American Sign Language 1

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American Sign Language 1

• THE BASICS

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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.

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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.

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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

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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?

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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 wont hear the
   conversation. Deaf people must watch the signer.
   They cannot take notes, or look away during
   class.

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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.

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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.

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SIGN PRODUCTION

• Signs are Produced in TWO ways
• One Handed Signs
• Two Handed Signs
• a. Symmetry Condition
• b. Dominance Condition

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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

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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

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TWO HANDED SIGNSDOMINANCE 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

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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)

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PARAMETERS for ASL

• Handshape
• Movement
• Location
• Palm Orientation
• Non-Manual Signals(facial expression)
• MEMORIZE THIS! YOU MUST KNOW THIS ALL YEAR!
• Ex. Summer, dry, ugly

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Why use the 5 Parameters?

• 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!

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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".

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Why is movement important?

• 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.

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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".

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Movement and Meaning

• 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.

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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

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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!

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NMM/NMS

• 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.

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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.

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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

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• "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

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• "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

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• "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

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• "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

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• "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

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• "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, tendencyIn 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.

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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

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REFERENCES

• http//www.ltcconline.net/ASLLT/scsigncomponents.h
  tm
• CSW workshop information
• Melissa George
• My experiences

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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, whats up,
  deaf, hearing, hard of hearing, camp/tent,
  elevator, train, sweetheart, please, sorry, thank
  you, chocolate, purple, party