PSPLAN005 — Analyse the structure of Auslan signs

Elements & performance criteria

Performance evidence

• complete a brief written, verbal or Auslan signed report providing details of two new Auslan signs that have been added to the language in the past five years, why they have been added and how they were formulated
• watch a proficient or native signer deliver a live text and identify at least three signs that differ from the citation form; text can be deliberately delivered at slow to moderate speed to allow identification
• produce and deliver three different Auslan texts, each lasting for a maximum of three minutes, and cumulatively use: • the five parameters of Auslan signs • space, including referents in space • plain verbs • indicating verbs • depicting verbs • entity depicting signs • handling depicting signs • size, shape and specifiers. During the delivery of the texts, the individual can: • ask for assessor clarification twice • correct and repeat own signed text twice • show idiosyncrasies in sign production • frequently pause, hesitate and repeat signs • communicate meaning using signed sentences without presenting a text which is cohesive overall.

Knowledge evidence

• five parameters of Auslan signs: • hand shape • orientation • movement • location • non-manual features
• common handshapes in Auslan to include: • fist • flat hand with fingers together • flat hand with fingers apart • point
• common sign locations in Auslan to include: • neutral signing space • arm • wrist • hand • head • eye • nose • ear • mouth • chin • neck
• primary sign movements in Auslan to include: • vertical path movements • path movements along the bilateral axis • path movements along the horizontal depth axis
• secondary sign movements in Auslan to include: • rapidly repeated changes in handshape • rapidly repeated changes in orientation • bending, flattening, squeezing, wiggling, rubbing, twisting, nodding, pivoting, circling
• how different orientations of handshapes can occur: • how some changes can affect the meaning of a sign • how some orientations are the only ones possible because of the other parameters, i.e. handshape and its location
• types of non-manual features that can be added to a sign citation form, to include those used: • for affective or grammatical purposes • as part of their standard (citation) form • in fluent speech where changes are usually and frequently made to signs because of phonological changes
• a range of changes that can occur to signs during fluent signing to include: • changed handshapes so they look like the sign before or after • reduced movements so that things are signed faster • changed locations to be nearer to the next sign
• types of space used in Auslan to include: • real space • topographic space (viewer space and diagrammatic space) • abstract space
• types of signs or signing used in space to include: • indicating and depicting signs • pointing signs • timeline signs • role shift (constructed action)
• how signers set up referents in space to include: • pointing • moving eye gaze to a location • directing a sign to that location • producing a sign in that location • producing a depicting verb in that location
• the three categories of verbs used in Auslan and differences between each: • plain verbs • indicating verbs • depicting verbs
• the three categories of depicting signs, hand use and movement for each: • motion and location signs with entity handshapes where the handshape is used to depict an object and moved in space to show movement or location • handling signs where handshape depicts the human hand holding or touching something which is moved • size and shape specifiers (SASSes) where the hand traces the outlines of something to describe its shape and or surface
• common ways new signs are added to Auslan to include: • lexicalisation of depicting verbs • noun-verb pairs • compounding • an extension of the meaning of an existing sign • lexical borrowing, through: • fingerspelling • initialisation • loan translations • mouth patterns • other signed languages.

Foundation skills

• Reading skills: interpret unfamiliar information of varying complexity.
• Communication skills: produce short Auslan texts to demonstrate understanding of the principle characteristics of Auslan signs.

Unit content sourced from training.gov.au — © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Auditori is not affiliated with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

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