American Sign Language 1

1. American Sign Language 1 • THE BASICS

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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?

6. Check your Answers: • They will think that you have ended the conversation. • If you keep looking away they will think that you are rude or angry. • 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.

7. 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.

8. 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 ________.

9. Movement and Meaning • 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.

10. SIGN PRODUCTION Signs are Produced in TWO ways: • Signs • Signs a. Symmetry Condition b. Dominance Condition

11. 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

12. Two Handed Signs: Symmetry Condition • Both hands ______ • Both hands have same of movement • Both hands have the same ___________ • Example: family, maybe

13. 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

14. 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)

15. PARAMETERS for ASL • Handshape • Movement • ___________ • Palm Orientation • Non-Manual Signals(______________) **** MEMORIZE THIS! YOU MUST KNOW THIS ALL YEAR! • Ex. Summer, dry, ugly

16. Why use the 5 Parameters? • 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!

17. 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".

18. Why is movement important? • 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 __________.

19. 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".

20. 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

21. 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!

22. NMM/NMS • 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.

23. 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.

24. 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

25. "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

26. "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

27. "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

28. "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

29. "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

30. "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 ______________ used or the sign might ______ with one handshape and end with another. Pay attention to handshape the next time you sign.

31. 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

32. REFERENCES • http://www.ltcconline.net/ASLLT/scsigncomponents.htm • CSW workshop information • Melissa George • My experiences

33. 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