American Sign Language 1

THE BASICS

American Sign Language A sign is a gesture or movement that

conveys a concept. Each sign is made with a specific hand

configuration or handshape, placed at various locations on or near the signer's body.

If the handshape, movement, or location changes, the meaning of the sign also changes.

ASL Continued… ASL is a cumulative language

If you do not understand or learn a vocabulary word/concept, then you will become behind.

ASL is evolving New signs are added daily, therefore more

signs/concepts will be added to the lists, class, and books throughout the year.

There are many ways to sign a word or concept

Please be understanding and accept any new signs that may differ from what you have seen or used.

EYE CONTACT ASL is a visual

language While conversing in

ASL one MUST maintain full eye contact

Do NOT look at the signers hands

Meaning will be lost if eye contact is broken

THE EYE QUESTIONS:(please write on a separate piece of paper)

If you are having an ASL conversation and you look away once, what will the deaf person think?

If you are having an ASL conversation and you keep looking away, what will the deaf person think?

Why must you maintain eye contact when having an ASL conversation?

Check your Answers:

1. They will think that you have ended the conversation.

2. If you keep looking away they will think that you are rude or angry.

3. You must watch the signer or you won’t “hear” the conversation. Deaf people must watch the signer. They cannot take notes, or look away during class.

BODY LOCATION Signs are made from

the top of the head down to the torso.

Imagine a rectangle being drawn from your head down to your torso.

Signs must be made within this rectangle or they become difficult to see and meaning can be lost.

LOCATION CONT… Signs are formed on or near only certain

areas of the body. Approximately 75% of all signs are formed

in the head and neck area because they can be easily seen.

The location of a sign frequently contributes to its meaning.

For example, many signs that denote feelings are formed near the heart, whereas signs related to cognitive concepts are formed near the head.

SIGN PRODUCTION

Signs are Produced in TWO ways:

1. One Handed Signs2. Two Handed Signs a. Symmetry

Condition b. Dominance

Condition

ONE HANDED SIGNS Always performed

by the dominant hand

Movement can be in any direction(single, double, repetitive)

Hand can be in any of the acceptable handshapes

Sign must be performed within the rectangle

Examples: cat, bathroom

Two Handed Signs: Symmetry Condition Both hands move Both hands have

same type of movement

Both hands have the same hand shape

Example: family, maybe

TWO HANDED SIGNS:DOMINANCE CONDITION Each hand has a

different handshape Only the active

hand moves while the other hand (passive) serves as a base. The passive hand does not move.

Example: money, word

THE FIVE BASIC PARTS (PARAMETERS) OF A SIGN

Every language has 5 Linguistic components:

Phonology (study of how sounds are organized and used)

Semantics (the meaning of a word) Syntax (word order) Morphology (the meaning of the word) Pragmatics (how you use the word)

(this WILL be on many tests)

PARAMETERS for ASL

1. Handshape2. Movement3. Location4. Palm Orientation5. Non-Manual Signals(facial

expression)

**** MEMORIZE THIS! YOU MUST KNOW THIS ALL YEAR! Ex. Summer, dry, ugly

If you can learn to analyze ASL signs using these categories, you will be able to more easily recreate the sign.

Each sign will begin to look distinct versus a blur of hands!

Why use the 5 Parameters?

MOVEMENT Single Movement (SM) - the sign moves one time. An

example of this are the signs "not", "tomorrow", "now" and "yuck!".

All of these signs go from beginning position to the ending position one time only.

Double Movement (DM) - the sign moves two times. Examples of double movement in signs is "take-care", "door", and "business".

Each movement is repeated twice.

Repetitive Movement (RM) - the sign moves more than two times. Examples of this are the signs "light" (as in bulb), "children", and "school".

If the movement is not correct you can sign inaccurately.

Repetition of the movement may indicate several things--the frequency of the action, if a noun is plural or singular, or the distinction between a noun and a verb.

Size of the movement may indicate volume or size.

Speed and vigor indicates actions.

Why is movement important?

For example… If you sign "yuck" with repetitive

movement that means "throw-up". If you sign "now" repetitively, rather

than one time, it means "today". The same holds true with the sign

"business". If it's signed with repetitive movement it means "busy".

Much of the meaning of signs may be expressed through movement in relation to the body.

For example the sign "children" moves as if patting children on the top of the head.

Or "school" is signed as if one is a teacher, clapping their hands to get the class' attention.

Noticing movement helps to formulate memory aides, which are vital for full comprehension of a sign.

Movement and Meaning

PALM ORIENTATION The second component of a sign is its

orientation, or the direction in which the hand is turned.

The direction that the palm of the hand faces (up, down, left, or right) is a useful way of describing the orientation because once the palm is described, the direction of the fingers and the back of the hand is obvious.

Noticing palm orientation will help you recreate a sign.

Examples

FACIAL EXPRESSION/NON-MANUAL SIGNALS (NMS)

Show emotion Give signs their meanings Can change the meaning of a sign Ex. Like (smile) Like (negative head shake) Eyebrows up: Yes/No Questions Eyebrows down: WH question (who,

what, when, where, why & how) WITHOUT NMS THE SIGN IS INCORRECT!

If you can execute the first 4 parameters of a sign, you can succeed in correctly making a sign.

In spoken languages, additional semantic information is carried through one's tone of voice.

In ASL, additional semantic information is carried through one's body and facial expressions. The signed message is quite different if you shake your head yes, or nod your head no while signing "married".

When a person signs all of the components of a sign including Nonmanual Markers, there is a complete thought--a sentence. Without the Nonmanual Markers there is merely a string of signs.

NMM/NMS

ASL Handshapes

The handshape is generally the most apparent component of a sign.

It is the configuration the hand assumes when beginning to make a sign.

The most frequently used handshapes are the letters of the Manual Fingerspelling Alphabet and the manual numbers

Most signs can be organized into 40 possible handshapes.

40 ASL Handshapes "A"

Examples: with, aunt, sweetheart, practice, live"Open A"Examples: girl, not, which, remember, tomorrow, yesterday

"B"Examples: daughter, son, blue, brown, door

"Open B" or "Closed 5"Examples: please, paper, nice, school, thank you

"Bent B" or "Bent Closed 5"Examples: know, near, how, have, excuse me

"C"Examples: cousin, class, marry, wife, husband, chocolate

"D"Examples: dorm, divorce, date, department

"E"Examples: elevator, elementary school, educate

"F"Examples: France, cat, family, tea

"Open F"Examples: meat/steak, big-eyes

"G"Examples: peabrain!, green, mustache

"H"Examples: fun, hard-of-hearing, horse, name, train

"I"Examples: if/suppose, art/draw, institute

"K"Examples: take-care, people, two-of-us, purple

"L"Examples: later, library, live, sister, brother

"Bent L"Examples: moon, run, camera, big

"M"Examples: medical, math, member

"N"Examples: nurse, niece, nephew, no

"O"Examples: sunrise, none, office, owl, teach

"Baby O" or "Closed X"Examples: perfect, write, celebrate

"Flattened O"Examples: give, home, eat, boy, number, buy, money

"R"Examples: restroom, rules, ready

"S" Examples: yes, motorcycle, car, bike, coffee, how-many

"T"Examples: team, toilet,

"U"Examples: cute, uncle, university

"V"Examples: stuck, see, either, stand, fall down

"Bent V"Examples: stairs, ride-in, speechless

"W"Examples: weird, world, water

"X"Examples: tease, hearing aid, apple, friend, expression, key

"Y"Examples: silly, oh-I-see, same, cow, waddle, New York, phone

"L-I"Examples: I love you, fly, why, California

"1-I"Examples: tent/camping,, ironic

"1"Examples: stars, go-to, where, black, deaf, candy, boring, sign language

"3"Examples: lousy, vehicle, clumsy

"Bent 3" Examples: bug, radio, rooster, devilish

"4"Examples: line of people, talk, chat, meeting

"5"Examples: fingerspelling, mom,dad, man, woman, fine, candle, what

"Bent 5" or "Claw 5"Examples: OOPS!, roommate, machine, want

"8"Examples: hate/despise, light (as in bulb), pumpkin

"Open 8"Examples: what's up!, feel, sick, tendency

In some ASL signs there is more than one handshape used or the sign might begin with one handshape and end with another. Pay attention to handshape the next time you sign.

TAKING NOTES Taking notes in reference to the 5

Parameters helps you recreate the sign and store it in your memory.

For example, let's take the sign "cat" and take notes:

Sign:  "cat" H.S.(HandShape):  "F" Palm (orientation):  out Location:  dominant

cheek Movement:  RM

(Repetitive Movement), like cat's whiskers Nonmanual:  none

REFERENCES

http://www.ltcconline.net/ASLLT/scsigncomponents.htm

CSW workshop information Melissa George My experiences

Practice Now practice the vocabulary words we

have learned and be ready to see them on the test AND any of the signs I emphasized on the 40 handshapes slide.

Ex: good morning, toilet, my, name, do-do, afternoon, evening, bad, yes, no, what’s up, deaf, hearing, hard of hearing, camp/tent, elevator, train, sweetheart, please, sorry, thank you, chocolate, purple, party