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Introduction
A sign is a gesture or movement that conveys a concept. Each sign is made with a specific hand configuration or handshape, placed at various locations on or near the signer's body. If the handshape, movement, or location changes, the meaning of the sign also changes.

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The Five Components
Every sign is comprised of basic components or parameters. There are five components to every ASL sign:

                           1) Handshape
                           2) Palm Orientation
                           3) Location
                           4) Movement
                           5) Nonmanual Signals

If you can learn to analyze ASL signs using these categories, you will be able to more easily recreate the sign. Each sign will begin to look distinct versus a blur of hands! In this lesson we will examine each of the 5 components.

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Handshape
The handshape is probably the most apparent component of a sign. It is the configuration the hand assumes when beginning to make a sign. The most frequently used handshapes are the letters of the Manual Fingerspelling Alphabet and the manual numbers; however, linguists have identified a large number of discrete handshapes. Most signs can be organized into 40 possible handshapes. So, if one memorizes these 40 handshapes they have a great foundation for recreating new signs. I will attempt to list these handshapes. However, it is best to see a diagram. Portions of this lesson are taken from The American Sign Language Handshape Dictionary written by Richard A. Tennant and Marianne Gluszak Brown. I would encourage any level of Sign Language student to purchase this book to see the diagrams of the 40 handshapes, thus gaining a fuller understanding.

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40 ASL Handshapes

"A"
Examples: with, aunt, sweetheart, practice, live

"Open A"
Examples: girl, not, which, remember, tomorrow, yesterday

"B"
Examples: daughter, son, blue, brown, door

"Open B" or "Closed 5"
Examples: please, paper, nice, school, thank you

"Bent B" or "Bent Closed 5"
Examples: know, near, how, have, excuse me

"C"
Examples: cousin, class, marry, wife, husband, chocolate

"D"
Examples: dorm, divorce, date, department

"E"
Examples: elevator, elementary school, educate

"F"
Examples: France, cat, family, tea

"Open F"
Examples: meat/steak, big-eyes

"G"
Examples: peabrain!, green, mustache

"H"
Examples: fun, hard-of-hearing, horse, name, train

"I"
Examples: if/suppose, art/draw, institute

"K"
Examples: take-care, people, two-of-us, purple

"L"
Examples: later, library, live, sister, brother

"Bent L"
Examples: moon, run, camera, big

"M"
Examples: medical, math, member

"N"
Examples: nurse, niece, nephew, no

"O"
Examples: sunrise, none, office. owl, teach

"Baby O" or "Closed X"
Examples: perfect, write, celebrate

"Flattened O"
Examples: give, home, eat, boy, number, buy, money

"R"
Examples: restroom, rules, ready

"S"
Examples: yes, motorcycle, car, bike, coffee, how-many

"T"
Examples: team, toilet,

"U"
Examples: cute, uncle, university

"V"
Examples: stuck, see, either, stand, fall down

"Bent V"
Examples: stairs, ride-in, speechless

"W"
Examples: weird, world, water

"X"
Examples: tease, hearing aid, apple, friend, expression, key

"Y"
Examples: silly, oh-I-see, same, cow, waddle, New York, phone

"L-I"
Examples: I love you, fly, why, California

"1-I"
Examples: tent/camping, cigarette, liquor, ironic

"1"
Examples: stars, go-to, where, black, deaf, candy, boring, sign language

"3"
Examples: lousy, vehicle, clumsy

"Bent 3"
Examples: bug, radio, rooster, devilish

"4"
Examples: line of people, talk, chat, meeting

"5"
Examples: fingerspelling, mom,dad, man, woman, fine, candle, what

"Bent 5" or "Claw 5"
Examples: OOPS!, roommate, machine, want

"8"
Examples: hate/despise, light (as in bulb), pumpkin

"Open 8"
Examples: what's up!, feel, sick, tendency

In some ASL signs there is more than one handshape used or the sign might begin with one handshape and end with another. Pay attention to handshape the next time you sign.

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Palm Orientation
The second component of a sign is its orientation, or the direction in which the hand is turned. The direction that the palm of the hand faces (up, down, left, or right) is a useful way of describing the orientation because once the palm is described, the direction of the fingers and the back of the hand is obvious. Perhaps go through the handshapes and examples again and see if you recognize the location of the palm. Noticing palm orientation will help you recreate a sign.

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Location
Signs are formed on or near only certain areas of the body. Approximately 75% of all signs are formed in the head and neck area because they can be easily seen. The location of a sign frequently contributes to its meaning. For example, many signs that denote feelings are formed near the heart, whereas signs related to cognitive concepts are formed near the head. Take notice of location when recreating a sign.

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Movement
I like to break movement down into 3 categories:

Single Movement (SM) - the sign moves one time. An example of this are the signs "not", "tomorrow", "now" and "yuck!". All of these signs go from beginning position to the ending position one time only.

Double Movement (DM) - the sign moves two times. Examples of double movement in signs is "take-care", "door", and "business". Each movement is repeated twice.

Repetitive Movement (RM) - the sign moves more than two times. Examples of this are the signs "light" (as in bulb), "children", and "school".

I think noticing single, double, or repetitive movement is important because if the movement is not correct you can sign inaccurately. The repetition of the movement may indicate several things--the frequency of the action, if a noun is plural or singular, or the distinction between a noun and a verb. The size of the movement may indicate volume or size. And the speed and vigor indicates actions. For example, if you sign "yuck" with repetitive movement that means "throw-up". Or if you sign "now" repetitively, rather than one time, it means "today". The same holds true with the sign "business". If it's signed with repetitive movement it means "busy".

Much of the meaning of signs may be expressed through movement in relation to the body. For example the sign "children" moves as if patting children on the top of the head. Or "school" is signed as if one is a teacher, clapping their hands to get the class' attention. Noticing movement helps to formulate memory aides, which are vital for full comprehension of a sign.

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Nonmanual Markers
If you can execute the above four components of a sign, you can succeed in correctly making a sign. However, being a good signer involves more than just executing the signs correctly. In spoken languages, additional semantic information is carried through one's tone of voice. In ASL, additional semantic information is carried through one's body and facial expressions. The signed message is quite different if you shake your head yes, or nod your head no while signing "married". When one signs all of the components of a sign including Nonmanual Markers, there is a complete thought--a sentence. Without the Nonmanual Markers there is merely a string of signs.

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Taking Notes
If you have taken any of my classes, you know that I stress the importance of taking notes based on the above components when a new sign is introduced. By taking notes you can then recreate the sign and store it in your memory. For example, let's take the sign "cat" and take notes:

Another example...

I would encourage you to keep a spot in your notebook to take notes so you don't leave class unable to recreate all of those new ASL signs you learned!

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