1. Unit 6 Notes

2. Fingerspelling and Numbers First, using fingerspelling as part of your language gives you the fluency needed to understand fingerspelling quickly. Second, recognizing the shapes and patterns of fingerspelling help the brain predict and decode groups of letters. As you improve your fingerspelling skills you will begin to see fingerspelled words as groups of shapes rather than a combination of letters.

3. Fingerspelling and Numbers When you read a book, your eyes do not look at each letter forming a word. Instead, your eyes rely on the first and last letters to identify and understand the word. The same process applies to fingerspelling. Learning to identify the shape of a fingerspelled word takes time and practice but you can begin by analyzing the shape of particular letters:

4. Fingerspelling and Numbers letters that don't extend up or to the side: A, C, E, M, N, O, S, T letters that extend up: B, D, F, I, K, L, R, U, V, W, X Ietters open sideways: G, H,Y, Z letters that open down: J, P, Q

5. Why can't larger numbers follow the Rule of 9? ASL numbers 1-9 are easy to see and don't require additional movement, unlike numbers such as 11, 25, or 100. Combining signs that involve movement into number signs would be awkward and cumbersome! But note that the Rule of 9 and the minute sign have changed over time, so perhaps others will as well.

6. The Deaflympics The Deaflympics began in 1924 and are modeled after the Olympic Games... Starting cues are visual rather than audible, featuring flashing lights rather than the sound of a starting pistol or whistle.

7. Football Huddle The football huddle was invented in 1892 by a Deaf student at Gallaudet University. Concerned about opposing players being able to see his team's signs and planned plays, He urged his teammates to huddle up.

8. Asking “Have you...” American Sign Language uses the signs to experience and finish to ask questions about whether someone has or has not done something.

9. The Five Parameters of ASL Signing clearly and precisely takes time and practice and being aware of the Five Parameters can help improve your ASL skills. 1. Handshape: Me vs My 2. Palm orientation:Table vs ?? 3. Location:to see vs ?? 4. Movement: To enjoy vs Happy 5. Non-manual signals: Haven't vs Late

10. The Literature of American Sign Language The literature of most cultures is written... Oral literature, meaning stories are preserved and passed down only by the act of storytelling.

11. The Major Forms of Literature of American Sign Language: ASL Poetry: Covers a broad spectrum of genres and topics... Classifier Stories: Works that use only one or more specific classifiers to complete a plot-driven story.

12. The Major Forms of Literature of American Sign Language: Handshape Rhymes: Works in which the signer tells an entire story using only one handshape, often incorporating meter, or rhythm, based on the story's plot ABC Stories: Using only the letters of the alphabet in sequence, the signer tells a complete story. ABC stories combine elements of classifier stories and handshape rhymes.

13. The Major Forms of Literature of American Sign Language: Number Stories : Similar to ABC stories, signers use specific number signs to tell a story. Narratives: often relate events and aspects of the shared deaf experience especially humorous tales of being Deaf in a hearing world and often highlight deaf history, famous Deaf persons, and Deaf accomplishments or triumphs over adversity.

14. Deaf Culture Minute Deaf poets felt the general sign poetry did not fully capture the depth of expression that is part of ASL poetry, and eventually the sign express myself / let it out became know as ASL poetry.

15. Past, Present & Future: The ASL Tenses Distinguishing periods of time is called tense In ASL, tense is formed by addition of certain signs called tense markers to the beginning of the sentence... If there are no tense markers, then the sentence is in the present tense. Tense markers of the past end their movement towards or over the shoulder while those for the future tense complete their movement ahead of the body. The further back or forward a sign is completed correspondents to the length of time into the past or future.

16. The Rule of 9 The period is included with the base sign, so that the difference between week and nine weeks is the incorporation of the number nine into the dominant hand.

17. Using Tenses with The Rule of 9 Whether using the past or future tenses, most incorporate the duration base sign and the tense simultaneously... Durations longer than 9 must add a separate tense marker indicating the past or present tense.