asl 2 important vocab

adverb

Word that gives more information about a verb.

Agreement verbs

Verbs that indicate the subject and the object of the sentence by the directional movement of the sign; also called inflecting verbs.

audism

The belief that being able to hear makes someone superior.

Baby Sign Language

System for teaching babies manual signs for simple communication before they learn spoken language.

backchanneling

Gestures of words to indicate that the speaker/signer can continue because their message is understood—in ASL, commonly a head nod.

bonding

The forming of mutual emotional closeness between a caregiver and a baby.

captioning

Attaching or superimposing text onto motion pictures.

classifiers

Designated handshapes and rule-grounded pantomime used to represent categories of objects.

closed captions

A system of providing text for the audio portion of television programs where viewers had the option to have the subtitles appear or not.

CODA

Acronym for children of deaf adults, a group of people who grow up hearing while their parents are Deaf.

conjunctions

Words or signs that connect actions in a sentence.

contact sign language

A variation of language that results from oral and manual languages intersecting and mingling.

context

Circumstances that form the setting of an event or statement, shedding light on the meaning.

contrastive structure

A grammatical structure in ASL to compare two things by moving slightly to indicate each thing in a separate space.

dead language

A language that is no longer used to communicate in everyday life.

ethnic variations

Language usage differences based on ancestry and culture.

executive function

The mental skills that help a person get things done like self-regulating, organizing, and task-completion.

facial grammar

The movement of the face, especially the mouth, as an integral part of the language of ASL.

gloss

a written representation of each sign that an ASL signer produces, in order, in English

grammar

The whole system and structure of a language.

Hawai’i Sign Language

A sign language not related to ASL that dates to at least the 1820s on the islands of Hawaii.

high context

A society or setting where much of the meaning is implied with gesture, facial expression, or tone of voice because members of the society are expected to have the background information to understand the meaning without as many details.

in-jokes

Jokes that depend on knowing the context of the relationships within a small group of people, usually previous conversations, or common experiences.

indexing

gesturing, pointing, or directing attention toward the actual thing you are referring to

indigenous

Arising naturally in a specific place.

language academies

Organizations to regulate living languages and approve changes.

language deprivation

Lack of age-appropriate language stimulation.

lexicalized fingerspelling

blend together fingerspelling that forms the sign for a concept

lexicon

an inventory of the vocabulary, grammar, and other units of meaning, like classifiers, that make up a language

linguistic purism

The practice of language academies in keeping languages pure and free of the influence of other nearby languages.

living language

Any language that is in current use.

Locatives

A part of grammar that expresses place or location.

low context

A culture or situation where words carry the meaning and are expected to fully explain the context for a listener.

melting pot

Society where many different ideas, types of people, and cultures mix together to become a collective whole.

mouth morphemes

Specific mouth shapes used as part of ASL grammar.

mouthing

Making visual syllables with the mouth while signing.

natural language

A language that has evolved naturally as a means of communication in humans.

Navajo Family Sign

A sign language not related to ASL or Plains Indian Sign Language that is used within a clan of the Navajo with several Deaf members.

non-manual markers (NMMs)

Face or body movements that affect the meaning of signs.

nonce signs

Signs that are created for a specific occasion or context intended only for present use.

open captioning

Media captions that are visible over the image at all times.

pantomime

The act of using the body rather than words to describe things; also, an art form that can be performed on stage.

perfect pitch

The ability to recognize or produce a particular musical pitch without any reference.

phonological variations

Different relationships of the parts of language, be they sounds in spoken language, or handshape, orientation, etc. in ASL.

Pidgin Signed English (PSE)

Outdated term for the use of English word order with ASL signs; now, the concept of contact sign language is used instead.

Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL)

A sign language developed and used by native North American peoples from different nations or tribes to communicate in trade and for use among deaf people; sometimes called Plains Sign Talk.

pronominalization

Using a pronoun in place of a noun once the referent has been established—in ASL often done by using body shifting, eye gaze, and pointing.

pronoun

A word that substitutes for a noun.

proximalization

The process of coordinating the various different parts of the body and face to produce visual language.

real-world orientation

the awareness of the space you are in, including your distance from other objects or points of reference

regional variations

Differences in language based on the area a speaker comes from.

rhetorical question

A question that does not require an answer, or that the signer answers themselves.

Signing Exact English (SEE)

A system for manually transmitting English using the exact vocabulary and grammar as English.

space absent referent

When you index a particular non-present person or thing within your signed conversation.

space present referent

When you point at (index) someone or something that is within the room or within sight in an ASL conversation.

spatial agreement

Signing about a particular subject consistently in the direction of the subject.

surface classifiers

classifiers that describe the surface shape of the area or object

Tactile American Sign Language (TASL)

ASL adapted for use by deaf-blind people who perceive the language through touching the hands and parts of the body of the signer.

telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD)

Another term for TTYs that was used by the hearing world, but rejected by the Deaf world.

tense

The forms a verb takes to indicate the time of an action in relationship to the utterance.

time sign

A sign that will give the time indication for the whole sentence.

Video Relay Service (VRS)

Video service which connects a hearing caller with a Deaf caller, using a certified ASL interpreter to translate between ASL and English.

vlogs

A blog that is in video format.