Lou Fant - Perfect Phrases in American Sign Language for Beginners

Perfect Phrases in
American Sign
Language for Beginners

150 ESSENTIAL PHRASES FOR COMMUNICATING WITH USERS OF ASL Lou Fant
and
Barbara Bernstein FantIllustrations by Betty G. Miller Copyright 2009 by Estate of Lou Fant and Barbara Bernstein Fant. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-07-164239-2 MHID: 0-07-164239-0 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-159877-4, MHID: 0-07-159877-4. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners.

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This book is designed to provide various phrases for beginning learners of American Sign Language or those who wish to communicate with the Deaf.

American Sign Language is the dominant sign language of the Deaf community in the United States and English-speaking parts of Canada. Here are some key phrases for everyday communication concerning greetings, introductions, signing and deafness, health, numbers, time, money, and morein short, basic survival phrases in American Sign Language. This book is not meant to teach the fundamentals of ASL grammar or offer a comprehensive array of phrases (longer discussions of ASL grammar and basics can be found elsewhere, and almost 500 phrases can be found in The American Sign Language Phrase Book, Third Edition). Even so, those who consistently use these basic phrases may discover that they begin to understand some sign concepts and can build upon this foundation to continue learning American Sign Language. It is important to be aware that American Sign is a visual-spatial language distinct from spoken English. It has its own grammar, and the order in which signs are put together is different from English.

ASL grammar incorporates not only the use of facial expressions but head and body movements and the efficient use of space around the signer as well.

I wish to convey my heartfelt appreciation to Dave A. Morrison, my dear friend and colleague at Seattle Central Community College, for his spirited perusal of this book and suggested changes I extend my gratitude once more to Holly McGuire at McGraw-Hill for her guidance and assistance on this project. And to my mother, Rita Bernstein, thank you for the life lessons you have taught me. All my love to you. Perfect Phrases in
American Sign
Language for Beginners As I mentioned earlier in the Introduction chapter, facial expressions play a very significant role in ASL.

In a spoken language, the rise and fall of the voice adds meaning to the words spoken. Imagine the various ways one can say I love you. The characteristic rising of the voice toward the end of a question is another example. Facial expressions are to ASL as vocal inflection is to spoken English. Throughout this book, you will note that the phrases are delineated as statements or questions. The face has these duties and supplies additional subtleties and nuances of meaning.

Signs have meanings in and of themselves just as words do, but these meanings are altered, shaped, enriched, and amplified by facial expressions. This is true especially when one asks questions in ASL. In general, when one asks a wh- sign (who, what, why, where, when, which, how, and how many or how muchsee ), the eyebrows are downward. All other questions usually cause the eyebrows to move upwardfor example, questions that require an affirmative or negative response. To support an affirmative response, nodding of the head would occur, e.g., Yes, Im married, or a shaking of the head with the Im not married response. For a wh- sign question, the eyebrows usually go downward.

The wh- sign question is also accompanied by a head tilt. Eyebrows move upward for other questions and are usually accompanied by a head tilt.

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