HEARD: The
American Sign Language (ASL) sign for "heard"
(context)+(point at your ear) can mean: "heard"
Regardless of what you may have been told by any well-meaning ASL evangelists
and/or certain ASL teachers who don't actually hang out in the Deaf Community --
the term "heard" as in "have you heard?" or "I heard that..." is fairly common
in the (north American) Deaf community.
Below I'm going to provide some examples of "heard" used in the Deaf Community. Most of these examples are from Deaf people. All are from skilled signers. Even if some of the links break or the related videos get taken down or disappear the fact remains that as of the time of this writing (2023) the examples existed.
https://youtu.be/62hZWnSn3Rw?t=70
(person stating that she had "heard about that"...)
https://youtu.be/naXn8nsCJ-A?t=16
(person from a small town that no one has "heard of.")
https://youtu.be/3Wvd836gjZ4?t=2126 (person stating that she has "heard"
stories from the time she was very young."
https://youtu.be/cQ8Dl52X1u0?t=173
(person stating he had heard nothing back from potential employers)
https://youtu.be/nuIahWUtMrI?t=1144 (person wondering if the audience has
heard of an item)
https://youtu.be/zPByq25LahU?t=270 (person that "heard that" auditions were
happening)
https://youtu.be/WIs1RHhNwSA?t=168
(person using "heard" your stories)
https://youtu.be/BpzznbJO0t8?t=118
(vote being "heard)
https://youtu.be/Abk_HTo2CjU?t=246 ("I've heard that...")
https://youtu.be/73zUW76OOxg?t=101
https://youtu.be/bXPRc2_5waY?t=4249
https://youtu.be/rVAyqPGK5Vw?t=29
https://youtu.be/jp3ySsUB6xs?t=496
C handshape version:
https://youtu.be/gkJQYWx7bW8?t=312
ASL Stew talking about how the word Deaf has many meanings and how it is that
many Deaf can "hear."
https://youtu.be/MQac5B7rHN8?t=8
Notes:
Regardless what you may have been told, it is not uncommon to see Deaf sign: "I
heard that ..."
The use of "heard" in the Deaf Community is well documented and you can see a
list of examples at the "heard" entry at my website.
My point here is to encourage you to NOT engage in linguicism or shaming of Deaf
using ASL however we choose.
Communication is important and clout-chasing by engaging in the extremification
or purification of ASL limits communication options rather than expanding such
options. Lean toward semantic expansion!
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