Amara writes:
Hi,
I'm interested in learning sign language so I'm teaching myself
until I can join a class and I was wondering how would you sign
something if the two words you want to use have the same sign.
Example: "I really need a car." Really and need are the same sign
(which you know) do you have to sign both words or just one? If it's
just one word that is needed is there ever a time when you would
have to use the same twice? Also I know you prefer your students to
choose a dominant hand to sign which but is it wrong to switch
hands. I write with my left hand but I can do many things with my
right hand including signing and sometimes my dominant hand switches
because of this.
Amara
-------------------------------------
Amara,
Hello :)
"REALLY" and "NEED" are not the same sign.
"REALLY" uses a
version of the TRUE sign.
"NEED" is part of the "need, must,
have-to, should, ought-to" sign group.
To express the concept of "really need":
1. You could sign: "TRUE NEED"
2. You could exaggerate the sign for "need" by doing it a bit larger,
faster, and holding it a micro-second longer at the end.
The
sign NEED can be inflected (changed) to mean "really need"
by exaggerating
the movement of the NEED sign (without needing to add the sign "TRUE").
English concepts like "really," and "very"
are often incorporated directly into other signs by changing (emphasizing or
exaggerating) the way you do the sign (not by adding a sign for
"really" or "very").
Dr. Bill
See:
TRUE
See: NEED
You can learn
American Sign Language (ASL) online at American Sign Language University ™
ASL resources by Lifeprint.com © Dr. William Vicars
