- and a few suggested ways to discuss and ask questions about ASL in online
groups:
Problematic wording: "What is the sign for ____?"
Safer wording: "What are some ways to sign _____?"
Problematic wording: "That's the sign for ____."
Safer wording: "That's a sign for ____."
It is rare that there is only "one" sign for any particular concept. Since there are often multiple signs or versions of signs that could be used to express a topic I would suggest that we lean toward allowing for the existence of signs of which we personally might not be aware.
Problematic wording: "That's not how it is signed."
Safer wording: "I sign it differently."
Problematic wording: "That's wrong."
Safer wording: "I'm not familiar with the sign you used. Did you mean _____? If
so, here are some links to examples of that sign that seem fairly common [insert
links].
Problematic wording: "That's Signed English!"
Safer wording: "I've see a way to sign that concept without using the English
initial as the handshape. Here's a link [insert link here]."
Some people seem to delight (or simply knee jerk) in mislabeling all initialized
signs as "Signed English." That is a naive approach to language discussion,
learning, and teaching.
Definition: "naive" -- "(of a person or action) showing a lack of experience,
wisdom, or judgment." (Source: Oxford)
ASL is a "continuum" ranging from "highly depictive" signing to a type of
signing that allows everyday Deaf people to live in a diglossic sub-society in
which we must (at least occasionally) interact with members of the larger more
dominant society (that happen to speak and write English) and from which we have
borrowed their orthography for script or text-based communication. (In other
words, when ASL signers need to write or type -- we do so in English). Ignoring
this relationship or pretending it doesn't exist is, again, naive.
Definition: "continuum" -- a continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are
not perceptibly different from each other, although the extremes are quite
distinct. (Source: Oxford).
Definition: "diglossia" -- a situation in which two languages (or two varieties
of the same language) are used under different conditions within a community,
often by the same speakers. (Source: Oxford)
Definition: "orthography" -- the conventional spelling system of a language."
(Source: Oxford)
Notes: