ASL initialized RED

[Sarah Hafer]

Yes, it is so irony. Well, I concluded years ago that it is mainly because when we were young we took in what we learned from others. Thus we do not realize preserved signs (so many of them like KING, QUEEN, so forth) are actually initialized signs. But when we see initialized signs around when we already have signs that are not initialized we reject those initialized signs.
I don't know about you (Jean), but in my generation (30's) there are countless friends who recently learned about how the system affected our ASL in the past and still nowadays. They, including me, ended up trying to figure out how we would sign them if initialized signs had never been inserted in our lexicon. There are more and more Deaf people becoming aware of them and trying to make changes and take responsibility in preventing from absorbing many signs from those who do not have understanding of how ASL works. By the way, don't get me wrong, I am not that type of person who gets alarmed at EVERY initialized sign. It is NORMAL to borrow something from other languages. And, I also keep initialized signs if I see others with newly invented non-initialized signs that actually do not "work good." It is just a statement from my realization and observation on how and why some initialized signs are OK to us and not realizing they are actually that while we reject others.
Sarah Hafer
Deaf of 3rd generation Deaf parents

--
Grad student, Linguistics, U. of Oregon, USA


> It is interesting to note that while ASL signers do not use
> the R-handshape for RED, they do use B-handshape for
> BLUE and BROWN, G-handshape for GREEN, P-handshape
> for PINK, P-handshape for PURPLE, Y-handshape for
> YELLOW. The R-handshape is an awkward sign for RED.
> However, old signers think and mouth in English as they
> sign RED.
>
> Jean Boutcher
> Deaf of deaf parents
> ______
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