Transcript Fingerspelling in American Sign Language

Fingerspelling in American Sign
Language
Carol A. Padden
University of California, San Diego
October 2009
Questions
• How is fingerspelling used in ASL?
• Is fingerspelling English?
• How should we teach fingerspelling in ASL
classes?
• What should interpreters know about
fingerspelling?
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Fingerspelling is older than ASL
• Fingerspelling first appeared in a book
believed to be the first book on deaf
education
• Published by Juan Pablo Bonet, a hearing tutor
of deaf children in Spain
• In 1620
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
From Spain to the US
• Jacob Pereire, an oral teacher from Spain brought
the one-handed alphabet to Paris where Abbe de
l’Epee adopted it for use in his school
• Laurent Clerc brought fingerspelling with him to
the US, and used it in the first school for deaf
children, founded 1817
• Fingerspelling spread to other schools for the
deaf
• Fingerspelling was carved on a crypt at the South
Carolina School for the Deaf
– in 1861
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Tombstone of Newton P. Walker,
Superintendent of the South Carolina School
for the Deaf and the Blind, 1861
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
‘Heaven’
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Fingerspelling is not always English
• Compare:
– A place where you buy nails, hammer, garden
objects?
• H-A-R-D-W-A-R-E STORE
– Computers require software and…
• HARD + W-A-R-E
– Pick up a person
• A pickup truck
– A good workout
• Did it work out okay?
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
ASL uses fingerspelling more
extensively than other sign languages
• Compared to other sign languages, ASL uses
fingerspelling alot!
• We fingerspell city names, names of
Presidents, brand names, company names,
automobile makes and many other words.
• Other sign languages translate these names
into signs
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Fingerspelling is mostly nouns
• Some adjectives and prepositions
• Very few verbs
• Examples of fingerspelled nouns:
– flour, pizza, campus, sports, passport, cab,
sidewalk, studio, base, ballet, safety, tunnel,
facility, lodge, inch, yard
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
• Examples of fingerspelled adjectives:
– manual, okay, invisible, diplomatic, jobless, remote,
academic, gorgeous, busy, punk, muscular, wide, dark,
overnight
• Examples of fingerspelled verbs:
– do, allow, chunking, tiptoe, proofread, try, would, be,
miss, own, is, retire, was, being
• Often the same fingerspelled verb is used many
times
– do, would, was
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
We use fingerspelling even if we
already have a sign
• Some fingerspelled words are used even
though there are signs for them:
– C-A-R
– L-O-V-E (noun only?)
– L-I-F-E
– R-E-N-T (“monthly rent”)
• Compare:
– RENT vs. R-E-N-T
– FREE vs. F-R-E-E
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Fingerspelling is used by deaf people
of all ages and backgrounds
• Even signers with high school education use
fingerspelling
• The difference is which words they fingerspell,
not in the amount of fingerspelling
• Older deaf people fingerspell different words
than younger deaf people, making their
fingerspelling more noticeable (e.g. week, glad,
man)
• Men and women are similar in how much they
fingerspell. Maybe men fingerspell different
words than women. (e.g. MY S-O-N)
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
ASL has fingerspelled/sign compounds
• Softball
• Blackboard
– But: snowball, paintball,
eyeball?
• deadline, timeline
– But: the New York
skyline?
• the water is falling
– But: Niagara Falls,
waterfall?
– But: blackmail, blacklist,
blackball?
• Blackberry
– But: BlackBerry?
• rolling down the hill
– But: bread rolls, payroll?
• Paycheck
– But: payroll?
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
ASL abbreviations are not always the
same as English abbreviations
• M-I-N-N, M-D, M-I-C-H, M-O
– But Maine?
• V-W, M-B, B-M-W
• H-P, M-A-C
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Fingerspelling cannot be separated
from ASL
• Long history of fingerspelling in schools for the
deaf in U.S.
• Many deaf leaders supported fingerspelling as
defense against oralism
• ASL tends to use fingerspelling for new
vocabulary
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
New fingerspelled words are always
being added in ASL
• How should fingerspelling be taught in ASL
classes?
– Can be a separate lesson
– Or can be integrated as a part of ASL vocabulary
• How should fingerspelling be taught to
interpreting students?
– Are sign/fingerspelling compounds too difficult for
new interpreting students?
– What about fingerspelling for interpreted
performances on stage?
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009
Resources
• Groode, Joyce. Fingerspelling: Expressive & receptive fluency. San Diego,
CA: DawnSignPress
• Mendoza, Liz. ABC-123: Fingerspelling and numbers in American sign
language. Alexandria, VA: RID Press
• Padden, C. (2006). Learning fingerspelling twice: Young signing children's
acquisition of fingerspelling. (Marschark M., Schick B., Spencer P., Eds.).
Advances in Sign Language Development by Deaf Children.
• Padden, C. & Clark, D. (2003). How the alphabet came to be used in a sign
language. Sign Language Studies. 4(1), 10-33.
• Padden, C., & Brentari, D. (2001). A lexicon with multiple origins: Native
and foreign vocabulary in American Sign Language. (Brentari, D., Ed.).
Foreign Vocabulary in Sign Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Investigation of
Word Formation.
– Padden articles can be found at http://communication.ucsd.edu/cpadden
Carol A. Padden - ASLTA/October 2009