Last weekend I took some time to explore some of my Youtube resources and learn more about ASL and signing technique. The main video I watched was by a channel called Learn How to Sign, which is run by a woman who is a certified ASL instructor and educational interpreter in the USA. The video I chose to watch was “The 5 Rules for EVERY Sign in ASL: 5 Parameters of Sign” (see below).

My main takeaways from this video are summarized below, check it out!

The 5 rules of signing include:

  1. Hand shape: the shape of your hand(s) as you perform a sign
  2. Palm orientation: the direction that your palm is facing as you sign
  3. Location: where your hands are in proximity to your body (i.e. anchored on your body, head, or in neutral space).
  4. Movement: variety of forms of movement that contribute to a sign
  5. Non-manual signs: facial expression and body language (i.e. eyebrow movements, mouth morphemes, expressions, etc).

*Some signs use two hands, incorporate varied amounts of movement or none, require a facial expression or morpheme (mouth sound).

Breaking down the ASL sign for sad:

(refer to video for demonstration)

Breaking down the 5 parameters for the sign for sad.
  1. Hand shape: both hands are used a “five” hand shape
  2. Palm orientation: facing in towards the body
  3. Location: in neutral space in front of face and going down to the chest area
  4. Movement: moving down
  5. Non-manual signs: show the facial expression for sad
    • To change the intensity of emotion, in this case, to show a deeper level of sadness, you must adjust your non-manual signs/facial expression to illustrate.