one-handed signing

[Dan Parvaz]

> I am not aware of any systematic modifications for use with one hand.
> Do bear in mind that, even if there were a special dialect of some
> sort, she
> might only be understood by other users of the system. I assume we're
> talking about ASL here ... I think perhaps she can cue the meaning of
> her signs by using initials wherever possible.

That hasn't been my experience with one-handed signers, whether they
were just using one-handed signs for the moment, or if there was a
physiological reason. Even among the alternating movement signs, the
more common ones (like ASL WHICH and CAR) have variants which use a
tense, more restricted movement rather than alternation. AFAIK, my
earlier example MALAYSIA, which probably has a low token frequency in
everyday ASL, has no such variant; it is probably substituted with
fingerspelling (one-handed, of course :-).

Cheers,

Dan.