Query: HOW in ASL

[Ronnie Wilbur]

Ben,

Not sure if we're referring to the same thing when we say 'introducing a
dependent clause', but HOW, like other 'wh-signs' in ASL [WHAT, WHEN, WHICH,
WHO, etc] are used both as interrogatives [HOW R U] and as part of the
complex construction that is the ASL equivalent of English wh-clefts - 'what
ellen did was buy a new house', 'ELLEN BUY WHAT, NEW HOUSE the first clause
has a brow raise on it.  These are often referred to by ASl
teachers/interpreters/researchers as the 'rhetorical question construction'
but I have provided evidence that they are not the same as a rhetorical
question that is also answered by the signer and that they do behave
according to the same constraints for wh-clefts in other languages.

An example from my data with HOW (brow raise first clause):
 GET CLOTHES CLEAN HOW, ADD ONE CUP BLEACH

This entire construction can be embedded in KNOW-THAT:

KNOW-THAT GET CLOTHES CLEAN HOW, ADD ONE CUP BLEACH
in which case, the brow raise sometimes includes KNOW-THAT and sometimes not
.  This could mean that there are 2 interpretations for this form, one
statement, one question:

1) 'you know that how you get clothes clean is to add 1 cup of bleach'
2) 'do you know that how you get clothes clean is to add 1 cup of bleach?'

Is this along the lines of what you  meant??

Ronnie

Ronnie Wilbur, Ph.D., Professor of Linguistics                  wilbur at omni.cc.purdue.edu
ASL Linguistics Research Laboratory                             (765) 494-3822
Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics and                    fax (765) 494-0771
        Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1353