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How do you "borrow" spoken words into sign language? You can't, really -- which is why he has to invent hand gestures.
by x3n0ph3n3 7y ago
How do you "borrow" spoken words into sign language? You can't, really -- which is why he has to invent hand gestures.
- OJFord 7y agoI suppose the equivalent is (what I now know is called) finger spelling: an unnatural 'sounding' word that breaks the flow, but it's [spelling is] taken from a language where it already exists.
- x3n0ph3n3 7y agoSee how well spelling out words rather than pronouncing them works for you in conversation. This really is a unique problem to adopting spoken words into a non-vocal language.
- _nalply 7y agoDeaf myself: usually we start with fingerspelling. If we discover it being cumbersome we invent something. Borrowing is different but not impossible.
- zapzupnz 7y agoNot to mention the new signs can involve the hand shapes from, say, the first letter of the borrowed English word. Say the word starts with a D, and everybody recognises the fingerspelt word just from the D alone (in context), then the new sign might use the hand shape for D but give it a specific action.
- _nalply 7y agoDeaf myself: Often you can incorporate a fingerspelled letter into a sign, so some borrowing still happens. Where I live mouth pictures are important, so often you sign the general concept and mouth a part of the complicated word.