Sign Variations
....Sign Variations! this is continuing with the ASL other lessons which you can find here.
Description of Signs
As we stated in an earlier lesson, a sign has four important components – location, hand shape, palm orientation, and movement. Typically, sign language books and dictionaries describe signs using these four components. A question frequently asked by beginning students of signing concerns the importance of executing the signs in the exact manner in which the signs are described and illustrated in books and demonstrated in videos by instructors. It is, of course, important to execute signs as accurately as possible. However, it is equally important to make sure that successive signs in a sentence blend together smoothly, seamlessly, and gracefully. This may require slight deviations from isolated execution of the same signs. In other words, don’t lose sight of the forest (big picture) for the trees (minor details).
It is also important not to be bogged down in every detail of a sign that its execution comes across as strained and clumsy. For most signs, the four parameters – place, hand shape, palm orientation, and movement – do not have equal importance. For signs representing physical action, movement may be the most important feature. For abstract concepts and emotions, the place may hold the key. Hand shape may be the distinguishing feature of signs representing physical objects. The point is that the signers and their communication partners should zero in on the features of the signs that appear to be crucial to their meaning.
In general, you are safe (in fact, well advised) to assume a palm orientation that makes the sign highly visible to the recipient. Similarly, it is of minor consequence whether a circular movement is clock-wise or counter clock-wise. Repeating a sign more than once is quite acceptable as long as such repetitions do not change the meaning of the sign. And for signs that require repetitions, the number of repetitions – two, three or more times – is of little consequence. Experienced signers, however, may use some of these variations to bring out the subtle nuances in the meanings of signs.
Sign Variations
All living languages – languages currently used by a group of people for everyday communication – undergo changes. In spoken languages such as English, new words are coined and, sometimes, old words are given new meaning to meet the communication needs of the changing world. ASL and other sign languages are no exception. The widespread use of ASL and Manual English in educational, political, medical, and legal settings has resulted in the creation of numerous new signs and new meanings for existing signs. For instance, the sign for computer varies widely across different parts of the U.S.
Historically, the deaf communities in different parts of the country have lived in relatively isolated existence. This has caused numerous regional variations in signs. There are also ethnic and generational (i.e., children versus adults) variations in signs as might be expected. These variations in signs are similar to dialectal differences in spoken languages.
The fact that there are different signs for the same concepts and that new signs are constantly being created does not mean that we are all free to make up our own signs or alter existing signs. These tasks are best left to the experts in the field. If you don't know the sign for a concept, fingerspell it!
