The following courses are offered regularly as a part of our ASL program and ASL certificate. For all ASL catalog listings and current scheduling information please visit the University's Course Catalog. Please note that ASL 1 courses are only open to non-seniors.
Core American Sign Language Courses
If you would like to enroll in a core ASL language course that is higher than the initial beginning level course, please email us at LCTL@pitt.edu and request a placement test.
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This introductory course is designed to help students learn the vocabulary, structures, and cultural context needed for basic everyday communication in American Sign Language (ASL). In this proficiency-oriented course, students will be provided many opportunities to practice and develop their ability to produce and understand signs, classifiers, and gestures, with emphasis placed on real-world communication skills. Students will also have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the Deaf Community as an important part of human diversity, representing linguistic and cultural diversity rather than a disability.
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This course builds on the foundations established in ASL 0100: American Sign Language 1 and is designed to help students develop greater proficiency in American Sign Language (ASL), a deeper understanding of the cultural context within which it is used, and more confidence in using ASL for real-world communication. In class, students will be exposed to authentic situations encountered in everyday life in the Deaf Community and guided towards a greater cultural awareness of and a higher degree of cultural sensitivity to the Deaf Community. By the end of this course, students should be able to produce, identify & express grammatically meaningful sentences and structurally meaningful phrases in ASL; demonstrate basic conversational competence in basic everyday situations; and identify the importance of ASL and the emergence of the Deaf Community as a result.
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This course continues the study of ASL. The students will work on developing intermediate communication skills and will concentrate on production skills. Linguistic and cultural features will be presented in the context of the language learning experiences. This level will also examine and discuss its use and effect on and in the deaf culture.
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This advanced course of ASL concentrates on developing more precise skills and competencies by using appropriate variations of ASL (regional, racial/ethnic, stylistic and age related) vocabulary. Students will also be given the opportunity to use ASL by volunteering in the deaf community.
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ASL Culture Courses
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The culture of deaf Americans is distinct from that of mainstream American society. The primary focus of this course is to expose students to the culture of the deaf in the United States and around the world. In addition to teaching students how to interact with the deaf in a culturally appropriate way, the course will help them understand deaf culture as part of human diversity. Among the course foci are: issues of accessibility, perspectives of deaf versus hearing individuals, and various examples of deaf literature.
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Additional Courses for the American Sign Language Certificate
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Many deaf people in the U.S. Are united by a language (ASL) that differs from English and a culture with characteristics that differ from those of the larger hearing society. This culture is known as deaf culture, and students in this course will be introduced to various facets of American deaf culture through readings, videos, and discussions. Students will also explore other deaf cultures throughout the world. Among the course foci are: issues of accessibility, perspectives of deaf versus hearing individuals, and various examples of deaf literature. This course is designed for students pursing the ASL certificate.
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This course is a survey of general linguistics, emphasizing the theory and methodology of the traditional central areas of the field--phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax- with special concentration on phonological and syntactic theories and analytical techniques. The remainder of the course will be devoted to phonetics, morphology, historical linguistics, semantics and pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics.
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This course provides an overview of linguistics and psycholinguistics including phonologic, morphologic, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of linguistic theory and behavior. Topics may also include neurolinguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, and the relationship between cognition and language.
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This course will focus on the linguistic structure of sign languages, drawing examples principally, though not exclusively, from American sign language (ASL). It will also highlight similarities and differences between sign languages and spoken languages. In addition to structural features, the course will cover mechanisms unique to visual/spatial languages, the use of the face and body for grammatical signals, language variation, and acquisition of sign languages.
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ASL 1715 - Structure of ASL & English
The course will focus on American Sign Language basic components; basic parts of signs and examine the different aspects of ASL language and structure; to identify and explain the various linguistic principles of ASL; and compare and contrast the sentence structures of ASL and English. Students will have better understanding of how signers use the language; phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and sociolinguistic structure of ASL. Students will also have a better understanding of the five different registers. Students will collect, transcribe, and analyze features of ASL structure and their English language. |
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There are various sociolinguistic topics that one must consider with respect to signed languages of the deaf. Regarding language contact, ambient languages-either signed or spoken-influence a signed language. Less than 10% of deaf people are exposed to signed language from birth, which results in unique phenomena. Additionally, signed languages exhibit variation based on a myriad of social and geographical factors. These topics, in addition to language planning and language policy, will be addressed in this course.
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This course is designed for students to explore and analyze American sign language and American deaf culture through ASL literature. Studying ASL literature is a way to examine the linguistic complexity of ASL as well as explore the deaf community's values and traditions as a minority group and a group to which visual depiction of ideas is highly valued. This course is conducted in ASL.
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