Sign
What in Sign Language – Video & Image Included
How do you say What in sign language? Depending on the sentence, it can equally work as a pronoun, adjective or adverb in spoken languages as well as sign languages. So, understandably, since itâs a multi-functional word, there are a lot of sentences that use it. Consider the following sentence in spoken English:
What is What in sign language?
Here second âWhatâ is working as a pronoun.
So, today weâre going to discuss how to say What in sign language.
But consider the fact that What in sign languages like British Sign Language BSL, American Sign Language ASL or French Sign Language FSL are all different. But weâll just discuss BSL today.
So let’s start our discussion on how to sign What in BSL.
Table of Content
What in Sign Language
Before we begin, as we said earlier, communication between deaf people in the United States is different from those in Australia. Sign languages follow a natural progression like spoke languages and the deaf community and other sign language users (hearing people) affect this progression.
As such, some sign languages develop a unique way of delivery.
For example, BSL is a two-handed sign language. That suggests you’ll be using both hands to communicate.
Not all sign languages use this system. Imagine one of your hands is a piece of paper. The other hand will be the pen. We call the hand that serves the role of a pen the dominant hand. For most people, itâs the right hand. So your left hand, which will assume the role of the paper, is the non-dominant hand. Itâs also called the base hand.
Donât switch your dominant hand mid-sign. Your signs will not make sense for your audience in that case.
For information check out our blog on BSL fingerspelling.
So, back to our topic: the sign for What.
Letâs proceed to the following video. Watch it a few times carefully.
Donât worry about the pacing of the video or the gestures in it. Weâll break down the whole process below piece by piece.
1. Start with a normal posture. Body language is equally important for non-verbal communication, like sign language.
2. Lift your dominant hand up to your chest. For the lady in the image above, itâs the right hand.
3. Your index finger should be pointing up towards the sky.
4. Keep all the fingers into a fist. The back of your hand will be facing towards you.
5. Carefully analyse the two pictures above. The woman in the pictures is swaying her index finger from left to right. If you watch the video once more, youâll see that she repeats this movement a few times, sort of like the gesture when we mean âNoâ. But in BSL, this is the sign for âWhatâ.
6. It doesnât matter if you sway your finger the other way, from right to left, as opposed to the woman in the picture above. The sign will still convey the same meaning.
7. Say the word âWhatâ while youâre signing.
Conclusion
So that’s What in Sign Language, specifically BSL. One more important piece of advice is to make your hand gestures and facial expressions adequately visible to the person youâre communicating with. Some signs look offensive if people canât see what youâre doing properly. Never take this risk. Also, keep a beautiful smile on your face while conversing. It will help you connect better. However, in this case, if youâre asking a question, you can also opt for the appropriate face gesture like squeezing your eyebrows. Itâll help you convey the meaning of your sentence better. Furthermore, keep a consistent practice of your newfound knowledge in sign language. Otherwise, youâll forget them over time.
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