Library

L'enseignement primaire des sourds-muets mis à la portée de tout le monde, avec une iconographie des signes [Primary education for deaf-mutes made available to everyone, with iconography of signs]

An electronic copy of this book was obtained from the Gallica digital library of the National Library of France. This book contains fifty-five pages, forty of which contain French glosses and prose describing words of Old French Sign Language (VLSF). From these pages, 369 word forms and/or phrases were identified and transcribed. The forty pages of VLSF words are divided into sections based on topic. The first page of each section begins with an enumerated list of French glosses and prose descriptions. These correspond to a second page that is headed by a “plate number” and contains an enumerated table of line-drawn engravings, representing each list item from the preceding page. For individual word forms, a single engraving illustrates their articulation; whereas, for phrases, a sequence of engravings illustrates the sequence of articulation. Some engravings are annotated with arrows or objects to show the path and/or frequency of motion.

The French text was first translated into English using Google Translate. That translation was supplemented by the Le Robert & Collins French/English-English/French Dictionary (2016), as well as A New French and English Dictionary by William Cobbett (1833) and the Dictionary of English and French Idioms by J. Roemer (1853). On occasion, unfamiliar French words and concepts contemporary to the book’s year of publication required in-depth research to understand the phonological features being described for a VLSF word. We also recognize that some entries are described as containing non-manual markers, but we have found the engravings to be irregular in the representation of non-manuals, which will require further analysis in order to be transcribed.

A handbook of the sign language of the deaf: prepared especially for ministers, Sunday school workers, theological students and friends of the deaf

An electronic copy of this book was obtained from the Gallaudet University Deaf Rare Materials collection of the Internet Archive. This book contains 174 pages, in which 143 pages contain English glosses and prose describing words of ASL. The book is divided into three sections, with the first eighteen pages containing front matter, the middle section of the book (124 pages) containing ASL vocabulary, and the last seventeen pages containing an ASL translation of the Lord's Prayer. From the 143 pages of vocabulary and the Lord’s Prayer, 715 ASL word forms and/or phrases were identified and transcribed. The vocabulary entries are alphabetized by their English glosses, which serve as headwords, and contain descriptions of the ASL word in English prose. For each entry, an enumerated list describes the sequence of articulation. Some entries contain more than one sense, consequently, these have more than one sequence of articulation listed. A few entries are accompanied by line-drawings, some of which are enumerated to show the sequence of articulation. Likewise, some of these drawings are annotated with arrows and motion lines describing the path of motion. Some entries also contain synonyms of the English gloss in order to clarify the part of speech for an ASL word. There are also other supplemental materials intermixed with the front matter, vocabulary, and prayer, including the American and British manual alphabets. For instance, on pages 32 to 33 there is a sequence of three drawings, representing a short conversation between two signers. Each drawing shows the two as they would appear taking turns in their ASL conversation, while corresponding English translations are enumerated below each. Likewise, page 104 contains a collage of line-drawings that illustrate ASL words referenced elsewhere in the book. Beginning on page 145, The Lord's Prayer is translated word-for-word from English into ASL, which is displayed as a series of black-and-white photographs showing the initial “pose” of the ASL word with an enumerated list of English prose describing the following sequence of articulation.

While the English prose often provides a clear description of the motion, handshape, and location features of the ASL words, a description of palm orientations is predominantly lacking. A rare exception to this is when a drawing is provided for an entry, because palm orientation can be inferred by comparison with related or similar words with entries that do provide an overt configuration of all features. This situation made transcription a challenge for many entries and, in some cases, it has caused the omission of some ASL words until further analysis can be done.

A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles

This book contains 379 pages, in which 271 pages contain ASL headwords, English glosses, and prose describing words of ASL. The book is divided into three sections, with the first thirty-three pages containing front matter, the middle section of the book (271 pages) containing ASL entries, and the last seventy-three pages containing appendices and an index. In the entry section, there are between seven to ten entries per page, from which 2,083 ASL word forms and/or phrases were identified and transcribed. Entries are organized by ASL headwords written in Stokoe notation, which is an order based on their designator (dez) or handshape symbols that appear as an enumerated list in the Introduction, and on the front and back endpaper for easy reference. In addition to the headword, all entries contain at least one English gloss and one part of speech. Many entries also contain English prose describing the context and usage of the ASL headword, the sequence of articulation, etymology, and/or other phonological variant forms. At the front of each dez section, black-and-white photographs are provided to illustrate the variation in handshape that the dez may represent.

The notation system presented several challenges, It uses a Boolean-type pattern to represent palm orientation, and for headwords that are written with palm orientation(s), the signation (sig) symbol(s) is placed as a subscript on its respective dez symbol. For example, the sig symbol 41 represents an orientation of “palm up" compared to symbol 42 that represents an orientation of "palm down.” However, entry headwords are not consistently written with overt palm orientations, often with only one, but more often with none. In some cases, palm orientation can be inferred by comparison with related or similar words with entries that do provide an overt palm orientation. Although, due to the inconsistency, transcription was a challenge for many entries and, in a few cases, it has caused the omission of some ASL words until further analysis can be done. Likewise, many uses of tabula (tab) or location symbols representing the mid-face and torso (i.e., symbols 4 and 8) required deduction of precise placements based on an accompanying English prose description. Additionally, the dez symbols (i.e., symbols 13 to 31) are illustrated with black-and-white photographs of the different possible variant forms. Unfortunately, here again, we found it necessary on several occasions to deduce the precise handshapes based on an accompanying English prose description. Next, a smaller number of headwords do not specify features of the non-dominant hand for two-handed words. In these cases, where information of a configuration is totally lacking, we compared those words with similar entries to deduce the most likely configuration. Finally, for a limited number of word forms written as phonological variants, which we found difficult to determine the accurate configuration for production. For such ASL headwords, we have omitted them for the present, until further analysis can be done.

Signs Everywhere

This book contains 254, for which 245 pages contain entries of English glosses and line-drawings of their corresponding ASL word forms. The entire book is devoted to placenames, specifically proper names of cities and states in the US and Canada. Entries are divided into sections, first according to country and then by state. Each section varies in size and begins with an illustration of the geographic region in question. In total, 953 ASL word forms and/or phrases were transcribed. Within a section all entries are headed by English glosses and alphabetized based on them. The majority of entries contain at least one drawing of the ASL word, but all entries contain a brief description in English prose of the sequence of articulation. For entries that represent a phrase, they contain a sequence of enumerated drawings. All drawings are annotated with arrows and motion lines describing the path and frequency of motion.

All entries that contained drawings were transcribed. The drawings and descriptions were regular enough to also allow us to transcribe all other entries that did not have drawings. In a few entries, the arrows and motion lines were found to be ambiguous. By comparing these to drawings of other entries possessing similar patterns of motion, we were able to deduce an accurate transcription of the ambiguous entries.

Signs Across America: A Look at Regional Differences in American Sign Language

This book contains 285 pages, the majority of which, 282 pages, contain entries of English glosses and line-drawings of their corresponding ASL word forms. Of these, 1,199 ASL word forms and/or phrases were transcribed. The entire book is devoted to phonological and lexical variation found across twenty-five states in the US corresponding to 130 English glosses. Entries are divided into sections, according to English glosses and then ASL word forms are ordered alphabetically by state. Each section varies in size and begins with an example English sentence, to demonstrate the part of speech of the ASL word forms. Within each entry, there are three or more enumerated ASL word forms, represented as drawings to show the sequence of articulation. Some of these contain multiple enumerated drawings to show unique sequences or phrasal forms. All drawings are annotated with arrows illustrating the path and frequency of motion. Arrows are drawn in perspective, filled in and outlined in black, and have a white facing to emphasize the depth of motion. White facing is also used to help distinguish whether the hands move in phase or out of phase. Contact with the body is drawn with ground lines along the outline of the hand(s), to emphasize the point of contact.

All entries have been transcribed. For some word forms, the perspective of the drawing was obscured by the motion arrows, making it necessary to interpret the direction from the shoulder posture. We also recognize that some word forms are drawn having non-manual markers, but further analysis will be required before they are transcribed.

American Sign Language Dictionary

Excluding the eighteen pages of front matter, the majority of this book (614 pages) contains entries of English glosses and prose with line-drawings of ASL words. On average, each page contains six entries with drawings. From these entries, 2,237 distinct ASL word forms and/or phrases were identified and transcribed. All entries are headed by an English gloss and are alphabetized based on them. Each entry contains a pronunciation of the English gloss and its part of speech, which is followed by a description in English prose of the sequence of articulation for the ASL word form or phrase. Also included in many entries is semantic information of what the ASL word form or phrase is depicting, and a cross-referencing list of related entries. Most entries contain black-and-white drawings of their ASL word form or phrase. Still, many lack drawings and are instead cross-reference to at least one other entry, sometimes also containing additional semantic information. The drawings of many entries illustrate the sequence of motion with arrows and motion lines, particularly for individual word forms. While entries that contain ASL in a phrasal form have a sequence of two or more drawings. Arrows and motion lines are also used in these drawings to represent the path and/or frequency of motion.

Only entries with drawings were transcribed. In a number of entries, the English prose describing the sequence of articulation did not match the drawing. We regarded these instances as typographical or editorial errors and determined the intended articulation by comparing such entries to similar or related ones containing accurate drawings. We also recognize that some entries are described as containing non-manual markers, but we have found the engravings to be irregular in the representation of non-manuals, which will require further analysis in order to be transcribed. We also recognized that the drawings were computer-generated from video still frames and, in a small number of these, the perspective of the drawing has obscured features. For those entries, we referenced other source material from our Library and external websites to deduce the accurate configuration or sequence of motion.

Companion English Dictionary

The Companion English Dictionary currently holds over 4,700 English entries, which are cross-referenced to over 7,900 ASL and French Sign Language (LSF) entries by hyperlink. The Wiktionary website has been the main external resource used to compile this dictionary. It has been an invaluable resource to us, to which we are forever grateful. Other sources, such as Wikipedia, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary Online, have been consulted to compile entries. For more information on how entries were added to this dictionary, please view our Editorial Policy. For other information concerning our mission and goals with this resource, please view our About page.

Main ASL Dictionary

The Main ASL Dictionary currently holds 400 American Sign Language entries, which are cross-referenced to 410 English entries by hyperlink. Of these 400 entries, thirteen have definitions. All entries contain references to video source material that is publicly available online. Two external websites have been invaluable resources as video references for our entries, HandSpeak's "ASL Dictionary" and Signing Savvy: Sign Language Dictionary and Resource, to which we are forever grateful. Many other references have been used to compile entries, and can be found on our References page. For more information on how entries were added to this dictionary, please view our Editorial Policy. For other information regarding our mission and goals with this resource, please view our About page.