Sign for Deaf

fishycracker

fishycracker

New Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2015
Messages
40
Reaction score
0
Hi all. So when I see people sign "deaf", some sign going from the ear to the mouth and some sign from the mouth to the ear. I think my ASL teacher taught ear to mouth and that's how I always signed it and she never told me I was wrong. But signing savvy signs mouth to ear. Is this just dependent on which region you're from? I'm really confused. Does it even matter?
 
People do both, and I don't think it depends on regional variation.

There's also the old sign, " ear closed". But probably you won't find many people using it.
 
It's a function of economy of movement. Wherever your dominant hand finishes the sign previous to DEAF is where you'll start forming the DEAF sign.

For example, suppose you're signing MOTHER DEAF. When you sign MOTHER, your hand is closer to your mouth, so you would sign DEAF mouth-to-ear direction.

If you sign FATHER DEAF, your hand is closer to the ear area so you would sign DEAF ear-to-mouth direction.

It's not a rule; just a natural transition.
 
Bottesini said:
People do both, and I don't think it depends on regional variation.

There's also the old sign, " ear closed". But probably you won't find many people using it.
Click to expand...
I remember the old sign.
 
Thank you everyone! I'm hard of hearing and started learning ASL a year and a half ago (although I'm not in a class now because I don't have access to one anymore) and I'm doing a presentation on Deaf culture in my World Thought and Culture class on Friday and I wanted to start out by signing "Good morning, today I'm going to teach you about Deaf culture" but I wasn't sure which sign was right.

Sent from my SM-G900V using AllDeaf App mobile app
 
I alway sign it mouth to ear, but that could be muscle memory since I have been signing it one way for 8 years now. That is my preferred way

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using AllDeaf App mobile app
 
Back
Top