ASL Accent?

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I am hearing and a VERY proud southerner, hince the name. One thing that i love is my southern accent. I love to hear southerners speak. My accent is one of my identifers. I was wondering if there are accents with ASL? Can ou tell what part of the country a person is from by the way he/she signs? People often make fun of southerners, call us stupid and slow and make alot of jokes about us. I'm fine with that. But most of the time, unless it is a horrible one people from other parts of the country love to hear us speak. The southern accent is beautiful. If there are accents within ASL is there one that you love more? Are there names, we have southern, midwestern, New York, Bostonian and so on....
Okay how many questions was that?? LOL:ty:
 
I am hearing, and very early in learning sign. I do know that there are region specific signs. For example, I was told that there are like, 26 different signs for Hotdog. There are also signs for local things. For example, I learned a hilarious one the other night. There is a very yuppie, snobbie area in the suburbs of st.Louis. The sign is the first letter of the area place infront of your nose, then raise your hand and nose in the area, to signify stuck up!
 
I agree there most certainly is an accent with ASL, just like every person has an individual voice I have come to learn that each person has their own individual ASL accent. I as well am southern and I noticed a huge difference in moving to Boston from Arkansas, and Boston then back to Arkansas. The ASL accents are almost as different as the speech accents. And its not just noted in such prominent areas, I also notice a very dramatic difference just from friend to friend. I find it much easier to understand my girlfriend, her deaf sister, and her coda mother, they all have very similar signing patterns and 'accents'. But then with other deaf persons, i certainly notice a wide different in the way things are signed, where they are signed, placement of signs, facial expressions.
 
Well, I would say it's more of a dialect than it is of an accent. Yes, there's a difference.
 
Banjo took the word right out of my mouth.

A dialect differs in vocabulary and grammar from the standard variety. An accent differs only in pronunciation.

In my experience there are definitely different dialects AND accents in ASL.
 
Interpretrator said:
Banjo took the word right out of my mouth.

A dialect differs in vocabulary and grammar from the standard variety. An accent differs only in pronunciation.

In my experience there are definitely different dialects AND accents in ASL.
Click to expand...


:werd: Correct !
 
Yes, there are definitely dialects of ASL all over the country. I grew up in Wisconsin, then when I moved to Minnesota in 2001, I had to learn about 5 to 10 new signs. BUT...then I moved to Texas last April...oh my god...there are SO many new signs now!!! I had a hard time understanding deafies here at first but I am a lot better now. I've learned about 20-30 new signs so far and I know there are a LOT more to learn. Not only that, but SO many deafies here use LSM (Mexican Sign Language) also...so many of us mix LSM and ASL...I know I do sometimes...I've been understanding more and more of new signs here and LSM as well everytime I go to a deaf gathering.
 
Interpretrator said:
Banjo took the word right out of my mouth.

A dialect differs in vocabulary and grammar from the standard variety. An accent differs only in pronunciation.

In my experience there are definitely different dialects AND accents in ASL.
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh! Accents, accents, accents!! I'm in ASL Level 2 at the local Deaf Action Center, and we've had 4 separate teachers in about 8 weeks (they just moved to a new building and they're having some logistics problems!). The accents are driving my crazy! One of my teachers always turns his 'E' parallel to his gaze direction, so if you happen to be sitting to his right, you cannot tell whether he's signing a 'C' or an 'E'. He also doesn't curve his hand for his 'C', so that makes it look even more like an 'E'. I've started to get used to it now, but the first couple of days I was getting SO frustrated.

The other interesting thing I've noticed is that even deafies who live in the same community don't always agree on which sign best means a given concept. Sometimes you'll have a word that's very similar in meaning to another word (for example: idea, thought, concept, imagination, invention -- all of them are sort of related), and I've learned they'll disagree on which sign means which English word ("Protest" and "strike" seems to be another one I stumbled upon the other day). I figure it's all good -- you don't learn a foreign language by only learning one word for each concept, so just tuck them all away for future reference and try to figure out what the people you're signing with use.

Today I spent the afternoon with some deaf senior citizens at a local Deaf church -- playing cards and dominos. Man, they use many different signs than my teachers. They also don't like a lot of the signs I've been taught. There's some kind of ASL cultural divide between young and old signers. It seems like around 80% of the signs are the same, but you get some funny looks every once in a while. Then you get a kind of "light bulb goes on" look, and a frown and then they'll sign something like "new sign, we don't use".

I really love learning ASL. It's such an expressive way to communicate. I can't wait until I'm really fluent. I wonder what the word would be like if all hearies learned sign just like many learn a musical instrument. It seems like a lot of misunderstandings could be avoided if we hearies could use both speech and sign at the same time, even in regular speaking conversation.
 
Interpretrator said:
Banjo took the word right out of my mouth.

A dialect differs in vocabulary and grammar from the standard variety. An accent differs only in pronunciation.

In my experience there are definitely different dialects AND accents in ASL.
Click to expand...

Perfect answer. You have to take into consideration that many deaf people do not acquire ASL as their native language and have to learn it in a residential setting or even through socialization with fluent signers. Accents abound and aplenty. Don't forget the generational gap in signers. I still have to restrain myself from kneeling over whenever I meet an older signer that uses non-politically-correct signs. *coughs*

The pronunication of handshapes are an obvious symptom of second language acquisition. People, in due time with sufficient practice, can pronounce the handshapes accurately, but the head and eye movements and specific facial expressions are much more different to master. Many don't realize that there IS a grammatical relationship between non-manual expressions and ASL syntax. Linguists are still unpacking the implicit rules of non-manual expressions.

As for dialects... I often get mocked for signing WALK because it's very regional, even in the state of California. This has earned me quite a few raised eyebrows and baffled looks, if not shouts of outrage, from non-Californian signers. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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LuciaDisturbed said:
Yes, there are definitely dialects of ASL all over the country. I grew up in Wisconsin, then when I moved to Minnesota in 2001, I had to learn about 5 to 10 new signs. BUT...then I moved to Texas last April...oh my god...there are SO many new signs now!!! I had a hard time understanding deafies here at first but I am a lot better now. I've learned about 20-30 new signs so far and I know there are a LOT more to learn. Not only that, but SO many deafies here use LSM (Mexican Sign Language) also...so many of us mix LSM and ASL...I know I do sometimes...I've been understanding more and more of new signs here and LSM as well everytime I go to a deaf gathering.
Click to expand...


Interesting. The Deaf Mexicans here wouldn't use LSM with us when they came to the deaf club. I do know a few sign in BSL thanks to a sign terp who lived in England.
 
I knew the individuals sign differently just as hearing all speak a little differrent. One person i met i just could not understand to save my life it was so different. That made me feel bad because really there is no problem with her, the problem is with me and my limitations and she is a sweet woman. I know i have a vacant stare with her.
Dialects is a better choice here you are all right because that is what my accent and vernacular together is called. It makes sense. I just didn't know if you would look at it and say oh that person is from NY or Cali like i can from a person's accent.
Differing on sign usage i have seen too. My friend and his sister are both deaf and they use different signs for the same word, such as "who" i and his sister use thumb on chin index finger in a question, mouth "wh" He points at his mouth goes in a circle and mouths "wh". I have heard the way his sister and i do it is new. New sign vrs old sign seems to be the biggest thing i see when with many Deafies. I'm no where near good enough to notice dialects but differences with the individual i do. I notice everything. I pointed out some things to him he didn't realize with he and his sister, i said watch her he did and was like wow you are right! I think from so much going over my head i concentrate on the little things individuals do rather than what is actually being said in a big group.
 
Hmm, I am curious about the sign for "walk", me_punctured-- since I am trying to show my ASL students all different dialects so they can be prepared as they meet Deaf people.

San Diego has so many Deaf people that come from OTHER states so they *pollute* our dialect ( ;) ) so I feel it is necessary to show them the variations of a sign.

Since I have been born and raised in So.California, we (the californians) can spot the Deaf ppl who are from the East because of their differences. We even critizced some ASL textbooks which have too much of Eastern dialect that we should establish a West-coast ASL textbook to teach our ASL students!

One bogus claim I encountered was that somebody thought I was from Oregon because the way I sign. :confused: But that was long time ago...

As for "accents"--
There is definitely an accent difference between Deaf San Diegans and Los-Angeleans. They are more faster, zippier, and "attitude-y" (insults, quips, ghetto everything) in their signs while San Diegans are more relaxed, laid-back, and mellow-out-- and all of our signs are quite similar.
 
gnarlydorkette, I will be happy to e-mail you a brief video clip of my ASL version of "WALK" although it's only fair to warn you that it's not standard sign, even by most Californian standards. And I'm a native Angeleno, but my signing is distinctly from the Bay Area. You made an interesting analogy about the signing styles of Angelenos and San Diegans-- I haven't had sufficient exposure to both groups to draw out any noticeable differences, perhaps with the exception of some LSM influence (though LSM signers can be all over the Southwest).
 
I don't know if you can actually label it as an "accent" since everyone signs, regardless of where they're from. I sign Walmart and Target 3 different ways. I also sign dodgeball at least 2 different ways. I change them from time to time and people don't assume that I'm from another area. They just ask what I'm saying and I repeat it in a different form.
 
I believe in the case of ASL, accent does not refer to the choice of sign someone picks. It's more like what Calphool discussed, when the same sign or handshape varies among different people.

So let's say we all agree that TREE is signed with the arm upright and the 5-handshape shaken. Maybe you sign it with the palm turned inward. Maybe you sign it with the palm turn outward. Maybe it shakes back and forth both ways. That would be your accent. I knew someone whose "I" handshape was always a little bent, just because of the way her hands were. If it deviates from the standard production (and there is rarely agreement upon what is standard!) then it's an accent. Even if palm-out TREE is considered standard, if in your experience you've only seen people sign it palm-in, palm-out will look like an accent to you.

Then there is the register you use, which is also different from your dialect or your accent. This would be like the difference between signing "student" with STUDY and AGENT clearly signed separate, or the more casual way that looks like pulling something off the palm and dropping it. You might use the first one in a formal presentation but the second one when talking with your friends. It's still the same sign though. (In some cases a different register does require the use of different vocabulary, so possibly a dialect change.)
 
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