nondominant handshapes

[Bencie Woll]

Can I just remind contributors that this is an international list. Many
readers do not know ASL and cannot follow these sorts of discussions unless
clear descriptions are given or images attached. Please be considerate of
others.

Bencie Woll


> Quoting Victor:
>
> >The one Dan mentioned with the non-dom C hs. (BTW, I've always seen that
> >version of
> >EMAIL with full-C.)
>
> Me, too, actually - and just to confirm, I tried it on a few Deaf friends
> out here who looked at me like I had lost my mind, then very patiently
> illustrated the full-C version.  So wherever the baby-C is from, I'm
> guessing it's not a Boston thing.
>
> >What makes this from non-native?
>
> I think - someone please correct me - that it's because the non-dominant
> handshape (baby-C) is not on the Battison list of base handshapes. (As
> has been brought up earlier, though, certain perfectly normal ASL signs
> also violate this rule, possibly because they're "classifiers gone
> native.")
>
> >Is the fingerspelled lexeme for "email" MORE acceptable than the signed
> >lexeme?
>
> To clarify - are you talking here about E-M-A-I-L or the compound E~MAIL?
>
>
> >What would a native, non-initialized signed version of "email" look like?
>
> I make no claims as to its preferability, but I've also seen the sign
> that I'd more commonly associate with a gloss like SEND-A-TEXT-MESSAGE-TO
> used in cases where context (and sometimes even mouthing) definitely
> specified e-mail. It's got an X on the dominant hand and a 1 on the
> non-dominant... it always reminds me of information zipping down a phone
> line, but that could just be a flight of fancy on my part.
>
>
> Now I'm curious as to other people's observations about signs for
> e-mail...
>
>
> Nassira Nicola
>
>
> Harvard University
> Department of Linguistics
> Class of 2005
> nicola at fas.harvard.edu
>
>
>
>
> >----- Original Message -----
> > > How many of these signs were coined by native signers?
> > > {snip}
> > > EMAIL (non-dominant handshape is baby-C) are examples of
> > > these. I'm not saying these signs "aren't ASL" (although there are
> > > normative arguments for excluding them) but this wouldn't the first
> > > instance of borrowed words following different phonological rules.
> > >
> > > -Dan.
>
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--
Bencie Woll
Chair of Sign Language and Deaf Studies
Department of Language and Communication Science
City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB
Tel: +44 (0)20 7040 8354   Fax: +44 (0)20 7040 8577