ASL is produced in such a way that it is not necessary to be exact. The main impetuous for changing sign shapes are conservation of movement or adding a new shade of meaning. I have noted several patterns of sign changes. ***PLEASE NOTE*** ALL OF THE SIGN ETYMOLOGIES PRESENTED HERE ARE GUESSES!!! These are only based upon my personal interpretation of sign similarities. I have done no actual research of Deaf communities to reach these conclusions. 1) Finger-spelling to solitary movement or truncated spelling When ASL was first being designed by Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc, the words Yes and No were spelled out using handshapes for the letters. In any school, these would be in very common use. Thus the exact finger-spelling became quicker and more brief until a single-movement sign was recognized by newer students. "Yes" etymology supposition
- Finger-spelled words use handshapes that are palm-out. - Y-E-S turned into Y-S because the E is similar in shape to the S. - Y-S turned into Y-move down-S because the hand moves down slightly when closing into the S fist. - Y-move down-S turned into S-move down because the ending letter in fingerspelling is held longer and remembered best. - Thus new students recognized the S handshape as an icon representing the teacher's head and the wrist as representing the relatively thinner neck. "No" etymology supposition - Finger-spelled N-O turned into N-slide thumb-two finger O (closed-N) because to save the effort of extending the ring and pinky fingers. - N-slide thumb-two finger O turned into open N-closed N because the ending letter in fingerspelling is held longer and remembered best. - Thus new students recognized the snapping-shut N handshape as an icon representing the teacher's mouth, sternly closed in disappointment. Along these lines, many fingerspelled words themselves are simply truncated. The letter C starting a word looks like the "resting" handshape and so gets missed. The vowels A, E, and O are used very frequently in English. When fingerspelling, these handshapes often get skipped because they blend into the transition between the surrounding letters. AIR - #IR BACK - #BK CAR - #AR Proper names with multiple words are sometimes signed using just the inital letters of the names. FRED MEYER - #FM MC DONALDS - #MD 2) Iconic sign borrowing letters from English synonyms or antonyms Many signs start out using handshapes to create an aerial icon for some aspect of an object or a common movement it makes. Once this sign is associated with an English word, some signs simply substitute an English synonym's or antonym's starting letter to connote a different shade of meaning to the sign without needing too much ingenuity. "Please" etymology supposition - The open-B hand rubbing the stomach implies good food that is pleasing to taste. - Much of ASL communication depends on the eyes, so signs by the stomach or legs are difficult to see. The stomach rubbing was moved up to the chest. - For good manners, the English word please is used when making a request. The "pleased" ASL word copies the English usage. 3) Initialized signs Instead of trying to find conceptual images, some synonyms and antonyms simply change the handshape of a known sign to the initial letter of the related word. "Sorry" etymology supposition
- Sorry describes the opposite of pleasure. Thus the ASL Sorry word takes the ASL Pleased word and changes the handshape to match the leading S letter for Sorry . - The thumb knuckle does not feel good when rubbing the chest with the S palm-in handshape. The sign is now made with an A handshape, which looks like a flattened S handshape.
3) Wrist tilt tendencies Handshapes formed within the area in front of the chest tend to have the fingers pointed out. This is because of the extra work the shoulders or wrist would have to exert in order to keep the fingers pointed up. This causes most signs that are made in front of the chest to use a handshape's with fingers pointing forward and the palm to be down or to the side. Door etymology supposition
- The ASL word Door uses two B handshapes in front of the face, palms-out. - When signing entire sentences, the speaker tries to keep the wrists relaxed. Thus the ASL word Door as signed in a sentence would likely be made in front of the chest with the fingers pointing forward, palms-down. Law etymology supposition
- The ASL word Law uses the left hand flat handshape to represent an open book and the right hand L handshape to represent the Law being put into the book. If the shoulders bring the elbows out far enough, both handshapes are raised to the level of the face and the fingers are pointed up, right hand with a downward movement following the left fingers' axis while bouncing to the right and back. - When signing entire sentences, the speaker tries to keep the shoulders relaxed. Thus the ASL word Law as signed in a sentence would likely be made in front of the chest with the fingers pointing forward and the right hand making an inward movement to the left hand's wrist. 4) Regional variations As many changes as there can be, they certainly have different results in different situations. As most Deaf people were not very capable of earning enough money to travel far during ASL's formative years, Deaf communities were often isolated, not being influenced by other regions' sign variations for long periods of time. If an outside variation to a sign was incorporated into the community, they probably declared that neither sign was incorrect and continued to use both versions as synonyms. Story etymology supposition
- The ASL word Story originally resembled two hands flapping like mouths facing and talking to each other. - Signs with handshapes that face each other tend to be made very close together. Thus the ASL word Story became two wrapped C handshapes repeatedly coming apart to O handshapes. - The two C handshapes linked together resembled the ASL word Relationship with two 8 handshapes linked together. Thus in some regions the ASL word Story became two linked 8 handshapes repeatedly coming apart to separate 8 handshapes. - Eventually those who used the 8 handshape word came into contact with those that still preferred to use the C-O handshape word. Now these synonyms are used in alternating sentences to avoid over-repetition. |