Hey signers! Welcome back to Learn How to Sign. We want to thank Skillshare for sponsoring today's
video, more on them later. Have you ever wondered does it matter what finger I use for a sign
or am I saying something wrong if my hand faces this way or maybe why is it so important
that my eyebrows go up. Well in today's video I'm going to answer all of that and
more. Before we jump in be sure to like this video and subscribe and get notified
so you don't miss any future videos. Now let's learn how to sign, signs. [Music]
When you are first learning a sign it's important to note what are called the five parameters of
sign. These include hand shape, palm orientation, location, movement, and non-manual signals. Each
of these are essential to correctly produce an ASL sign. Now let's look at each one of
these parameters in depth. Hand shape is just that, it's literally the shape of your hand.
In previous videos you might have heard me say the '1 hand' or the 'B hand shape' or
put your 'feeler finger' out. These are just the few of the hand shapes that would be used
in ASL signs. Let's take the sign stand. Stand is using two different hand shapes. Your non-dominant
hand is what we'd consider a 'B hand' shape it can be like this or like this and then the dominant
hand is an upside down 'V' putting it together to make to stand. Now let's look at palm orientation.
Palm orientation is the direction that your palm is facing. It could be facing out, in, down, up,
left, or right. So let's look back at the sign stand. We have that 'B hand shape' of our non-dominant hand
and the palm orientation is facing up. Our non-dominant hand for the upside down 'V'
would be considered facing in towards your body because the palm is facing in towards you. Now
what does it mean for location? Well location is where your hands are in proximity to your body.
They might be anchored onto your body maybe on your chest or on your head
or they can be out in a neutral space as well. So back to the sign to stand, in the neutral space
is where it's being signed, right in front of your body. Next we have movement. Movement can
come in a variety of forms. For example, we could have enjoy which is making a circular motion
or we could have jump where literally you're showing the movement of jumping. Then you could
also have the sign walk like these are your feet walking or grandpa where it bounces out.
So let's look at the sign stand for movement. Our non-dominant hand isn't making any movement at all
but our dominant hand doing the standing is. It is moving up to a standing position.
It's really important when you're learning these signs to really look at the movement of each sign.
There are a variety of books that teach signs in print form; those can be very
difficult to understand because sometimes it's hard to see the movement in print form.
And lastly we have non-manual signals. Non-manual signals include your facial expression and your
body language, so this can be from eyebrows up to eyebrows down, to looking scared or surprised, or
mouth movements which are called mouth morphemes such as FSH for the sign finish or CHA for the sign large.
Now going back to our sign to stand. I'm not making any facial expression at all because there's none
required. There are several signs that are like this that do not require facial expression
or body movement with it. So now that we've learned all the five parameters of sign,
let's look at one sign and break it down into all the five parameters. Let's look at the sign sad.
First let's look at the hand shape. What are the hand shapes of the sign sad? Fives, 5's.
Now with the sign sad, what is the palm orientation of our hands? They're facing in towards our body.
Now let's look at the location for the sign sad. It's not on the body but in more of a neutral
space going from your forehead down to your chest and for the movement it is moving down.
Now you may have noticed something is happening with my facial expression.
You're actually showing the facial expression for sad.
Now what if you're wanting to show a deeper intensity of the sign sad? Well you would
change the facial expression or the non-manual signals. So for instance, sad versus [Music]
crushed. You are actually showing the intensity in your facial expression.
Instead of our typical sentences, let's take two signs and put them side by side
and see if you can see the difference in the parameter. Okay, first off mom, dad.
Mom, dad. If you said the difference was location then you're correct. My, your. [Music] my,
your. If you said palm orientation and location, then you're correct. Understand, don't understand.
Understand, don't understand. If you got non-manual signals, then you're correct.
Enjoy, happy. [Music] Enjoy, happy. If you guessed movement, great job. Hungry, thirsty.
Hungry, thirsty. If your guess was hand shape, congratulations!
The next time you're learning a new sign make sure that you are incorporating all five parameters
correctly. In today's video, we've learned so many specifics about how to sign signs correctly. Now
if you're unable to do that, it's okay, just try your best and you'll still be able to get your
point across. I hope you enjoyed this breakdown to help you better understand signs. Don't forget to
hit that like and subscribe button. Now go check out our past videos so you can practice these
rules that you just learned and again a special thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring today's video.
Be sure to go and check out our course by the link in the description below
and until next time keep learning how to sign 🤟