2005/03/07 13:55: ASL pronouns for English

I said today that I missed ASL pronouns in English. I am always confused in complicated conversations involving more than two subjects when there’s too many pronouns. I can’t ever remember which thing “it” is referring to.

Imagine if you had a set of pronouns, “de”, “dele”, “dela”, “delo”, “delele”, “delala”, “delolo”, “delalala”, ad infinitum. The first is “it” as we know it, the first subject, but a bit less ambiguous as it wouldn’t change. “Dele” would be the second person you referred to, and so on. “Les went to the store and de left before it got dark. De went to the park. Meanwhile, Sam went to the store too, and then to the park. De and dele went home and were happy”.

Perhaps it’s harder to keep track of, since we’re not used to keeping track of the subjects and objects of sentences, and unlike ASL, you don’t make it obvious when you use a slot.

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