2074: Sign Language for 'Shut Up' Aug 19, 2020

Lots of languages have phrases meaning "shut up", relating to mouths, and in American Sign Language, this is not so different. Even though sign languages by nature do not involve speaking, the cultural connotations to (vocal) speech as communication led to the association with the sign for 'shut' covering one's mouth, and likewise the sign for 'shh' is the index finger in front of the lips. Of course, not all or even most signs in ASL—nor any other sign language for that matter—are related visually to the meaning they convey.

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1219: Accents in Sign Languages Apr 11, 2018

Just about every feature of spoken languages is present in sign-languages, with the obvious exception of vocalization. Sign-languages have morphology (with one wild exception), and there is still syntax, as one would probably assume. However, less intuitive but nevertheless true is that sign-languages also have accents. For instance, sometimes the words that are used in a certain region that has a standardized version (such as American Sign-Language) will not follow the conventional guidelines. At other times, such as with New York signing, it tends to be done faster than that in the Midwest or the South of the United States. Moreover, there are even stylistic differences, such as with US Southerners who are more likely to touch their chests and jaws as they sign. All of these together make up some of the different ways accents reveal themselves in sign languages: here, it was only American Sign Language, but the ideas can be applied broadly.