"finalized" signs

[Michael Hamm]

Initialized signs are common in ASL, more so in signed American English.
Has there been any study of words whose handshapes are taken from letters
other than the first in their respective English (or, for other SLs, other
spoken languages') glosses?

I first thought of this regarding ASL's "silly", thinking it might just
possibly be a euphamistic and "finalized" (to coin a phrase) "false". But
that's unlikely. However, I have seen two signs for Bronx: Both are made
in the "onion" location, but whereas one starts with a "b" and goes to a
twisted-horizontal "x", the other starts with an "x" and goes to a
twisted-horizontal "x", which would be, I suppose, an example of a
"finalized" sign.

Any thoughts?

Michael Hamm
BA, Math, Sept. '00
msh210 at nyu.edu
http://www.crosswinds.net/~msh210/