One misconception about American Sign Language is the belief that there is a sign for every word. However, unlike the English Language, ASL is based on communication through concepts. One example is the word “car”. There is not a specific sign for “car,” rather, the interpretation of it could include several synonyms or related words, such as “vehicle”, “transportation”, “automobile”, “auto”. Similarly, the sign for “father” could encompass “dad”, “papa”, “pa” and so forth. Using a video dictionary or one customized for American Sign Language will help you gain a better grasp of this. Yet, do not let yourself get frustrated if you do not find an exact match for the word you wish to communicate. Instead, consider various synonyms that might suffice. This would be a great way to expand your own vocabulary while learning another language! Want to expand it even more? If we are missing something, please feel free to make a word request from our online dictionary.
Category: American Sign Language Grammar
The Raconteurs – “Hands”
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• ASL • American Sign Language
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A Question From a Reader…
Question: Is there such a thing as a “dominant” and “non-dominant hand-rule?
Answer: The answer is “Yes”. American Sign Language does have “rules” about dominate-hand usage. The hand you write with usually becomes your dominant hand when signing. For example, if you are right handed, the signs that require movement will be made with this hand. However, when signs require the use of both hands, the dominant hand does the movement while the non-dominant hand is used only as a support. For example, the word help requires the use of two hands. The non-dominant hand rests in the palm of the dominant hand, and the dominant hand then lifts (moves upward) to complete the sign. Also, there are times when both hands will be doing the exact same movement. A good example here is the word continue.
Obviously, there will always be some exceptions to this “dominant-hand rule”. For example, my first sign language teacher insisted that I must always use my right hand as my dominant. Now, for those who know me, I am a very strong left handed user. In fact, most of my family is left handed, but trying to be a good student, I did not object to the teacher’s requirement. From that day forward, I started signing with my right hand being the dominant one. However, on occasion, I will sign something like “throwing a ball” with my left hand, and not with my right. For simple signs like “ball”, it is okay to sign with either hand. You won’t go to sign language prison if you do this. However, the more consistent you can be with your dominant hand, either being left or right, the better your sign clarity will be.
The most important thing about sign language is that your expressed message needs to be understood by the receiver. So, a challenge to you the next time you are conversing with a person in sign language is to notice how many signs you express using the wrong hand. Then, come back and share your numbers with us. We would love to receive your follow-up.
Thank you to this reader for sending us this question. If you have questions that you would like to see answered in this blog, please send them to us at info@asldeafined.com .
The Use of Synonyms in American Sign Language (ASL)
Synonyms in American Sign Language are powerful to know when learning this vast language. For example, if you were to sign “car”, what else could that sign represent? It could represent the words: Vehicle, automobile, transportation, and auto. You can probably think of an additional word or two that also means “car”.
Many times when people are learning American Sign Language (ASL), they have a tendency to focus only on the gloss (basic) word, and not the other words associated with that particular sign. For example, think of the sign for “father”. What additional words can you think of that would match this sign? I can think of “papa”, “dad”, and “pa”. Do you know others? Remember, ASL is based on concepts, and not on the English language.
I want to challenge you to think of as many synonyms for some of the words you have already learned how to sign. Again, an example could be: Anniversary. Some synonyms would be: Holiday, jubilee, festival, fiesta, celebration, and perhaps others that you might think of. All of them use the same sign to convey the concept of the word “anniversary”.
In the video examples below, can you think of synonyms that are associated with these signs?
