A discussion and notes page:
Question:
An ASL student asked: "How do you say 'Do your best' in ASL?"
The student googled it and found a version but then was told by an ASL
interpreter that signing “do your best” in the way shown by the online source
was an English way of doing it and that it was “cringey.” The student was
asking in regard to the phrase “Do your best” in the context of the Boy Scout
oath. It is used generally to encourage the kids to do their best in everything
that they do in life.
Response / Answer:
Performance ASL, visual vernacular, de-initialized ASL, “O,SV” ASL, pure ASL,
right ASL, non-cringey ASL, the ASL your interpreter friend nods approvingly at
because they had a Hearing ASL teacher who learned ASL as a second language in
college, blah, blah, blah, the spectrum of signing done by North American Deaf
people is our language and we modify it to fit the situations in which we find
ourselves. (See: https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/nadl.htm)
Situation: Boy Scouts administrators come up with a motto that they decide would
be good for Boy Scouts leaders to teach Boy Scouts how to sign – the signing of
which will be only be viewed by other Boy Scouts, their parents, and those
aforementioned leaders.
In other words non-Deaf people decide to teach other non-Deaf people how to sign
a highly specific (frozen register) English phrase to still more non-Deaf people
and worry that some other non-Deaf person has told them their signing in Hearing
people’s English word order (apparently oblivious to the fact that ASL and
English have the same common basic word order, namely SVO).
All of you who think that the most common sign order in ASL is O,SV – need to do
a bit more research (or, ya know, maybe hang out with some actual Deaf people on
the weekends). Still don’t believe me, see:
https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/subject-verb-object-asl-sentence-structure.htm
(Argue with the linguists at Gallaudet if you like).
Then you need to stop giving English all the credit for SVO – as if English owns
that syntax. (Hint: It doesn’t).
Seriously, a billion+ people speak Mandarin Chinese – the most common word order
of which is (gasp) subject, verb, object!
If we use the same logic (?) as many ASL gurus (?) and teachers that signing in
SVO means you are signing English – well then we can state authoritatively that
English speakers are speaking Chinese!
Yes indeed! You see, the most common word order of Mandarin Chinese is SVO. No
lie! Look it up! That means you Hearing, English Speaking North Americans are
actually speaking Chinese because you are speaking in Chinese Word Order (CWO
for short) -- because, obviously, you are using SVO and we all know that if you
speak (or sign) in the same order as some other language that means you are in
fact using that language!
Quick, find me a peer review committee because I’ve *got* to publish that in an
academic research journal!
Ahem.
So, how do you sign “I will do my best”?
Let’s first put it in some context.
The Boy Scout Oath:
On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong,mentally awake, and morally straight.
A way (but not the only way) to sign that is:
I OATH MY BEST
RESPONSIBLE GOD COUNTRY
OBEY SCOUT LIST
HELP-(rounded-sweep) ALL TIME*
TAKE-CARE
CONTINUE MY BODY STRONG
MIND FOCUS open-MIND ANALYZE THINK-ABOUT ACTION PROPER
My point here is that the sign OATH literally means that I’m pledging my honor
in regard to something, someone, or some intended action.
In other words, “I promise you my best.”
What is fun here folks, is that the signs OATH, MY, BEST, RESPONSIBLE, GOD, and
COUNTRY all use flat or bent-hands and thus create a type of handshape rhyme.
The poetic interpretation also influences the choice of using the sign LIST
instead of the initialized sign LAW (since the Scout “law” is actually more of a
list than of a law – if you think about it). * We could sign ALWAYS instead of
ALL TIME but I won't be alive forever (at least not in this form) and dang that
flat hand in “ALL” sure does feel good coming off the sign HELP and mixed in
with all that flat-hand alliteration. (Normally I’d define alliteration at this
point but technology lets you look it up faster online than it would take me to
type it out.)
You could sign ACCOMPLISH after the sign BEST -- that would be a nice
interpretation of "do" but ACCOMPLISH perhaps adds more meaning than just
signing DO.
Instead of OBEY you could sign FOLLOW.
Instead of AWAKE you could sign MIND FOCUS open-MIND.
Instead of OATH from the lips you could touch the heart with the tip of the
middle finger of a 25-hand (the handshape you get when you form a 5-hand and
tilt the middle finger forward at the large knuckle) and then raise the hand
into the air.
Is the above gloss “the” “right” way to sign the Boy Scout Oath?
Instead of using the word "right" in regard to the signing of the Oath
-- let’s recognize that interpretations are
well, gee, -- interpretations. Then let's just call that particular
interpretation a generally "ok" interpretation but welcome any and every human on
earth to have a crack at interpreting it in their copious spare time.
Notes:
On Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 10:27:22 PM PDT, <█████████████@gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi Dr. Bill,
I am active in the Boy Scouts of America, and as I have been learning ASL, I
thought I'd learn how to sign "Boy Scout" and "Boy Scouts". From what I've found
online, there seems to be hundreds of ways to sign BOY SCOUT. My questions are:
1. Do you know what the correct sign is for BOY SCOUT (as in someone associated
with the Boy Scouts of America)?
2. What would be the sign for talking about the organization (BOY SCOUTS or BOY
SCOUTS OF AMERICA)?
3. I thought it'd help to practice ASL by signing the Scout Oath, Law, Motto &
Slogan (the four sayings that all Scouts memorize). For the Scout Law, though,
you say "A Scout is..." and then list a series of 12 adjectives. How would I
sign the "A Scout is..." part? Should I just spell the A and IS?
Thanks for your help.
██████████
Response from Bill,
I've always done the three-fingered salute as the sign for "boy scout" and also
for just "scout" (when referring to a boy scout).
I do a two-fingered salute to mean "cub scout."
As you mention, there exists a lot of conflict regarding signs related to "Boy
Scout" but a fairly solid way to sign "Boy Scouts of America" is to sign:
MALE SCOUT fs-OF AMERICA
The "MALE" sign can also be glossed as "BOY." In context it doesn't need to add
"SHORT."
Thus an approach to signing "Boy Scouts of America" is to sign:
BOY https://youtu.be/E-wBrs3PJhU
SCOUT https://youtu.be/CpMj7sHGsk8
spell: OF
AMERICA: https://youtu.be/PX77Dx-PbkI
To sign "A scout is..." you could sign SCOUT WHAT-rhet? -- using a rhetorical
WHAT (with raised eyebrows) then answer your question.
(Normally WHAT uses lowered eyebrows but the rhetorical version raises the
brows.)
There are other ways to approach "A scout is ... " such as:
SCOUT CHARACTER WHAT-rhet? Then list the traits.
Or sign SCOUT HIMSELF using the ITSELF sign: https://youtu.be/H5iorsIozPI then
signing the traits.
Warm regards,
+ Bill
________________________
William G. Vicars, Ed.D.