The subject and object of a sentence refer to what performs the verb, and what was affected by the verb. In ASL discourse, the subject and object are often shown through modulations to the verb - mostly in the handshape or location parameters. There are also verbs which inflect differently, such as body-anchored signs and non-directional signs.
For some verbs, the handshape of the citation form is changed to a more iconic ICL handshape to include the shape of the direct object. Some verbs which do this are GIVE (give book, give apple, give pencil), BE-THERE (houses are there, table is there, chairs are there).
In ASL, the citation form of a verb tends to be me-to-you. However, verbs can often be inflected, with the movement of the verb including beginning at the subject location and ending at the object location. These locations are either assigned by default (such as the locations for "ME" and "YOU"), or are assigned explicitly before the verb. If assigned, the location can be a person (e.g. "my father helps Jon") , a location (office, basement, Missisauga, Honk Kong, USA), an abstraction: "society looks down on Deaf people" This can also be reciprocal - "me look at you" "they inform each other. Or within "direct address" narrative.
Some verbs move from object to subject, for example "copy", "steal"
Some verbs, called body-anchored, cannot incorporate the direct object, but do incorporate where on their body.
There are also verbs which are non-directional - where the movement cannot go from subject to object, and the subject and/or object must be stated explicitly. Some of these the direct object
One subject location, multiple object locations, linked to distributional aspect
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