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Weird Language Moment
Jan. 23rd, 2007 03:52 pmWe had a test in sign language class today, on fingerspelling. I was really worried about it, and spent a long time staring at that part of the videotape (that comes with our textbook) beforehand, trying to follow the fingerspelling (which Deaf people do really fast).
Turns out I needn't have worried so much. It was doubtless good practice, but the teacher went much slower on the test. So much slower that I took to writing little comments by my answers. Like she would sign "MY (girl) COUSIN* NAME S-A-M" and in the blank I would write "Sam. Unusual name for a girl. Short for Samantha?" because I had so much time to think about it before she went on to the next question.
But here's my point (which I realize I've been tardy about getting to; bear with me.) One of the things she fingerspelled was H-S (which is a common abbreviation for high school), but she did it in a way I'd never seen before, with the S facing toward her instead of toward us. So I wrote "H-S high school? Never saw it done that way before." Except when I got to "Never" I blocked for a second, because my first impulse was to draw the curve that the flat hand follows to sign "never"—a curve that is not related to N or any letter in "never." It was the oddest thing. I think that for just a second there I was actually thinking in ASL. I'm so hopeful and proud.
*COUSIN is one of those signs that has gender in ASL and not in English. The sign for male cousin is made near the temple, that for female cousin is made just below the cheekbone.
Turns out I needn't have worried so much. It was doubtless good practice, but the teacher went much slower on the test. So much slower that I took to writing little comments by my answers. Like she would sign "MY (girl) COUSIN* NAME S-A-M" and in the blank I would write "Sam. Unusual name for a girl. Short for Samantha?" because I had so much time to think about it before she went on to the next question.
But here's my point (which I realize I've been tardy about getting to; bear with me.) One of the things she fingerspelled was H-S (which is a common abbreviation for high school), but she did it in a way I'd never seen before, with the S facing toward her instead of toward us. So I wrote "H-S high school? Never saw it done that way before." Except when I got to "Never" I blocked for a second, because my first impulse was to draw the curve that the flat hand follows to sign "never"—a curve that is not related to N or any letter in "never." It was the oddest thing. I think that for just a second there I was actually thinking in ASL. I'm so hopeful and proud.
*COUSIN is one of those signs that has gender in ASL and not in English. The sign for male cousin is made near the temple, that for female cousin is made just below the cheekbone.
