All levels

Negotiating meaning in sign language

As you get more comfortable with asking a simple question "what is the sign for [a fingerspelled English word]". Now you want to improve your communicative competency even with ASL basics. An approach is to negotiate a meaning.

Contextual meanings

If it's a straightforward meaning such as "cat", "silver", etc., I'd show the signed word. But, often I'd remind them for a contextual sentence when they ask for a sign for such multiple-meaning words as, "after", "run", and "finish". I typically reply, DEPEND-ON SENTENCE WHAT to encourage the students to elaborate it or give a sentence in context. This implicitly reminds the students that a meaning of the same word may change in sentences or translation between English and ASL. I'd ask SENTENCE WHAT?

Various simple strategies

Or, if a concept is easy to describe, I'd encourage the students to describe, use "opposite", or one of some other strategies rather than lazy fingerspelling. I'd pretend, "FINGERSPELLED-WORD IX\/ MEAN WHAT" or "IX-me NOT-KNOW MEANING" with an intonation to let the student that I do actually know the word but pretend not to know. The student then uses one of the strategies such as an opposite (DOG OPPOSITE SIGN WHAT\/).

More examples of "what sign for" are:

BEAUTIFUL OPPOSITE WHAT? I responded UGLY.

Another, one asked "TRAIN/\ CL:1-under CL-surface IX SIGN WHAT?" SUBWAY.

Negotating meanings

The following exemplary scenario of a highly motivated student "Sil" demonstrates how meaning negotiation is used.

During a break one day in early ASL 112, the ASL student "Sil" asked what the sign was for a certain concept using his own idea, producing his own sign which was equivalent to ASL sign what looked as "EXACT/PERFECT." As the break time ran out, he put it on hold.

At the end of the class, he came to me, REMEMBER PAST BREAK, TWO-US DISCUSS WHAT? I FORGOT, UMM.. AH! PERFECT/EXACT.

T: YEA, RIGHT.
S: DEER STATUE IX EXACT/PERFECT, YOU KNOW?
T: HMM.. NO?
S: FOR-EXAMPLE VARIOUS OPPOSITE WHAT?
T: ALL-SAME (two-handed "Y" handshape in circular movement in netural space)
S: NOT THAT, HMM, ME WANT EXPLAIN WITHOUT FINGERSPELLING
T: YEA OK, AVOID FINGERSPELLING (I suggested or recasted. The sign AVOID was introduced in that same-day class and it was a good contextual teachable moment).
S: THINGS GROUP, THAT ONE DIFFERENT
T: AH, I THINK YOU MEAN SOMETHING.. FOR-EXAMPLE, THINGS SAME-SAME ONE/\ IX SO-DIFFERENT. UNIQUE?
S: UNIQUE, NO, NOT THAT. HMM, ME TRY THINK HOW EXPLAIN WITHOUT FINGERSPELLING.
T: (recasting) AVOID FINGERSPELLING (quickly intervening)
S: FOR-EXAMPLE, ME WANT-TO BUY SCRAF. ME HAVE CL:LONG-LIST SCARF, BLACK STRIPES, FRINGE, THICK RED CL:BAND. I WANT (em)THAT ONE(em).
T: AH, SPECIFIC! SPECIFIC?
S: YEA! THERE! SPECIFIC.
T: THINGS IX-PLU GENERAL (introducing a new word 'GENERAL' using the opposite of SPECIFIC to expose him to more vocabulary) ... THAT+ONE SPECIFIC.
S: (nodding)
T: ALSO, YOU KNOW IX 'AVOID' MEAN? (noticing that he didn't catch my recasting before, but then he got it now).
S: (smiling) THANKS, ME FEEL #SO GOOD. ME NOT USE FINGERSPELLING. (feeling proud) SEE YOU TOMORROW (leaving).

This is a wonderful example of the meaning negotiation and a high degree of language acquisition, building and using the language, learning more vocabulary, negotiating meaning, and exchanging information. This meaning negotiation is a fertile opportunity for language acquisition. He has an exemplary communicative and strategic competencies - explaining, asking question, figuring out, and using strategies.

This type of communicative technique is what students are encouraged to use to develop their communicative competency that includes linguistic competency and strategic competence.

If he were asking "fs-SPECIFIC IX SIGN WHAT". Then I'd show the sign (maybe along with a sentence). That was it. Imagine the opportunity he might have missed out if it weren't for the meaning negotiation along an opportunity of using language, critical thinking, and a number of other benefits.

Later, the same student "Sil" at the end of other class asked me, HEY, HMM, YOU KNOW WHAT SIGN, OLD INTERGRATE-with SMART, YOU? He has another great strategic and creative solution. I replied, WISE/WISDOM with an elaboration to make sure he got what he expected. He replied, YES, THANK YOU and left the classroom.

Related posts

How students can do cooperative and collaborative learning in ASL class.

Practice no voice policy in ASL classroom.

First time? Quick how-to.

Search a topic in the filter/browse box or pick a tab for other categories of topics -- Beginners, Boosters, Literary Arts, Kid Signing.

Screenshot of the search instructions

New to sign language? "Where do I start?" or "How do I start learning sign language?" This ASL Rookie guide lists some selected links to the tutorials for ASL beginners to get started and keep rolling. It may be a useful review for intermediate-level learners and ASL students as well.

Some tutorial pages are a mix of free and premium versions. Access to premium content and links below are available in the PatronPlus subscription. More links/posts will be added from time to time.

Jump-starting

  1. How to fingerspell ABCs
  2. What is and what is not sign language?

Getting started

  1. Benefits of learning sign language
  2. Awareness quiz and Reflections
  3. Basic transcription symbols (glosses)

Language/Culture Fundamentals

  1. What is American Sign Language?
  2. Understanding variations
  3. Introducing audism
  4. Cultural appropriation

Learning first words

  1. Expressing greetings
  2. Introducing oneself and others
  3. Fingerspelling exercise
  4. Expressing goodbyes

ASL Basics

  1. Personal Pronouns
  2. Possessive Pronouns
  3. WH-questions
  4. Yes/no questions
  5. SVO sentence structure
  6. Numbers 1-10+
  7. Basic time: future, present, past

ASL Basics II

  1. Asking what the sign is for a word
  2. Spatial referencing
  3. Verb inflections
  4. Contrastive structure
  5. Listing and Ranking
  6. OSV sentence structure
  7. Classifier basics

Describing shapes

  1. Describing shapes + perspective
  2. Describing shapes + locations
  3. Describing shapes + sizes

Expressing needs and wants

  1. Making commands or requests

Talking about family

  1. Talking about family and pet
  2. Telling age
  3. Telling date

Making basic plans

  1. Review basic tenses
  2. Calendar: DAYS
  3. Calendar: MONTHS
  4. Transportation: basics

Shopping

  1. Telling prices in dollars and cents

Talking about activities

  1. Frequency of time: how often?

Are you able to carry everyday conversations in ASL? Are you a student in the intermediate levels and beyond, who wishes to boost up your signing skills? You've come to the selected tutorial series.

Language and communication

  1. Negotiating meanings

Sentence types

  1. Review sentence OSV structure: the triangle
  2. Rhetorical sentence
  3. Conditional sentence

Non-manual signals

  1. Mouth morphemes: distances
  2. Mouth morphemes: sizes

Tenses

  1. Review time basics
  2. Temporal aspects: frequency and duration

Numbers

  1. Review numbers 1-100
  2. Learn numbers 100-1000+
  3. Practice numbers 100-1000+
  4. Numbers mi/billion
  5. Phone numbers
  6. Years
  7. Tell dates

Classifier classes

  1. Review an introduction
  2. Classifier handshapes
  3. Identify different classes
  4. Semantic classifiers
  5. Descriptive classifiers
  6. Body classifier
  7. Body Part classifier
  8. Instrumental classifier
  9. Locative classifier
  10. Elemental classifier

Describing

  1. Describing objects
  2. Describing tables
  3. Describing lamps
  4. Describing a room
  5. How to make a BLT sandwich

Stories, poems, performance arts, etc. in sign language.

Fables

Fables II

Poem Translations

Stories

Deaf Jokes

Parables

Performance and video arts

Techniques and Devices

This documentation project follows a child's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL as a first language (L1), from newborn to age five in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.

Language development

  1. Language acquisition in signing
  2. Language acquisition milestones
  3. Phonological acquisition
  4. Language development: Age 1 to 1.5
  5. Language development: Age 1.5 to 2
  6. Baby sign language: myths debunked

Baby Signing

  1. Eye contact with baby from birth
  2. Cooing in sign language
  3. Eye tracking and gazing
  4. Eye-hand coordination
  5. Gestural pointing and communicative gesture
  6. Marginal babbling
  7. Babbling in sign language
  8. Gesturel pointing for words
  9. Understanding words
  10. Baby's first words
  11. Expressing manners and appreciation
  12. Literacy: peekaboo
  13. Literacy: nursery rhymes
  14. Identity and sense of self
  15. Parentese or motherese

Toddler Signing

  1. One-word stage
  2. Recognizing and naming ABCs
  3. Recognizing and naming colors
  4. Two-word stage
  5. Pronouns and reversal errors
  6. Prepositions
  7. Questions
  8. Classifiers
  9. Indicating verbs
  10. Expressing concepts of time
  11. Phonological acquisition: a case study

Preschooler and Kinder

  1. Conditional statements
  2. Conjunctions
  3. Other pronouns
  4. Literacy: writing

From baby to preschooler

  1. Proximalization
  2. Number
  3. Fingerspelling development
  4. Fingerspelling with a CAN attitude
  5. Drawing
  6. Sense of humor