Wlliam G. Vicars, EdD, 2/2/2024
The Myth that Titles and Proper Names are Always Spelled in ASL
Allow me to share with you a direct quote from someone giving advice in an
online ASL discussion group:
"Any book titles, song titles, anything with titles or proper names are always
fingerspelled."
That is a myth.
Most students have learned by now that when the word "always" shows up as part
of an answer option on a test -- it is usually a wrong answer. We should be
cautious about claiming that Deaf people or the Deaf Community as a whole
"always" do anything.
If you are Deaf and if you actually know ASL and if you actually interact with
other Deaf in the Deaf community you know that we don't always spell out titles.
The reality is: It depends.
How you handle titles and proper names depends on context and your audience.
In real life, real Deaf people communicating with other real Deaf people in
North American Deaf Language (ahem, real life ASL) -- tend to use a variety of
techniques to efficiently convey information about titles and proper names.
For example, suppose you've been reading the book "At Night All Blood is Black."
In real life if your friend asks you what book you are reading you can generally
just sign:
NIGHT ALL BLOOD BLACK
If you friend opens an internet search app and types:
book night all blood black
-- the first result (and the next half a dozen results as of 2024) all have to
do with the book "At Night All Blood Is Black"
Suppose instead that we are in a Deaf Education classroom and discussing
specific books and you are the teacher's assistant and the teacher wants you to
write on the board "At Night All Blood Is Black."
Let's take an other example. Suppose you were reading "The Fellowship of the
Ring," (the first book in what is often referred to as The Lord of the Rings
trilogy). In real life if someone asks you what book you are reading and you can
generally respond by signing:
LORD RING
FIRST-of-three
-- the other person (if they know ASL and are at familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's
writing) instantly knows what book you are reading.
The simple fact is that everyday users of ASL are generally not going to waste
time fingerspelling something that can be more quickly signed and still result
in an acceptable level of understanding.
If you are communicating with a copy editor, graphic designer, typesetter, or
some other cross-language bilingual circumstance such as participating in an
English format spelling bee -- then sure, you'd better spell things out.
If you are chatting with a Deaf friend who you know is a bookworm and you spell
out every title letter-by-letter -- you might soon notice that your friend is
looking at you with an annoyed, impatient facial expression.
Pragmatic competence is the ability to use language effectively in various
contexts (situations), adapting to social and cultural norms. It includes
understanding things like idioms, metaphors, politeness, tone, and when it's
appropriate to bend or break the rules of grammar and syntax for effect or to
fit in with societal norms.
Online and in your classes you may find people or sources that will recite to
you all sorts of grammatical rules that they read somewhere, their ASL teacher
(who may not actually hang out in the Deaf Community) told them, or their
(typically Hearing) interpreter claimed was the case -- but following those
rules in every situation without paying attention to the context and your
audience -- will result in you often being grammatically right but pragmatically
(real life) incompetent.
Let's consider for a moment how English handles title case, which is commonly
used for book titles, movie titles, and other similar titles.
English grammar rules can vary depending on the style guide being followed (such
as APA, MLA, or Chicago), but generally English title case capitalizes major
words and leaves smaller, less significant words in lowercase.
Typically, major words in the title, such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs, are capitalized. However, smaller words, such as articles,
conjunctions, and short prepositions (usually fewer than four letters), are
usually not capitalized unless they are the first or last word in the title.
For example, the first "The" in "The Lord of the Rings" is capitalized (when
using English title case) because the first word of a title is always
capitalized, regardless of its part of speech or length. Later, in the title
"The Lord of the Rings," the words "of the" fall into the category of smaller
words that are generally not capitalized in titles. ("Of" is a short preposition
and "the" is an article. That's why they are lowercase in the title.)
Our "The Lord of the Rings" example helps us see that the rule for English
proper names and titles is more complex than just "capitalize all words" in a
title.
Similarly way skilled ASL users handle ASL titles and proper names is more
complex than just "spell out titles and proper names."
A short, pithy rule is quite simply inadequate to legitimately encapsulate how
titles and proper names are handled in ASL.
The following list of suggested approaches to ASL titles and proper names is
presented not as a rule but as a list of suggested approaches.
ASL titles and proper names suggested approaches:
1. The more important it is to be able to exactly translate a title back and
forth from English to a signed modality -- the more likely you will need to
fingerspell rather than use signs.
2. If the title involves concepts typically expressed by signs that have two or
more possible English translations you are more likely to need to fingerspell
those concepts.
3. If a signer prefers to not mouth words yet still wants to indicate specific
English words it is more likely that the signer will choose to fingerspell those
words.
4. The more common and well known a title is -- the less likely fingerspelling
will be used if more efficient signs are available.
5. Titles in ASL will tend to transition from being spelled on first
introduction to later being signed if the related signs are more efficient than
fingerspelling.
6. Words in English titles that do not have common ASL equivalents are more
likely to be spelled if it is important for the communication participants to
eventually be able to produce or recognize the exact English title.
7. The more the same title is discussed in any one discussion or set of
discussions, the more likely fingerspelled words in the title will become
lexicalized (shortened / blended) or replaced by more efficient sign equivalents
or near equivalents.
8. If the title is presented in visual form (such as a person holding up a book
and the title is able to be read by the conversation partner or audience) the
need for fingerspelling is lessened because the audience can see the exact
English title and will associate reasonably close signed approximations as
representing that exact English title.
9. The more the communication participants want to maintain access to or
awareness of the English nuances and specificities -- the more likely
fingerspelling will be used.
10. If a title originates in ASL (for example, if it is an ASL poem, play, or
movie) it is more likely to consist of signs than of fingerspelling. A title may
consist of multi-meaning signs or signs that out-of-context are untranslatable
without listing numerous potential translations.
Examples, suggestions for additional suggested approaches, and other
considerations:
(Feel free to post your ideas below.)
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* Consideration: Actually fingerspelling is a series of individual signs
(articulatory bundles of information consisting of a handshape, location, palm
orientation, transitions, and a hold) typically referred to as "letters." So,
when you are fingerspelling you are still "signing" (using signs) but for this
discussion we will consider fingerspelling and signing to be separate visual
modes of expression even though fingerspelling is a type of signing.
Notes:
Also see: The myth
of always needing to fingerspell brand names, proper nouns, and titles
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