Fingerspelling in American Sign Language Carol A. Padden University of California, San Diego October 2009

Fingerspelling in American Sign Language

Carol A. PaddenUniversity of California, San Diego

October 2009

Questions

• How is fingerspelling used in ASL?• Is fingerspelling English?• How should we teach fingerspelling in ASL

classes?• What should interpreters know about

fingerspelling?

Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009

Fingerspelling is older than ASL

• Fingerspelling first appeared in a book believed to be the first book on deaf education

• Published by Juan Pablo Bonet, a hearing tutor of deaf children in Spain

• In 1620



From Spain to the US• Jacob Pereire, an oral teacher from Spain brought

the one-handed alphabet to Paris where Abbe de l’Epee adopted it for use in his school

• Laurent Clerc brought fingerspelling with him to the US, and used it in the first school for deaf children, founded 1817

• Fingerspelling spread to other schools for the deaf

• Fingerspelling was carved on a crypt at the South Carolina School for the Deaf– in 1861


Tombstone of Newton P. Walker, Superintendent of the South Carolina School

for the Deaf and the Blind, 1861



‘Heaven’

Fingerspelling is not always English

• Compare:– A place where you buy nails, hammer, garden

objects?• H-A-R-D-W-A-R-E STORE

– Computers require software and…• HARD + W-A-R-E

– Pick up a person• A pickup truck

– A good workout• Did it work out okay?


ASL uses fingerspelling more extensively than other sign languages• Compared to other sign languages, ASL uses

fingerspelling alot!• We fingerspell city names, names of

Presidents, brand names, company names, automobile makes and many other words.

• Other sign languages translate these names into signs


Fingerspelling is mostly nouns

• Some adjectives and prepositions• Very few verbs• Examples of fingerspelled nouns:– flour, pizza, campus, sports, passport, cab,

sidewalk, studio, base, ballet, safety, tunnel, facility, lodge, inch, yard


• Examples of fingerspelled adjectives:– manual, okay, invisible, diplomatic, jobless, remote,

academic, gorgeous, busy, punk, muscular, wide, dark, overnight

• Examples of fingerspelled verbs:– do, allow, chunking, tiptoe, proofread, try, would, be,

miss, own, is, retire, was, being• Often the same fingerspelled verb is used many

times– do, would, was


We use fingerspelling even if we already have a sign

• Some fingerspelled words are used even though there are signs for them:– C-A-R– L-O-V-E (noun only?)– L-I-F-E– R-E-N-T (“monthly rent”)

• Compare:– RENT vs. R-E-N-T– FREE vs. F-R-E-E


Fingerspelling is used by deaf people of all ages and backgrounds

• Even signers with high school education use fingerspelling

• The difference is which words they fingerspell, not in the amount of fingerspelling

• Older deaf people fingerspell different words than younger deaf people, making their fingerspelling more noticeable (e.g. week, glad, man)

• Men and women are similar in how much they fingerspell. Maybe men fingerspell different words than women. (e.g. MY S-O-N)


ASL has fingerspelled/sign compounds


ASL abbreviations are not always the same as English abbreviations

• M-I-N-N, M-D, M-I-C-H, M-O– But Maine?

• V-W, M-B, B-M-W• H-P, M-A-C


Fingerspelling cannot be separated from ASL

• Long history of fingerspelling in schools for the deaf in U.S.

• Many deaf leaders supported fingerspelling as defense against oralism

• ASL tends to use fingerspelling for new vocabulary


New fingerspelled words are always being added in ASL

• How should fingerspelling be taught in ASL classes?– Can be a separate lesson– Or can be integrated as a part of ASL vocabulary

• How should fingerspelling be taught to interpreting students?– Are sign/fingerspelling compounds too difficult for

new interpreting students?– What about fingerspelling for interpreted

performances on stage?


Resources• Groode, Joyce. Fingerspelling: Expressive & receptive fluency. San Diego,

CA: DawnSignPress• Mendoza, Liz. ABC-123: Fingerspelling and numbers in American sign

language. Alexandria, VA: RID Press• Padden, C. (2006). Learning fingerspelling twice: Young signing children's

acquisition of fingerspelling. (Marschark M., Schick B., Spencer P., Eds.). Advances in Sign Language Development by Deaf Children.

• Padden, C. & Clark, D. (2003). How the alphabet came to be used in a sign language. Sign Language Studies. 4(1), 10-33.

• Padden, C., & Brentari, D. (2001). A lexicon with multiple origins: Native and foreign vocabulary in American Sign Language. (Brentari, D., Ed.). Foreign Vocabulary in Sign Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Investigation of Word Formation.– Padden articles can be found at http://communication.ucsd.edu/cpadden


http://communication.ucsd.edu/cpadden

Documents

Fingerspelling in American Sign Language Carol A. Padden University of California, San Diego October 2009