Introduction to American Sign Language through the SCA

5 Sign Parameters

So now that you understand how fingerspelling and classifiers cover a lot of signs, you can see how they compare to some of the following regarding the 5 sign parameters. Sign parameters are how a sign "behaves" within a signer's space. This includes moving your hands/arms, your body, and your face. 

• • Handshape

    • Consists of the manual alphabet and other handshapes (like Classifiers).

      • Ex. BLUE, GREEN, PURPLE, YELLOW.

      • Ex. RED, PINK.

      • Ex. TAN, BROWN.

      • Ex. GOLD, SILVER. 

      • Ex. SORRY, PLEASE.

      • Ex. SCHOOL, IMPOSSIBLE.

      • Ex. COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY.

      • Ex. CANDY, APPLE, PICKLE. 

  • Hand/Palm Orientation

    • Palm facing out, facing in, horizontal, facing left/right, palm toward palm, palm up/down.

      • Ex. HORSE, RABBIT.

      • Ex. SOCKS, STAR.

      • Ex. SCHOOL, STOP.

  • Hand Location

    • Signs can start in one location and end in another. Chin, shoulder, front of body, front left/right of body, forehead, etc.

      • Ex. DRY, SUMMER, UGLY. 

      • Ex. APPLE, ONION. 

      • Ex. MOTHER, FATHER. 

      • Ex. GLASS, METAL.

  • Movement

    • In a circle, up/down, forward, backward, tapping, back/forth, wiggle.

      • Ex. MIND, THINK-ABOUT.

      • Ex. FLY, AIRPLANE. 

      • Ex. HAPPY, ENJOY.

  • Facial Expression/Non-Manual Markers/Signals

    • Non-Manual Marker refers to facial expression or body movement to convey additional meaning. Not used for all signs. Head nod/shake/tilt, eyebrow movement, nose, eyes, lips. 

      • Ex. WINTER, COLD. 

      • Ex. LATE, NOT YET. 

• Movement is the parameter we use to differentiate some nouns and verbs. CHAIR vs TO-SIT. WINDOW vs OPEN/CLOSE-WINDOW. TENT vs TO-CAMP. MIND vs THINK-ABOUT. AIRPLANE vs TO-FLY. FOOD vs TO-EAT. The noun is usually a small double "tap" motion, the verb is usually a larger one-time-sweep motion. The window examples are also prime examples of the movement of classifiers, WINDOW being signed with a B classifier. Another example would be if I was signing a car driving versus a motorcycle (both using the 3 classifier), chances are with a motorcycle my 3 classifier will be leaning as it swerves from lane to lane. A car probably wouldn't (or shouldn't) be leaning so much going from lane to lane. 

• Many ASL words will combine parameters. Ex. PARENTS has one handshape, one movement, one hand orientation, and has two locations. Parents primarily differs from MAN by swapping the general start/end locations. 

Classifiers (CL)

• What the heck is a Classifier!? While many of these are typically taught in ASL 3-4 in colleges, classifiers are a great way to show you that you are able to sign a great many things without knowing an exact ASL sign for an exact English world. Several are listed below for you to learn!

• First, what is a non-manual marker? Non-manual markers are facial expressions, head positions, and body positions that provide grammatical context to the manual signs. Classifiers are non-manual markers of the hands associated with certain categories/classes of things like size, shape, or use. They do not represent specific words, context is key!

• CL: 3, vehicles (car, train, ship, motorcycle)

• CL: 1 (one, not I), long thin things (person, pole, stick, pipeline, trail, etc.). 

  • One version of CONSORT is to bring an A-handshape classifier together with both of your hands, shaking back and forth (like signing WITH but as if you treasure being with that person). Another version is signing 1 classifier with both your hands together the same way. The East Kingdom sign heralds have also conversed about using "FOLLOW-PERSON,", "INSPIRE-PERSON,"  and "SUPPORT-PERSON" as alternative signs for CONSORT.  Another way to express CONSORT is to express the person who is linked with the King (or the person "in control").

    •  This is a perfect example of how a Silent Herald who may not know a sign can still express the gist of what is being said, perhaps expressing 'the person who is linked with a fighter' if they forgot or didn't know one of the various signs for CONSORT. You're not a licensed interpreter, as a beginner Sign Herald, you're just signing the meaning to get to the point!

• CL: C

  • represents thick cylindrical item (CAN, CUP), thick items (BOOK, LAYER OF SNOW), and some other things. 

• CL: 5

  • In a claw-like form a 5 classifier can represent a lot of something, a crowd/AUDIENCE, a pile (laundry), a snowball, a bush, a LOCATION. Orientation of the hand changes meaning.

  • When flat, whether moving or not, a 5 classifier can represent things like a LEAF, a FLAME, CANDLE, ALARM, WIND, RAIN/SNOW, and more.

• CL: V (or 2)

  • when pointed up, V can represent two people walking/moving. When pointed down with bent knuckles can be someone sitting. Or an animal moving. When straight down can be a person walking, JUMP, DANCE, FALL (on your butt), anything on two legs. 

• CL: L, 2 hands

  • Small rectangular things (credit card, check, certificate/license). L bent at knuckles indicate circular things (small dish, dinner plate, etc.).

• CL: B

  • represents flat things (wall, roof, window). Palm down = bed, table. Palm up = book, magazine. 

• CL: 4

  • can represent a long line of people, people moving in a line, running water. 

• CL: A, thumb up

  •  indicates location of an object (like a house or a lamp). 

• CL: G

  • represents thin things, short things, like a thin pizza or short hair or a narrow sword. 

• (Some) ASL Classifiers Video. The CL: 11 from the video, if signed in a horizontal plane instead of a vertical plane (like miming on a floor instead of a wall), is actually one of the signs used for an "Eric," the fighting ground in rapier as seen in Niko(laos) Phaistos' YouTube channel from Caid. 

• Another Learn ASL Classifiers for Beginners Video.

What Words Aren't Included in ASL?

• And, or, the, of, a, are, be, is.

  • You may still see some of these words included by signers or interpreters at an event if they are stressing something that was spoken so that the person observing the signer doesn't miss anything that had been spoken, but during ASL conversation are usually not used. Why might these words by used by a signed herald or interpreter? Perhaps someone was using period grammar or lexicon. "Henceforth," "and so..." etc. 

• You don't say "not" for every way of conveying negation. For example, you don't say NOT LIKE for "don't like" or NOT KNOW for "don't know." You'll see other ways to convey negation in the lessons below. 

• Deaf people tend to be more direct, so some English idioms tend to not be used. "Cat got your tongue?" wouldn't really make sense. There may be something signed as an alternative to the idiom spoken. Some idioms can still be interpreted directly. 

Compound Nouns

• A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more existing words. Most, if not all, languages have them. English has ladybug, toothbrush, water tank, dining table, etc. China says "business goose" for penguin and Germany says "shield toad" for turtle or "hand shoe" for glove. ASL is no exception to having compound nouns. ASL shares compound nouns with English like BOYFRIEND, but it makes compound nouns out of English words that are not compound nouns for occupations like STUDENT or TEACHER as "study person" or "teaching person". It also has more unique ones like "Jesus Book" means BIBLE and "boy/girl sibling" means BROTHER/SISTER.

  • Compound nouns like STUDENT and TEACHER  show "learning + person affix" and "teaching + person affix," or "learning + personifier" and "teaching + personifier," adding a personification morpheme turning a verb/noun into a person when it becomes an occupation. FLY + AGENT = PILOT. LAW + AGENT = LAWYER. STUDY + AGENT = STUDENT. TEACH + AGENT = TEACHER. AUDIOLOGY + AGENT = AUDIOLOGIST. 

  • Some occupations and other words don't have a person affix, like SECRETARY, KING/QUEEN, PRINCE/PRINCESS. 

Gendered Placement of Signs

• Signs relating to women, such as SISTER or MOTHER are signed toward the bottom half of the face. Signs relating to men, such as BOYFRIEND or GRANDFATHER are signed toward the top half of the face. For people who identify as neither, or perhaps if a written description wasn't clear on the gender, the sign can be made in the middle of the face.

  • This is why the English statement of "My cousin went to the store," is not indicative of what gender the cousin is, but for the most part in ASL, you'll know if the cousin if male, female, or gender neutral by the way the word COUSIN is signed. 

  • The sign GAY is often encouraged to be fingerspelled because the original sign suggests femininity being signed by the chin. GAY only being 3 letters makes it an easy transition, and many 3-lettered words, unless they are commonly used in English/the written language like "sit", are fingerspelled. 

• The East Kingdom Sign Heralds are moving away from certain gendered nouns. Signs like MOM, DAD, and BOYFRIEND will keep their gendered positioning as ASL uses, but the East Kingdom Sign Heralds intend to sign occupational roles like BARON and BARONNESS the same way regardless of the gender of the person, there will be no indication of "BOY+BARON" or "GIRL+BARON", simply "BARON". 

Mouth Morphemes

• Mouth morphemes are another kind of non-manual marker (one of the kinds of non-manual marker parameters of sign), you make facial expressions with your mouth to express a particular message. There are three kinds: 1) they emphasise the meaning of the sign (mouth "la-la-la" when showing how far away you parked your car), 2) slightly change the meaning (the difference between COLD and WINTER), or 3) completely changing the meaning of the sign. For beginner signers, when learning mouth morphemes, I would stick to the first two types and slowly build up your knowledge of type three as you continue your studies. The blue book listed above covers mouth morphemes really well. Here are some to get you started (mouth the "sound" you see on the left, don't speak it):

  • /cha/ = large, tall, voluminous. 

  • /eee/ = dislike, despise, hate.

  • /fsh/ = finish, stop it.

  • /la-la-la/ = far away, long (line, list).

  • /mmm/ (slightly puckered lips) = enjoying something, medium-sized.

  • /ooo/ = cold, old, skinny/small/thin, soon, hard, strict

Negation

• A mistake a lot of new signers will make is signing "not" before every noun or verb. The most commonly used words combined with negation will never use the sign for "not." 

  • Throw-away signs, or "Reversal of Orientation" signs - throwing the sign away means the opposite of the first meaning.

    • KNOW/DON'T-KNOW

    • WANT/DON'T-WANT

    • GOOD/BAD

    • LIKE/DON'T-LIKE

    • INTERESTED/UNINTERESTED

      • Uninterested can be signed like don't-like with two hands, but it can also be signed "not interest" or "interest none". 

  • Some signs already have "opposite" signs that are not negations.

    • COME/GO

    • UP/DOWN

    • YOURS/MINE

    • ASK/ANSWER

  • Negative declarative statements.

    • Have not = NOT HAVE, NOT YET, NEVER, NONE, NOTHING.

      • The sign for "not" can be left out while still conveying "not" by using negative facial grammar (negative manual markers): shake your head, scrunch your face, frown. 

      • You may use "not" to replace negative prefixes (dis-, il-, in-, im-, ir-, un-, etc.).

      • -less [fingerspell]. or add NONE to the end. MERCY + (fs)LESS, MERCY + NONE, NONE + MERCY. All three mean MERCILESS. Child-free/childless. Regarding "not" being left out as a way to sign _____-less, "I don't pity you" or "pitiless" (mercy and pity having the same sign) could also be signed: PITY shaking your head, scrunching your face with a frown. 

    • CAN'T. WON'T/REFUSE (refuse is supposed to be signed as a bigger version of won't). DON'T (shake your head with "not"). 

    • ILLEGAL (also means "not allowed"), WITHOUT.

Grouping Signs by Similarity and Topic.

• MATH, ALGEBRA, GEOMETRY, TRIGONOMETRY, CALCULUS.

• SCIENCE, BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY. (You may say "Arts and Sciences" more regularly in the SCA, and there's certainly a lot of chemistry in cooking.)

• CLUSTER words: FAMILY, CLASS, GROUP, TEAM, ORGANIZATION. In the SCA, Guild may be signed as GROUP. 

• Many SCA signs can be considered grouping signs, like KING/QUEEN, PRINCE/PRINCESS, BARON/BARONESS, etc. but those will be listed below the ASL Lessons section in the SCA signs section.

• Another example we can see in the SCA beyond titles in court is with DEFEND and GUARD which can be signed with a D-handshape and a G-handshape using the same motion as PROTECT. While these handshapes are not necessarily used for the actual signs in ASL, these interpretations HAVE been used by both Silent Heralds and Interpreters who have chosen to post their videos online within SCA context. In other words, these may not be considered standard ASL signs, but ARE considered signs used in the Society or within your Kingdom.

• As you learn sign, you'll start to recognize some patterns of related words. All of the above examples only differ (within each bullet-point) by using the first-listed parameter of sign language, hand shape. 

Pronouns and Indexing

• Personal Pronouns

  • I/ME, YOU, HE/SHE/IT, THOSE/THEY/THEM/THESE, THIS, WE/US , ALL-OF-YOU, all signed with pointing index finger, D-shaped hand.

  • TWO-OF-YOU, TWO-OF-THEM, TWO-OF-US, all signed with a K-shaped hand. 

• Possessive Pronouns

  • MY/MINE, YOUR/YOURS, HIS/HER/HERS/ITS/THEIR/THEIRS, OUR/OURS, all signed with a modified B-shaped hand. 

• Reflexive Pronouns

  • MYSELF, YOURSELF, HIMSELF/HERSELF/ITSELF/THEMSELF, YOURSELVES, THEMSELVES, OURSELVES, all signed with an A-shaped hand. THINK-SELF = "it's up to you," or "as you wish."

• The LINGVANO app explains the following pronoun grammar very well regarding turning + pointing as well as ordering first through last. I have not found a great video to explain them.

•  When referring to "he/she/it", or referring to people that are absent, there are a few things to choose from that you must do before using the above pronouns in a sentence. You have to establish who they are first.

  • If you are talking about two people, let's call them Adam and Mary, you must first indicate who is in which space.

    • Point to your right, fingerspell (fs)MARY. Point to your left, fingerspell (fs)ADAM. Now, every time you point to your right, the person watching you will know you are talking about Mary. And every time you point to your left, the person watching you will know you are talking about Adam.

      • How this can play out:

        • (turn right) fingerspell (fs)MARY, (turn left) fingerspell (fs)ADAM. (point right to indicate she) SHE LIKE (point left) HIM. SHE LIKE HIM. Mary likes Adam. 

    • Another example of the same idea, let's say a horse likes a blue cup, you must first indicate which is in which place. 

      • Point to your right, sign HORSE. Point to your left, sign CUP+BLUE. Now, every time you point to your right, the person watching you will know you are talking about the horse. And every time you point to your left the person watching you will know you are talking about the blue cup.

      • How this can play out:

        • (turn right) HORSE, (turn left) CUP+BOUE, (point right to indicate) IT/HE LIKE (point to left) IT. HE LIKE IT. He (the horse) likes the blue cup. 

  • You can also list people instead of pointing at them in a space. 

    • To write out the video linked above, let's say you are talking about your children. You have four, on your non-dominant hand, hold up the number four. 

    • Using your dominant hand, tap your pointer finger on to your non-dominant pointer finger. You will be speaking about the first-born, or eldest, child. Fingerspell this person's name. From now on, every time you point to your non-dominant hand's pointer finger, the person watching you sign will know which child is your eldest because you've already told the observer your first child's name. If you tap the second finger down on your non-dominant hand, you will be talking about the second-born child and after fingerspelling that child's name, any time you point to that finger the observer will already know which child you are referring to... and so on. 

Directional Words

• Introduction to Directional Verbs Video. 

• Another ASL Directional Signs Video.

• ASK/ASK, ANSWER, BEG, BRING, CALL, COME/GO, CHASE, DRIVE, FLY, GIVE, HELP, HIT, INFORM, MOVE, PAY, SEE/WATCH, SHOW, TEASE, TELL, THROW.

• I SHOW YOU.

• YOU TELL ME.

• HE GIVE ME.

• SHE TEASE HIM.

Making Things Plural

• English will ask, "How many classes have you taken up?" ASL prefers the singular. HOW-MANY ART SCIENCE CLASS YOU TAKE-UP (I've seen people sign TAKE-UP with one hand as well).

• You can also make something plural by adding a number to it. "I am taking two classes." I TAKE-UP 2 CLASS. 1 dog, 2 dogs, several dogs, many dogs = 1 DOG, 2 DOG, SEVERAL DOG, MANY DOG.

• Other quantifying words include: (fs)ALL/ALL, PILE (CL: 5 claw), BOTH, EACH/EVERY (EVERYONE), ANY (ANYONE), SOME, FEW/SEVERAL, NONE. 

• The cluster affix as listed above in Grouping Signs by Similarity: CLASS, FAMILY, GROUP, TEAM, ORGANIZATION, CLUSTER AFFIX (using 5-claw classifier hand shape). 

• Repetition/reduplication /++/. Moving toward the dominant side of the body. EAST KINGDOM CROWN CROWN THEY NEED. "They need the East Kingdom crowns." Exceptions not moving to the dominant side: years and years (YEAR++), thousands of people (THOUSAND++ PEOPLE)

• Plural Pronouns: WE/US/ALL-OF-YOU/THEY/THEM

• Some words use the plural S when fingerspelling: (fs)TOOLS, (fs)JEANS, (fs)SEEDS, (fs)BILLS.

• Plurality can stem from adjectives and verbs:

  • "We enjoy different foods." WE ENJOY DIFFERENT++ FOOD.

  • "I often meet friends at events." I OFTEN MEET++ FRIEND EVENT. Alternative sign for event is HAPPEN, however, I have seen most Silent Heralds use the first sign listed here, as explained in the dictionary below. 

  • "She shopped many stores." SHE SHOP++ STORE DIFFERENT++. 

• There are "non-count" nouns like categories of mass (JEWELRY and HOMEWORK), abstract (ADVICE), academics (ART and SCIENCE), activities (BALLET, (fs)CHESS), EMOTIONS (FUN, PRIDE), gerunds - verbs that serve as nouns (PAINTING, KNITTING), illnesses (DEHYDRATION), physical states (EXHAUSTION, HUNGER, THIRST).

Does ASL use the Possessive /'s/?

• Yeah but rarely. "Driver's license" is actually signed as DRIVE LICENSE. "My boyfriend's name is Michael" is actually signed as MY BOYFRIEND HIS NAME (fs)MICHAEL. What about brand names like Levi's? (of Levi Strauss)? No, it's (fs)LEVIS. 

  • As with all languages there are exceptions, some of which are in proper names like Denny's, Carl's Jr, Macy's. McDonald's has its own sign name (think about the arches, God bless the golden arches). 

• So apart from those exceptions, where would you use it? Use it in number systems. 1980s in English becomes 1980's in ASL. 

Them Eyebrows Tho (Another Non-Manual Marker)

Questions

• YES/NO Questions, *raise the eyebrows* and tilt head forward when asking. 

  • "Do you need a restroom?" YOU NEED RESTROOM/TOILET? *raise eyebrows*

    • restroom/toilet note: do not wiggle R for restroom like you do T for toilet. Wiggling R back and forth means READY, though it is normally signed with two hands.  

• Wh-word questions, scrunch the eyebrows when asking the question. Wh-words go at the end of Wh- questions. (Wh-words are WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, asking HOW/MUCH/MANY (motion up) versus saying MANY (motion down). 

  • "Why do you need me?" YOU NEED ME WHY? *scrunch eyebrows*

  • "Who is your friend?" WHO YOUR FRIEND WHO? *scrunch eyebrows*

• **Question Mark Wiggle** - can be used to add doubt or incredulousness to a question. 

  • "You're a knight?! You're really a knight!?" YOU KNIGHT YOU? YOU REALLY KNIGHT YOU? *raise eyebrows* *finger wiggle wiggle*

• Rhetorical Questions, they're not really questions, signing a wh-word is like saying "because" or "is" in English.  

  • "I'm hungry. Why? I didn't eat yet." "I'm hungry because I didn't eat yet." I HUNGRY, WHY? I EAT NOT-YET. 

  • "Who is that woman? My squire." "That woman is my squire" THAT WOMAN WHO? MY SQUIRE.

  • "I passed the class. How? I studied." "I passed the class because I studied." I PASS CLASS, HOW? I STUDY. 

• This/That questions. 

  • Turning the body, or using the words one right after the other, to ask. Leaning can help you distinguish between two or more listed items, but you can list them one right after the other if they are closely related.

    • YOU HEARING DEAF YOU? "Are you hearing or deaf?"

    • YOU PREFER WATER TEA WHICH? "Do you prefer water or tea?"

Beyond Questions

• Topicalization, *raise your eyebrows* when referring to the topic (t) of the conversation. Scrunch your eyebrows if using a wh- question word, rhetorical or otherwise. 

  • That man is my knight. MY KNIGHT (t), THAT MAN. THAT MAN(t) WHO? MY KNIGHT.

  • Can be answered as a topicalized Wh- rhetorical question or a topicalized statement.

  • Topicalization can be used in non-rhetorical questions.

    • Whose tent is that in camp? TENT THAT CAMP? *raise eyebrows* WHO? *scrunch eyebrows*

• Conditional sentences: If/then statements. Raise your eyebrows for the "if" portion of the if/then statement. 

  • "If it rains tomorrow, the tournament will be canceled." TOMORROW RAIN, TOURNAMENT CANCEL. 

• Declarative Sentences (lots of Non-Manual Markers)

  • Affirmative Declarative - Nod your head, changing face depending on degree or intensity of affirmation. I LIKE (fs)BIRKA. I LOOOOOOVE (fs)PENNSIC. 

  • Negative Declarative - Shake your head, scrunch your face, appropriate facial expression. "I'm not finished fighting you." I FIGHT YOU FINISH NOT-YET. "I have no squires." SQUIRE, I HAVE NONE.

  • Neutral Declarative - Neutral head position. "My sister wants to learn rapier." MY SISTER WANT LEARN RAPIER. "I'm volunteering." I VOLUNTEER.