘is’ or ‘the’ are not needed in BSL.
Mainly used with people who are moderately-severely deaf.

S.S.E is when people talk in normal English whilst signing the most important words for clarification. So, if I was to ask ‘do you want some food?’ I would do the sign for food at the same time as asking.
This is used with people who are mildly deaf- so can hear the words but have difficulty being sure. The signs put everything in context and make it easier to understand.

S.E is when EVERY word is signed, in the correct English order. This is for people who are only moderately deaf, or severely deaf but do not want to use BSL structure. This way of signing in incredibly long, hence why BSL was created.

Makaton is commonly for young children, who may be unable to talk rather then deaf. Also used by people with learning difficulties, such as downs syndrome. They use very basic signs to say only a few important words. For example, if I said ‘give me that bear’ in Makaton I would say/ lip pattern ‘give me that bear’ whilst doing the sign for ‘bear’.

Here is a site that goes into a bit more detail: http://www.underfives.co.uk/signs.htm