Family Signs
First making the ASL sign for 'F' with both hands, then forming a circle with both hands horizontally, starting near your torso and ending away from your body.
FAMILY
Where on your body the phrase is signed.
LOCATION
Hold up all five fingers on your dominant hand, make sure you can see your palm, then curl your thumb into your palm.
4
Wiggles the fingers as you move the hand a bit to the side
FINGERSPELLING
Place the hand you are writing with on your forehead close to your ear and move it outwards and away from your body
HELLO
While keeping your fingers extended and spread out, simply touch your chin with the thumb of your hand twice.
MOM
The distinctive configurations that the hands take as they are used to form words.
HANDSHAPE
Holding up your dominant hand in a fist, with thumb sticking up, then twisting your hand at the wrist back and forth.
10
Holding up your dominant hand in a fist, facing outward, with the thumb sticking up to the side of the fist
A
Facial expression for WH-Questions.
EYEBROWS DOWN
Form your non-dominant hand into a fist and keep it steady in front of you. Then take your open, dominant hand and use it to gently stroke your other hand a few times.
PET
The way your palm is facing when producing a sign.
PALM ORIENTATION
15
Holding up your dominant hand in a fist, palm facing out. Then stick out your index finger and bend it into a hook.
X
Facial expression for yes or no questions.
EYEBROWS UP
Making your hand into a C-shape. Place the C-hand by the side of your head and twist it back and forth.
The way your hand moves when producing a sign.
MOVEMENT
Hold your dominant hand up in a fist facing outward. Then stick out your index finger and thumb, and have these two touch several times, like a bird's beak opening and closing.
20
Holding up your dominant hand, palm facing out, with all your fingers curled into your palm. Then tuck your thumb between your ring and pinkie fingers.
M
They are usually facial expressions and head/body movements that are a REQUIRED part of the sentence.
NON-MANUAL GRAMMATICAL SIGNALS (NMGS)
Extend your thumb and index fingers on both hands, like forming horizontal 'L' signs in ASL. Take your dominant hand, and starting with your thumb under your jaw, move and tap it down on top of your non-dominant hand.
SISTER
Face/body movement or other signal used to extend sign meaning.
EXPRESSION/NON-MANUAL SIGNS
You make the ASL letter 'V' sign, where your palm is facing outward while your index and middle fingers are sticking out of a fist. Then bow or bounce it forward twice, moving a short distance from left to right between bounces.
22
Small movement applied to fingerspelling double letters.
BOUNCE
The feeling of being excluded from group conversations, sometimes symbolized as the family dog.
Dinner Table Syndrome