Linguistics of American Sign Language, 4th Edition

Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction

TABLE 5. Fingerspelled Signs in ASL

#bank	#do
#back	#so
#off	#ok
#on	#ko
#if	#job
#sale	#yes
#early	#no
#but	#dog
#bus	#toy
#car	#fix
#ha	#what

Another rule seems to govern the acceptable sequence of handshapes in a sign. That is, it seems that some handshapes can only be followed by certain other handshapes. For example, the sequence of handshapes in the sign chicken is from an Open L-like handshape to a closed Flat O-like handshape. This sequence occurs naturally in ASL. A very similar sequence occurs in the lexicalized fingerspelled sign #no. The handshape sequence in #no fits the pattern for handshape sequences in ASL. However, the sequence of handshapes in the lexicalized fingerspelled sign #job is unlike any ASL sign; it is not a usual sequence.

The Location May Change

Battison described the usual place for fingerspelling to take place as an area just below and in front of the signer’s dominant shoulder. In fact, when names or English words are fingerspelled for the first time, they are often fingerspelled in this area. However, fingerspelling is not restricted to this area; the location can change. For example, if someone is obsessed with food, people can talk about the person in a teasing way by fingerspelling #food on the forehead. In addition, we will see many examples in which the location of a fingerspelled sign includes grammatical information concerning the subject or object of a verb.