ASL Lesson #1

Welcome!

This page is intended for any individual hoping to learn American Sign Language. Below you will find cultural lessons, hyperlinked ASL videos, insights, and more! Please be sure to bookmark this website, subscribe to our YouTube page, and share with family and friends. God bless you!

Culture Mini Lesson #1: Introduction to the Deaf Community

Who are the deaf and hard-of-hearing?

The deaf and hard of hearing are people who experience some type of hearing loss. This can range in severity, from light, to moderate, to severe. Just by looking at someone, you can't tell if a person is deaf or not. [Certainly, hearing aids are an indicator of deafness. But if the person doesn't have hearing aids, how would we know if the person is hearing or not?] Simply put, deaf and hearing people look exactly the same. They are both human beings and wish to be treated with equal amounts of respect and dignity. 

In the United States, approximately 11.5 million Americans have some sort of hearing loss (Bureau). But, not all 11.5 million people belong to the Deaf community.

Who is the Deaf community?

The Deaf community is a group of people who are biologically deaf/hard-of-hearing, know sign language, and have a shared sense of identity and culture. In these culture mini lessons, you will study more about the Deaf community and their culture.

If you think all deaf people know sign language, they do not (sadly). Some are forced to lipread a spoken language they cannot understand auditorily, but learn sign later in life. Some never learn to sign and/or are language deprived. Some people may be born hearing and become deaf at a young age, while others might be born deaf. Parents of deaf children may be Deaf too, although this isn't too common. In fact, approximately 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents! (“Quick Statistics about Hearing.”)

Case and point: Capturing the story of the ever-diverse Deaf community is incredibly difficult (if not impossible). In these mini lessons, we will do our best to gain an overview of the community, their collective story, and their shared culture. Even still, I must disclaim that everyone's story is different and unique in its own right. Welcome to the Deaf community!

ASL Manual Alphabet

What is it?

The ASL manual alphabet consists of 26 handshapes. Each handshape corresponds to a letter in the English alphabet. Because one handshape can be a capital or lowercase letter, no additional characters are needed.

All handshapes are performed on the dominant hand. When a signer spells out words using the manual alphabet, it’s called fingerspelling. Signers fingerspell in various instances. The most common reasons to fingerspell include:

• Identify proper nouns

  • A few examples include (but are not limited to):

    • People’s names

    • Cities

    • Street names

    • Book titles

    • Restaurant names

    • Movie titles

• Emphasize a point

• Clarify a misunderstanding

Fingerspelling can be used to communicate a word you don’t know. But, it is recommended to wait until the other person does it first.

If you mess up while fingerspelling, shake your hand and head as if to say, “I didn’t mean that.” Then spell it over from the beginning.

Picking a dominant hand

In ASL, the dominant and non-dominant hands play significant roles. It should be noted that the dominant hand will always move in every sign. There are three types of sign in ASL:

• One-handed signs

  • Only one hand is needed to perform the sign. Use the dominant hand.

• Two handed symmetrical signs

  • Both hands move when performing these signs. They also may have the same handshape, location, movement, etc.

• Two handed Asymmetrical signs

  • The dominant hand performs the main movement, while the non-dominant hand (typically) remains still as a base. 

Again, the simplest way to understand this is the dominant hand will always move in ASL. Because of this, you will need to pick a dominant hand. Consequently, the other hand will be your non-dominant hand.

It should be noted that the man in the lecture videos (Christopher) wears a red wristband on his dominant hand. This is meant to assist you. When he picks up the hand with the red wristband (i.e. the dominant hand), you know to do the same.

Video: ASL Manual Alphabet

Here you will find a hyperlink to the ASL Manual Alphabet. This video has three different views for your convenience. [Note: For the letter D, Christopher leans in close to the camera and shows you there is a space in the handshape. You don’t need to lean forward when performing the letter D. As long as you maintain the handshape you see in the beginning, you’ve performed the letter appropriately.]

The letters “J” and “Z”

If you are a right-handed signer, sign the letters J and Z so they appear the right way to you but backwards to the person watching you. For instance, draw a "Z" in the air with your index finger. If you were to look at the letter, it would look like a normal "Z" (not a backwards Z).

If you are a left-handed signer, you will "mirror" the movements of the right handed signer. To clarify, if you are a left-handed signer, perform the “J” movement toward your body. The letter “Z” will start by moving away from the body, then toward the body, then away again. 

Fingerspelling Words

Getting set-up

In order to set yourself up to fingerspell, take your dominant hand and place it just in front of your dominant shoulder. This is where your hand will conduct most of its fingerspelling. Now, you’re ready to start fingerspelling.

When you want to fingerspell a word, sign each letter in proper succession. Avoid bouncing your letters up and down or punching them forward and back. Instead keep your hand still, unless you are signing a letter with movement in it (i.e. J and Z) or signing a double-letter word.

Signing double-letter words

If you have a double-letter word, simply repeat the letter twice, moving your hand over slightly away from your body. You can also slide your hand over while performing the letter. In either case, be sure to sign any remaining letters in the word where you stopped the movement. In other words, when performing a double-letter word in ASL, don’t move your hand away from your body, then move it back to the dominant shoulder. Instead, keep fingerspelling where you left off. [This is also true for words that have the letter Z in them.]

Activity: Fingerspelling

It’s time for your first activity! Try spelling out the words you see on the screen. If you are studying with a partner (recommended, but not required), spell the words out together and help each other as needed.

1. Tim

2. Roger

3. Erick

4. Latoya

5. Anna

6. Sally

7. Freddy

8. Zed

9. Jesus

10. Emmanuel

Pronouns in ASL

In ASL, we sign pronouns with our dominant hand. The pronoun can be either personal (refers to a person) or possessive (shows what a person has or owns).

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns in ASL use the index finger. Click on the hyperlinks below to learn how to sign them!

• I/ME

• YOU

• HE/SHE/IT

• WE/US

• THEY (group of people)

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns in ASL use the flat handshape with the four fingers touching each other. Click on the hyperlinks below to learn how to sign them!

• MY/MINE

• YOUR/YOURS

• OUR/OURS

• THEIR/THEIRS (group)

Wh-word Questions

There are three kinds of questions in ASL. We will start with the wh-word question. 

To sign a wh-word question in ASL, lower your eyebrows, lean forward slightly, and hold the last sign.

Here is a graphic:

Learning Wh-Words

Below are common wh-words signs that can be used when signing wh-word questions. 

Note: There are some signs that have more than one version. Just like spoken languages, variations of the same word can be regional, generational, socioeconomic, etc. The signs you are learning here are most commonly used in the Deaf community. Unless otherwise stated, assume that all variations of the same word mean the same thing; you can pick your favorite variation to sign. 🙂 

• WHO?

• WHAT?

• WHEN?

  • Version 1

  • Version 2

  • Version 3

  • Version 4

• WHERE?

• WHY?

  • Y-handshape waving version

  • Y-handshape pulling down version

  • Middle finger moving version

  • ILY-handshape version

• HOW?

  • Version 1

  • Version 2

• WHICH?

Structuring wh-word questions

Wh-word signs go at the end of questions in ASL. So, if I were to ask, “Where’s my dog?” it would be signed MY DOG WHERE? When I get to the sign WHERE? I will lower my eyebrows, lean my body forward, and hold the last sign (i.e. WHERE?). More on this when we get to our first dialogue practice below.

Culture Mini Lesson #2: Mouthing and Simultaneous Communication

Some ASL learners think that mouthing while signing is a useful strategy. While mouthing has its benefits on occasion, it is typically discouraged. One such reason is mouthing can be distracting rather than useful. Another reason is revealed when performing mouth morphemes, a grammatical unit of ASL existing on the lips. If a person is mouthing, they cannot perform these critical lip formations needed to show key information. While mouth morphemes are beyond the scope of this intro lesson, you get the point: mouthing while signing in ASL is recommended.

Something else that is not recommended is speaking and signing at the same time (also known as simultaneous communication). As we just got a preview of with wh-word questions, ASL word order is different from English syntax. If I were to say, “Where are my keys?” and sign it exactly in that order, it would be grammatically correct. Conversely, if we were to sign MY KEYS WHERE? and speak the same word order, English natives might look at us strangely.

While you are learning ASL, try to avoid mouthing, whispering, and speaking while you sign. It will pay off in the long run.

Exchanging Greetings

You are now getting ready for your first dialogue in ASL! Let’s learn some ways to greet people.

• HELLO

  • Version 1

  • Version 2

• WELCOME

  • One-handed version

  • Two-handed version

• This sign is used to welcome someone into a physical space. It is not a way to communicate gratitude.

• GOOD

• MORNING

• AFTERNOON

• EVENING / NIGHT

Dialogue: Introducing Yourself

Let’s put what we’ve learned into a dialogue:

• Start with a greeting (such as HELLO, GOOD MORNING, WELCOME, etc)

• Provide your name. [MY NAME [fingerspell your name]]

• Ask for the person’s name [YOUR NAME WHAT?]

• Confirm the person’s name by fingerspelling it back to them (with raised eyebrows)

• Express pleasure in meeting that person [NICE MEET-you]

  • Note:You don’t need to sign YOU as it is implied.

Asking for Clarification

Sometimes, you might need to use some phrases to help you navigate a conversation. Here are a handful of useful phrases:

• DO-YOU-MIND?

• AGAIN

• SORRY

• PLEASE

• A-LITTLE SLOWER

• I LEARNING ASL

• PRACTICE

• THANK-YOU

• UNDERSTAND

• DON’T-UNDERSTAND

• KNOW

• DON’T-KNOW

Continuing the Conversation: “How are you?”

Now that you’ve learned how to exchange greetings, why not continue the conversation by asking how they are doing? Below is some helpful vocabulary:

• HOW YOU?

  • Version 1

  • Version 2

  • We just learned that wh-words go at the end of questions. For whatever reason, the vast majority of Deaf folk sign HOW YOU? I guess it’s one of those irregulars. 🤷🏽‍♂️

• GREAT / AWESOME

  • Upward movement

  • Downward movement

• GOOD

• FINE

• BAD

• OK

• LOUSY

• SICK

• EXCITED

• NERVOUS

• ANXIOUS

• BORED

• TIRED

• HUNGRY

• ANGRY

• SAD

• CONFUSED

• HAPPY

Culture Mini Lesson #3: “How are you?” and the value of human connection

When a hearing person asks another hearing person how she/he is doing, it is customary to give a brief response. Even one-worded responses like, “Fine” or “Well” are acceptable. But, for the Deaf, there is usually a much longer exchange! To understand why, let’s consider the life of most Deaf people.

In our world, there are way more people who don’t know sign language compared to those that do. Thus, finding another signer is more rare than finding someone who speaks the common spoken language (lingua franca) of a given country. Thus, when a Deaf person encounters another signer, most want to enjoy that interaction. If the two are Deaf, they have even more in common: a shared lived experience and culture among other things. To answer, “How are you,” in the Deaf community, one-sign responses don’t do it justice! Prioritizing human connection, most community members genuinely want to know how your day is going, what major things have been going on since you last conversed, etc. 

If you are just meeting each other for the first time, expect to be asked life questions, like where you go to work or school, what people in the community you know, where you are studying ASL, etc. We will get there. 🙂 For now, be joyful in the reality that by learning American Sign Language, you are preparing to have human connections with the Deaf community. Great things are in store!

End of Lesson 1 

This marks the end of Lesson 1. Thank you for participating! Be sure to explore the ASL Catholic Media website and follow us on social media to see all the wonderful resources available to you.

• ASL Catholic Media Website

• ASL Catholic Media YouTube

• ASL Catholic Media Facebook

• ASL Catholic Media Instagram

Works Cited

Bureau, U.S. Census. “Deaf History Month.” Census.gov, 13 Mar. 2022,

https://www.census.gov/library/audio/profile-america/profileodd/profile-odd-13.html.

“Quick Statistics about Hearing.” National Institute of Deafness and Other

Communication Disorders, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-hearing#2.

• Original source can be found here: Mitchell RE, Karchmer MA. Chasing the mythical ten percent: Parental hearing status of deaf and hard of hearing students in the United States. (PDF) Sign Language Studies. 2004;4(2):138-163.