Name Signs in American Sign Language*
Date
2017
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Abstract
Here, I discuss the history and origin of name signs in American Sign Language from
their first appearances in the early 19th century (Supalla 1992:23) to present day. Most
name signs in American Sign Language are fully arbitrary, or based off the written
name and providing no extra information about the subject, but many are also fully
descriptive and do not reference the written name at all. In other signed languages such
as French Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands, descriptive name signs
or direct translations of the written name like HOPE are preferred. I discuss descriptive
name signs and their growing prominence in the ASL-signing Deaf community, the
increasing use of combination-type name signs, and finally, I analyze the constraints
Samuel Supalla proposed for arbitrary name signs in 1990. In this preliminary analysis,
I find evidence for additions to his constraints-nonmanual components; a new location
at the contralateral breast, opposite the main hand; and rotational contact in addition
to simple and brushing-as well as some constraints that appear to have fallen out
of favor, such as articulating a name sign on the contralateral arm or using multiple
locations in a single name sign. This evidence is enough to suggest the need for a more
in-depth study on name signs in the near future.