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From:
Cecelia Smith Date: Tue Dec 14, 1999 12:12 am Subject: Re: Writing Legs & Feet | |
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Hello Fernando; The sign that I described is not only NOT listed in any ASL dictionaries, but I have been told that it is not really a sign. (I disagree with this...the people who tell me it is not a sign are, in my opinion, biased towards the concept that only signs made in the sign space are signs, and that everything else is a gesture. When I have people from several different regions not only use the same motions and for the exact same meaning...well, for me, that makes it a sign.) I'm just a poor hearing student...what do *I* know. <grin> It is true that over time, signs in ASL have migrated towards the common sign space. This tendency is natural to all languages. If you study various spoken languages you will see that historically audible phonemes have shifted from more complex to less complex ... more centered, and easily produced. There is no logical reason why signed phonemes would be any different. What handicaps many people in this area, IN MY OPINION, is the blind spot that does not recognize that NEW signs may be developed that are outside of the sign space. It will possibly take a few generations for the sign I described to first become extremely well known, and then to begin to shift to a different production area. I am interested in other signs that are made well outside of the sign space.....you said that in your language, there are many? <grin> Cool! As for the 2 cents.... nice to know the investment is paying dividends! writes: << Does Cecilia, or Valerie, or any colleague from our list have any idea of whether that sign described by Cecelia may be found in any ASL dictionary (such as Costello's)? >> ==================== Make Christmas shopping easy...go to CascadeGifts.com Put CLS in the discount code area of your first order for a 15% discount! |
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