Page 120 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

American Deaf Culture 105

at the same time symbolize their membership in the Deaf com-
munity. In chapter 3 we briefly touched on the subject of name
signs in ASL as they exemplify a collective orientation; in chapter
9 we will examine the ramifications of hearing people having name
signs. For now we will look at the traditional system of inventing
and using name signs in ASL, which has been deftly described by
Sam Supalla.
There are two types of name signs in this system, arbitrary
and descriptive. Arbitrary name signs are the type consistently
given by Deaf parents to their children and consist of a handshape
representing an initial of the person’s English name, which is made
in a specific location with a certain movement. The location and
movement can only come from a limited set of possibilities. Most
important, arbitrary name signs contain no meaning.
Alternatively, some Deaf people possess a descriptive name
sign that uses a classifier handshape to represent a salient physi-
cal feature, for instance, a big nose or a scar. These are most often
bestowed on deaf children (from hearing families) when they en-
ter the residential school without a name sign. As these children
grow up, they may decide to change to an arbitrary name sign if
they feel uncomfortable with their descriptive name sign. Since
all their friends are already accustomed to using their original
descriptive name sign, however, it may be difficult to effect this
change unless they move to a new community. Since one of the
functions of name signs is to provide the Deaf community with
an efficient method to unambiguously refer to its members, “a
name sign is expected to represent the identity of the person for
the rest of his or her life” (Supalla 19).
One of the most interesting features of name signs in ASL is
the way they exemplify connection to the group.
The smallest group is, of course, the family. Hence the
common practice for Deaf parents to express family
unity in the name signs for their children. Many
parents...pick one location (e.g., on the back of the pas-
sive hand, on the forehead, or in neutral space) for all
their children’s name signs, changing only the
handshape...[of]...the child’s English name’s first initial.
If the family picks for the children English names that
all start with the same letter, then the handshape is held
constant and the location changes. (Mindess 7)

05 MINDESS PMKR 105 10/18/04, 12:00 PM