5.2 Classifier Predicates & Depicting Verbs

Core Principle: Depicting constructions (classifier predicates) are multi-morphemic verbal structures that combine classifier handshapes representing entity classes with continuous spatial movement, precise orientation, and non-manual adverbial markers to visually represent the motion, location, handling, and physical contours of entities in three-dimensional space.

One of the most powerful and structurally sophisticated domains of American Sign Language grammar is the system traditionally referred to as classifiers. In standard spoken languages, classifiers are typically lexical morphemes that categorize nouns according to shape, animacy, or material (such as Mandarin Chinese numeral classifiers tiáo for long slender objects or zhāng for flat planar sheets). In ASL, however, classifiers are not merely noun categorizers—they serve as the foundational morphemes of complex verbal predicates that depict spatial scenes, movements, and physical interactions with cinematic precision.

---

1. Theoretical Evolution: From Classifiers to Depicting Verbs

Early linguistic investigations of ASL (such as those by Ted Supalla in 1982 and 1986) referred to these structures as classifier predicates. Supalla established that these constructions are not holistic visual gestures, but rather complex morphological compounds built from discrete morphemic components (e.g., handshape morphemes indicating the entity, root movement morphemes indicating trajectory, and location morphemes indicating spatial endpoints).

In modern cognitive and visual linguistics, scholars such as Scott Liddell (Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language, 2003) and Karen Emmorey (Language, Cognition, and the Brain, 2002) advanced the terminology, referring to them as depicting verbs or depicting constructions:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|              Multi-Tiered Polysynthetic Architecture of Depicting Verbs           |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Morphemic Tier                          | Grammatical Function                    |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 1. Handshape Morpheme (Classifier)      | Specifies semantic class, shape, or     |
|                                         | instrument manipulation of the referent |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 2. Kinetic Movement & Path Trajectory   | Encodes vector, velocity, direction,    |
|                                         | manner, and duration of physical motion |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 3. Spatial Locus & Orientation (Yaw/Roll| Anchors referent to exact topographic   |
|                                         | 3D coordinates and facing direction     |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 4. Non-Manual Adverbial Tier (NMMs)     | Encodes adverbs of manner, intensity,   |
|                                         | speed, proximity, and psychological state|
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

Topographic Space vs. Abstract Space

To understand depicting verbs, interpreters must distinguish between two grammatical uses of signing space:

• Abstract (Syntactic) Space: Signing space is used to establish arbitrary referential loci for people, ideas, or entities (e.g., indexing a referent on the left as PRO-3[governor] and on the right as PRO-3[mayor] to indicate discourse roles).
• Topographic Space: Signing space represents a miniature, scaled model of the physical world. In topographic space, the relative positions, distances, elevations, and movement paths of hands precisely mirror real-world spatial geometries. Depicting verbs operate primarily within topographic space.

---

2. Exhaustive Taxonomy of ASL Classifier Categories

ASL linguistics identifies five fundamental categories of classifiers, each fulfilling distinct morphological and semantic roles within depicting verbs.

1. Entity / Semantic Classifiers (ECL / SCL)

Entity classifiers use specific handshapes to represent an entire entity belonging to a broader semantic or physical category. The handshape stands in for the object itself as it moves, rests, or interacts in space.

• CL:1 (Upright Slender Object / Person): An extended index finger represents a human being standing or walking upright, a pencil, a flagpole, or an upright cylinder. Examples: CL:1-approach (a person walking toward another), CL:1-zigzag (a person weaving through an obstacle course).
• CL:3 (Land and Water Vehicles): A thumb-up, index-and-middle-finger-extended handshape (3 configuration) oriented horizontally represents wheeled vehicles or motorized watercraft (automobiles, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, motorboats). Examples: CL:3-swerve (a car fishtailing on ice), CL:3-overtake (one vehicle passing another uphill).
• CL:V-bent (Crouched Entity / Seated Person / Small Animal): Two bent fingers represent a seated individual, a crouching person, or a small animal (squirrel, rabbit, frog, dog). Examples: CL:V-bent-perch (a bird landing on a telephone wire), CL:V-bent-crouch (a child hiding under a desk).
• CL:flat-B (Flat Planar Objects / Surfaces): A flat open hand (B configuration) represents sheets of paper, books, tabletop surfaces, or planar vehicles (surfboard, skateboard, flying aircraft). Examples: CL:flat-B-glide (a leaf gently floating down to the grass).
• CL:C (Thick Cylindrical Entities): A curved C handshape represents three-dimensional cylindrical objects such as thick posts, logs, jars, or heavy pipes.
• CL:Y (Wide Entity with Extrusions): A Y handshape represents aircraft (jets, airplanes with extended wings) or horned animals (bull, deer).

2. Handling / Instrumental Classifiers (HCL / ICL)

Unlike entity classifiers (which represent the object itself), handling classifiers depict how a human agent grips, manipulates, operates, or transfers an object. The signer's hand becomes the hand of the person handling the tool or object.

• CL:C-open / C-curved: Gripping a drinking mug, holding a thermos, grasping a steering wheel, or handling a thick jar.
• CL:S (Fist Grip): Grasping a vertical or horizontal pole, holding a broom handle while sweeping, swinging a baseball bat, holding a hammer, or gripping a taut rope in tug-of-war.
• CL:flat-O (Pinch Grip / Sheet Handling): Holding, handing over, or sliding a flat sheet of paper, an envelope, a credit card, or a train ticket.
• CL:baby-O / F-pinch: Holding fine, delicate instruments with precision (pinching a needle, holding a coin, threading a needle, using tweezers, grasping a thin paintbrush).
• CL:modified-X: Holding a key to turn a door lock, flipping a toggle switch, or pulling an overhead engine pull-cord.

3. Size and Shape Specifiers (SASSes) / Descriptive Classifiers (DCL)

SASSes (also termed Descriptive Classifiers) are adjectival-nominal handshapes that trace, outline, or physically enclose the dimensions, boundary contours, surface texture, and perimeter of an object.

• CL:G: Tracing thin borders, narrow stripes, shallow moldings, pencil-thin margins, or minimal liquid depth.
• CL:C / Double-C: Outlining the circumference of cylindrical columns, massive architectural pillars, thick tree trunks, or the spine of a massive dictionary.
• CL:5-claw: Outlining spherical three-dimensional objects (basketballs, globes, decorative domes), bumpy rocky terrain, or clustered structures.
• CL:bent-L / L-frame: Framing rectangular boundaries (picture frames, legal certificates, smartphone screens, window panes).
• CL:curved-B: Outlining rounded, undulating surfaces such as rolling hills, bowl contours, or curved automobile fenders.

4. Locative Classifiers (LCL) and Element Classifiers (ECL)

• Locative Classifiers (LCL): Establish the exact spatial arrangement, coordinate placement, or physical distribution of objects relative to one another in signing space. For example, using two passive flat-B hands to position books standing vertically side-by-side on a bookshelf, or placing three CL:1 markers at triangular points to establish a crime scene perimeter.
• Element Classifiers (ECL): Handshapes that depict the motion, turbulence, volume, and state of non-solid natural elements (fluids, gases, fire, air currents, and light).
  • CL:4: Flowing water, liquid dripping steadily from a leaky faucet, blood dripping down an arm, or a streaming garden hose.
  • CL:5 / 5-claw: Roaring, spreading wildfire, billowing volcanic smoke, howling gale-force wind, or water surging over a burst dam.
  • CL:1: A single laser beam, a thin drip of condensation, or a focused stream of spray.

5. Body Classifiers (BCL) and Bodypart Classifiers (BPCL)

• Body Classifiers (BCL) / Constructed Action (Role Shift): The signer's entire upper body, head, and facial expression enact the physical actions, emotional posture, and behaviors of the referent. Rather than using the hands to represent an external object, the signer's arms, shoulders, and chest become the character's body (e.g., throwing a punch, shivering violently in sub-zero weather, crossing arms stubbornly).
• Bodypart Classifiers (BPCL): The signer's hands represent specific anatomical limbs or organs of a human or animal:
  • CL:V-inverted (Two Legs): The index and middle fingers represent human legs (walking cautiously on ice, slipping and falling backward, kicking a ball, executing a gymnastics split).
  • CL:flat-B (Feet): Hands represent human feet tapping nervously, stomping in frustration, or climbing stairs.
  • CL:2 (Eyes): Two fingers pointing outward represent the focus and trajectory of someone's eye gaze (scanning a room, squinting through keyhole).

---

3. The Grammar of Depicting Verbs: Simultaneous Multi-Tiered Production

Unlike linear English sentences that require sequential chains of nouns, verbs, adverbs, and prepositional phrases ("The heavily customized red sports car accelerated recklessly down the steep hill and barely squeezed between two oncoming semitrucks"), ASL expresses this entire semantic sequence simultaneously within a single depicting construction.

The Non-Manual Adverbial Tier (NMMs)

Crucial to the grammaticality of depicting verbs is the simultaneous production of non-manual adverbial morphemes executed on the face. The facial marker qualifies how the action occurs:

---

4. Interpreting Equivalence: Bidirectional Translation Dynamics

For professional interpreters taking the CASLI Generalist Performance Exam (NIC), mastery of depicting constructions is paramount. Errors in interpreting classifiers represent one of the most common sources of message distortion, register mismatch, and cognitive fatigue.

ASL-to-English (Voicing Depicting Verbs)

A naive interpreter frequently falls into the trap of "literal lexical glossing"—producing awkward, primitive English sentences such as "The car vehicle moves straight, then goes around, then stops." This distorts the sophisticated, high-register nuance of the ASL source text.

• Dynamic Equivalence Strategy: The interpreter must cognitively deconstruct the simultaneous visual tiers (the CL:3 vehicle handshape, the accelerated sweeping arc trajectory, the cs mouth morpheme, and the abrupt decelerating contact into a CL:flat-B barrier) and synthesize a rich, vivid English equivalent:

  "The sedan careened around the blind hairpin turn, lost traction, and slammed violently into the concrete retaining wall with only inches to spare."

English-to-ASL (Producing Depicting Verbs)

When interpreting dynamic English discourse into ASL, hearing interpreters frequently default to frozen English word order and generic lexical verbs (e.g., fingerspelling CRASH or signing HAPPEN), which feels unnatural and semantically impoverished to Deaf consumers.

• Dynamic Equivalence Strategy: The interpreter must resist lexical literalism:
  1. Establish ground referents first using nominal signs (CAR, WALL).
  2. Set up spatial coordinates in topographic space.
  3. Execute the depicting verb using appropriate classifier handshapes (CL:3 and CL:flat-B).
  4. Match the movement vector to the exact spatial trajectory described in English.
  5. Simultaneously apply the obligatory non-manual adverbial marker to convey speed, impact, and intent.