Non-dominant, one-handed signing

[Adam Schembri, Deaf Studies]

This does indeed happen in BSL and Auslan (it's not just BSL that
uses the two-handed alphabet!) and I have observed it many times in
casual signing in Australia and the UK. Comprehension of the vowels
occurs partially in relation to the other letters, so that if you
produce the X handshape for the dominant hand part of K, you then
point your G hand in the space slightly to the left (for a
right-handed signer) for A, keep it in the same place for E, move
slightly to the right for I and so forth. Of course, contextual clues
come into play, and often this use of the phantom hand co-occurs with
English mouthing as well.

Adam

----------------------
Adam Schembri
Centre for Deaf Studies
University of Bristol
8 Woodland Rd
Bristol BS8 1TN
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)117 954 6909
Textphone: +44 (0)117 954 6920
Fax: +44 (0)117 954 6921
Email: Adam.Schembri at bristol.ac.uk
Website: www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/DeafStudies



On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 09:18:46 -0800 "Grushkin, Donald A."
<grushkind at CSUS.EDU> wrote:

> Des:
>
> I can see, for most of the BSL letters, how you could spell out the
> word on
> a "ghost hand.  However, the vowels require contact with specific
> fingers on
> the n-d hand... I'm sure that could create a lot of confusion dealing
> with a
> "ghost", especially in words with a lot of vowels... try spelling out
> "kahoolahaue" (I think that's the correct spelling of a place in
> Hawaii) in
> BSL with only one hand...
>
> Care to clarify?
>
> --Don Grushkin
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Des Power [mailto:d.power at MAILBOX.GU.EDU.AU]
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 5:28 PM
> > To: SLLING-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
> > Subject: Re: Non-dominant, one-handed signing
> >
> >
> > Remember that us two-handed fingerspellers can fingerspell on the
> > nondominant hand too :-) - just as Mark says, when the other hand is
> > "encumbered" with a broom, glass :-), etc. (or missing; I
> > know of at least
> > one Deaf man who lost most of his non-dominant fingers in a
> sawmilling
> > accident). The dominant hand just spells the words out on a
> > "ghost hand"
> > thats not actually there - across about the same size space
> > it would be if
> > there was a nondominant hand there.
> >
> > Des
> > --
> > Emeritus Professor Des Power
> > Griffith University
> >
> > 30 Pine Valley Drive
> > ROBINA, QLD 4226
> > Australia
> >
> > Telephone: (61) 7 55 78 78 84
> > Fax:       (61) 7 55 78 78 84
> > Email:     d.power at mailbox.gu.edu.au
> > Website:  http://www.gu.edu.au/ppages/D_Power
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > I recall the term "encumbered signing", referring to
> > signing when one
> > > hand is occupied with driving, holding, etc. How well do the
> > > conventional adaptations for this common situation adapt to the
> > > comparable situation here?
> > >
> > > -- Mark A. Mandel, Ph.D., d/b/a Dr. Whom
> > > editing, proofreading, and linguistic consultation
> >
>