Sign Vocabulary in American Sign Language

Having a vast vocabulary is important to be able to accurately express your point in ASL (Cokely & Baker-Shenk, 1997).  Also, sign vocabulary can be confusing to non-native signers, as small changes in signs can change their meaning.  These small changes can be in any of the parameters:

• Major parameters: 
  • Handshape
  • Movement
  • Location
  • Palm Orientation

• Minor parameters:
  • Non-manual signals
  • Hand arrangement
  • Points of contact

Some signs also change depending on the context of the sign.  So small changes can make a big difference.  To take a deeper look into these small changes, we will explore the concepts of minimal pairs, directional pairs and the differences between iconic and arbitrary signs.  

Minimal pairs-

Minimal pairs in ASL refer to the smallest difference between two sings that change the meaning (Cokely & Baker-Shenk, 1997).  They specifically refer to signs that have only one parameter difference.  The one difference can be in location, handshape, non-manual signals, palm orientation or movement.  

See the below examples of minimal pairs in ASL (Sprinkle, 2022):

• Different locations - Mother and Father
• Different movement - School and Paper
• Different handshape - Apple and Candy
• Different palm orientation - Socks and Stars

Verbs and Movement in ASL-

There are 3 types of verbs in ASL: plain, indicating and depicting verbs.  There are 2 types of verbs in ASL that that convey additional information by incorporating movement:

• Indicating Verbs
• Depicting Verbs

These verbs are a unique part of ASL and will be highlighted below.

Indicating Verbs-

Indicating verbs are dynamic and incorporate additional information about the subject and object of a sentence (Cokely & Baker-Shenk, 1997).  There are several ways in which indicating verbs provide this information: by moving towards specific people, objects or spatial locations and via palm orientation (Lucas & Valli, 2001).  It is important to note that starting and ending locations of the verb, as this specifically how information is conveyed. 

Some examples of indicating verbs are:

• GIVE
• TELL
• SEND
• PAY

Here is a video examples of Indicating verbs being used (ASL That, 2018):

Types of Indicating Verbs: Reciprocal Verbs-

Indicating verbs that can also show reciprocal action are called reciprocal verbs.  An example would be LOOK-AT-EACH- OTHER where each hand represents a person and the finger of each hand point towards each other. 

Types of Indicating Verbs: Locative Verbs-

Locative verbs are another type of indicating verb.  With these verbs, the location of the sign contains specific meaning.  This is contrary to plain verbs, where the location is simply a part of the articulation of the sign and how it is made.    An example would be the verb THROW.  The direction of the sign throw indicates the direction that the object was thrown.  

Depicting Verbs-

Depicting verbs actually show action by use of classifiers to show : where something is in space, what it looks like (how things are shaped or how objects are arranged) and/or show movement, actions or manner (Cokely & Baker-Shenk, 1997).  

Examples include (Lucas & Valli, 2001):

• VERHICLE-DRIVE-BY
• PERSON-WALK
• FLAT-SURFACE
• VEHICLE-DRIVE-UP-HILL

Iconic and arbitrary signs-

Iconic and arbitrary are terms used to describe the form of a sign and the meaning of that sign (Cokely & Baker-Shenk, 1997).  If there is no resemblance or similarities between the form of the sign and the thing it stands for (its meaning), then the relationship between the symbol and the meaning are deemed arbitrary.  Another way to explain this is that there is no particular reason why that sign is used to stand for that thing.  An iconic sign would have resemblance or similarities between the sign and the that thing it stands for (its meaning).  Think if these two constructs as on a continuum, with iconic at one end and arbitrary on the other.  Signs can be one or the other or a combination of the two. 

Some examples of Iconic signs are:

• TREE
• CAT
• GLASSES

All of these signs have some connection to the thing they represent.  This also makes these signs easier to remember for a lot of people. 

Some examples of Arbitrary sings are: 

• SCHOOL
• CURIOUS
• NOW

These signs do to not seem to have an obvious connection to the thing they represent, so they are closer to the arbitrary side on the continuum.  These signs often require rote memorization to learn them, as they do not resemble the things they represent.