American Sign Language 1

THE BASICS

American Sign Language A sign is a or that

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

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

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

ASL Continued… ASL is a language

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

ASL is evolving New signs are ________ daily, therefore more

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

There are ______ ways to sign a word or concept

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

EYE CONTACT ASL is a

language While conversing in

ASL one _______ maintain full eye contact

Do NOT look at the __________ hands

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 _____ of the _____ down to the _______.

Imagine a _________ being drawn from your head down to your ________.

Signs must be made ________ this rectangle or they become difficult _________ and meaning can be lost.

LOCATION CONT… Signs are formed only

certain areas of the _______. Approximately ______ of all signs are

formed in the head and neck area because they can be __________.

The of a sign frequently contributes to its _______.

For example, many signs that denote _______ are formed near the heart, whereas signs related to _________ concepts are formed near the ________.

Much of the meaning of signs may be ___________ through _____________ in relation to the body.

For example the sign "children" moves as if ___________ 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 __________________, which are vital for full comprehension of a sign.

Movement and Meaning

SIGN PRODUCTION

Signs are Produced in TWO ways:

1. Signs2. Signs a. Symmetry

Condition b. Dominance

Condition

ONE HANDED SIGNS Always performed by

the hand Movement can be in

_____ direction(single, double, repetitive)

Hand can be in any of the acceptable ____________

Sign must be performed ________ the rectangle

Examples: cat, bathroom

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

same of movement

Both hands have the same ___________

Example: family, maybe

TWO HANDED SIGNS:DOMINANCE CONDITION Each hand has a

different _________ Only the active

hand moves while the other hand (passive) serves as a ______. 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 ____________ and used)

Semantics (the __________ of a word) Syntax (word ________) ______________ (the meaning of the word) Pragmatics (how you ________ the word)

(this WILL be on many tests)

PARAMETERS for ASL

1. Handshape2. Movement3. ___________4. Palm Orientation5. Non-Manual Signals(______________)

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

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

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

Why use the 5 Parameters?

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

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

All of these signs go from _________ position to the __________ position one time only.

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

Each movement is repeated twice.

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

If the movement is not ________ you can sign inaccurately.

___________ of the movement may indicate several things--the _________ of the action, if a noun is plural or ___________, or the distinction between a noun and a _______.

________ of the movement may indicate volume or size.

Speed and vigor indicates __________.

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".

PALM ORIENTATION Another component of a sign is its

orientation, or the ____________ in which the _______ is turned.

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

Noticing _________________ will help you _________ a sign.

Examples

FACIAL EXPRESSION/NON-MANUAL SIGNALS (NMS)

Show _________ Give _______ their meanings Can ________ the meaning of a sign Ex. Like (smile) Like (negative head shake) Eyebrows up: ________ Questions Eyebrows _________: WH question (who,

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

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

In _________ languages, additional semantic information is carried through one's ___________.

In ______, additional semantic information is carried through one's _______ and ____________________. The signed message is quite _________ 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 ______________, there is a complete thought--__________. Without the Nonmanual Markers there is merely a string of signs.

NMM/NMS

ASL Handshapes

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

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

The most frequently used handshapes are the letters of the _______________________ and the manual numbers

Most signs can be organized into _____ 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 ______________ used or the sign might ______ with one handshape and end with another. Pay attention to handshape the next time you sign.

TAKING NOTES Taking notes in reference to the

____________ helps you recreate the sign and ________ 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