#sign language reference

[tookishcombeferre]

i tried to delete you from existence in 2017. took a vow that every word we ever wrote was villainy as i sent it into the internet's abyss. i wrote us a symphony - premedicated on a rollercoaster clinging to the world with a lap belt made of music notes. i do not speak enough languages to apologize - yet, at times, i place a fist on my chest, and run circles over it - reminders of all we lost: nine - sent to cotillion in dresses, stockings, and our first heeled shoes: incensed at the idea of eye contact, and dancing backwards instead of leading. twelve - they keep calling me "young lady" teach me to hold back my anger: screams inside me do not breach surface, and you are furious for me. seventeen - we do not speak of it. nineteen - i finally set you to poetry allow you a chance for freedom in beauty set fires to words and make the world burn for all it has left me to witness. twenty-two - i take it away from you. clicking delete on a blog. sending you into cyberspace. words become codes, forever erased. i named us after a bird. fast diving and flying. cracking the skulls of its prey. hunters. - peregrine. a falcon. i tried to make penance once. yet, i do not think i can. there is no penance for a murder like that. i cannot atone for it. sometimes, i think i still glimpse you, in the eyes of my toddler, in the eyes of my friends, whose spirits aren't broken yet. i write to you often, maybe because i wonder, who we would be, if we were still together. tookishcombeferre2.0 - p. s. shuller

Okay, let me start by saying Glass Scientists broke me and also reminded me of something I did seven years ago. In an effort to make myself more respectable for a job, I deleted my Tumblr in June of 2017. In it, I had logged my entire journey of being on meds, coming out as trans, and a whole host of stuff. Don't ask my why I thought anyone would ever find it. But, it remains that I was so scared of anyone knowing all of these "dark things" that I completely destroyed my blog. I'd had about three to five years worth of poetry on that blog that I sent into computer code. I've been weeping over this comic for days after I binged it. Please enjoy? this poem that came out of my own lived experience (because all of this is like 1000% my real life), but is also very much inspired by me reflecting on the comic and where it hit Pip, the human.

[fl00mie]

daisy bell gives me so many fatal error vibes that i can't describe it

swap sans by popcornpr1nce fatal_error by @xedramon

[ballad-of-the-lamb]

How does the cult handle deaf and/or hard of hearing followers? Is there a fully fleshed out sign language in these lands?

they handle the deaf like any other person, really. and narinder handles the language like he would any other as well.

[cripplecharacters]

hello! i have a deaf character who's always accompanied by an interpreter since not everyone can understand asl in my story, the question i have is how should i go about drawing speech bubbles for the translation? should i still point the speech bubble at my deaf character's signing or point it at their interpreter's mouth since she's the one technically speaking? and if its the latter should i try to differentiate the speech bubbles to when my deaf character is being translated to the interpreter speaking on her own?

Hi!

I think it best if when the deaf character is talking you point your speech bubble at the deaf character. You could use a different color outline or font to indicate it’s not spoken, things I've seen done for characters in comics speaking other languages.

To drive home that they communicate in asl, you could show parts of the sign (be careful if you do this for correct sign usage and grammar—get a beta reader fluent in asl).

The interpreter is there just to translate; it’s not their words.

Also, generally a deaf person would not be accompanied by an interpreter all the time. Interpreters are typically there for “formal” communication—classes, meetings, presentations, that kind of thing. Written messages and gesture, for example, are also non auditory ways to communicate, which your character would likely do with friends, or when ordering food at a restaurant, as examples.

Mod Rock

[kyonshi-8610]

trying sometin out // id in alt // unrelated babblings in tags

[serpentface]

Do you conlang? I was wondering if you had naming languages (or possibly even more developed ones) for pulling the words you use. I tried to search your blog but didn't find anything, wouldn't be surprised if the feature is just busted tho. Your worldbuilding is wonderful and I particularly enjoy the anthropological and linguistic elements.

Ok the thing is I had kind of decided I was not going to do any conlanging because I don't feel like I'm equipped to do a good job of it, like was fully like "I'm just going to do JUST enough that it doesn't fail an immediate sniff test and is more thoughtful than just keysmashing and putting in vowels". And then have kinda been conlanging anyway (though not to a very deep and serious extent. I maybe have like....an above average comprehension of how language construction works via willingness to research, but that's not saying much, also I can never remember the meanings of most linguistic terms like 'frictives' or etc off the top of my head. I'm just kinda raw dogging it with a vague conceptualization of what these things mean)

I do at least have a naming language for Wardi (and more basic rules for other established languages) but the rudimentary forms of it were devised with methods much shakier and less linguistically viable than even the most basic naming language schemes, and I only went back over it LONG after I had already made a bunch of words so there's some inconsistencies with consonant presence and usage. (This can at least be justified because it IS a language that would have a lot of loanwords and would be heavily influenced by other language groups- Burri being by far the most significant, Highland-Finnic and Yuroma-Lowlands also being large contributors)

The 'method' I used was:

-Skip basic construction elements and fully move into devising necessary name words, with at least a Vibe of what consonants are going to be common and how pronunciation works -Identify some roots out of the established words and their meanings. Establish an ongoing glossary of known roots/words. -Construct new words based in root words, or as obvious extensions/variants of established words. -Get really involved in how the literal meanings of some words might not translate properly to english, mostly use this to produce a glossary of in-universe slang. -Realize that I probably should have at least some very basic internal consistency at this point. -Google search tutorials on writing a naming language. -Reverse engineer a naming language out of established words, and ascribe all remaining inconsistencies to being loanwords or just the mysteries of life or whatever.

I do at least have some strongly established pronunciation rules and a sense of broad regional dialect/accents.

-'ai' words are almost always pronounced with a long 'aye' sound.

-There is no 'Z' or 'X' sound, a Wardi speaker pronouncing 'zebra' would go for 'tsee-brah', and would attempt 'xylophone' as 'ssye-lohp-hon'

-'V' sounds are nearly absent and occur only in loanwords, and tend to be pronounced with a 'W' sound. 'Virsum' is a Highland word (pronounced 'veer-soom') denoting ancestry, a Wardi speaker would go 'weer-sum'.

-'Ch' spellings almost always imply a soft 'chuh' sound when appearing after an E, I, or O (pelatoche= pel-ah-toh-chey), but a hard 'kh' sound after an A or U (odomache= oh-doh-mah-khe). When at the start of a word, it's usually a soft 'ch' unless followed by an 'i' sound (chin (dog) is pronounced with a hard K 'khiin', cholem (salt) is pronounced with a soft Ch 'cho-lehm')

-Western Wardin has strong Burri cultural and linguistic influence, and a distinct accent- one of the most pronounced differences is use of the ñ sound in 'nn' words. The western city of Ephennos is pronounced 'ey-fey-nyos' by most residents, the southeastern city of Erubinnos is pronounced 'eh-roo-been-nos' by most residents. Palo's surname 'Apolynnon' is pronounced 'A-puh-lee-nyon' in the Burri and western Wardi dialects (which is the 'proper' pronunciation, given that it's a Kos name), but will generally be spoken as 'Ah-poh-leen-non' in the south and east.

-R's are rolled in Highland-Finnic words. Rolling R's is common in far northern rural Wardi dialects but no others. Most urban Wardi speakers consider rolling R's sort of a hick thing, and often think it sounds stupid or at least uneducated. (Brakul's name should be pronounced with a brief rolled 'r', short 'ah' and long 'uul', but is generally being pronounced by his south-southeastern compatriots with a long unrolled 'Brah' sound).

Anyway not really a sturdy construction that will hold up to the scrutiny of someone well equipped for linguistics but not pure bullshit either.

[dynjay]

"Well, at least it's not my fault this time..."

---

Consider this: SDL!Arma being able to speak via sign language :]

[dangraccoon]

Conspiracies

Day 28 ~ CCTV ~

Echo

Word Count: 1215 (heh, that's my birthday (which is the reason Fluke's number is that in reverse)) Content: conspiracy, reference to major character death because apparently I can't leave Fives' death alone, righteous anger, confrontation, sith magic (Fox), star wars sign language

Mando'a Guide: vode - brothers hut'uun - coward; worst possible insult to mandos osik'la - shitty sheb'palon - asshole dini'la jetii - insane jedi di'kut - idiot

Echo’s eyes turned glassy as he watched the footage. The audio was corrupted, but he could see his twin’s anguish, his fear- he could feel it in his own bones.

As Fox fired, Echo recoiled–as though he’d taken the hit himself–jerking his arm back, still stuck in the scomp port. 

He groaned, willing the scomp to twist and release him from the images being burned into his mind.

He’d been a fool. Rex told him everything he’d wanted to know about Fives’ death. He told him everything Fives said, everything he said. Every dismissal from his former general. That particular newfound blame and resentment would have to be left to simmer in his gut. He couldn’t confront a general. A commander, however…

Echo had collected himself quickly, rushing back to the officers’ barracks they’d housed him in, covering himself in the new armor he’d received. 

The walk wasn’t long, fortunately, but he struggled to push that horrid image from his mind.

“Fives, stay with me, Fives! Fives!”

“The mission… the nightmares… they’re finally over…”

“Fives? No, Fives… come on, Fives. Don’t go! Stay with me. Stay with me.”

He shuddered beneath the chill that rolled down the cybernetics that lined his back. He wasn’t sure he’d ever forget the haunted final words of his twin. 

The door to the Coruscant Guard office slid open, and the trooper currently condemned to front desk duty sat up, clearly confused by the sight before him. He seemed to be a shiny and looking up to see a brother, wrapped in burn scars, metal, and unique armor with a particularly pissed expression? Well, Echo couldn’t blame the slight panic he saw flash across his face.

“Where’s Fox?” he growled, all hints of calm or politeness eradicated from his voice.

The shiny pointed down a hallway. “His office,” he nearly whimpered. “Last door on the left.”

“Thanks,” he muttered as he stormed down the hall.

He didn’t bother knocking, scomp whirring the door open.

Fox sputtered, rising from his chair. “What the hell? Who the kriff are you?”

“Who the kriff are you to go around murdering your brothers?” Echo roared, closing the short distance between him and the commander.

Echo grabbed Fox’s chest plate, slamming him against the wall, his scomp pressing into his ribcage. “How many vode did you kill today? Does the number even matter to you?”

Fox’s scowl didn’t change. “You must be that ARC Cody told me about. Not surprised to see you here.” He tapped a button on his vambrace. “Call Captain Rex, 7567 from the 501st. Tell him to get his ass down here yesterday.”

Echo chuckled humorlessly. “What, are you gonna murder me in front of him just like you murdered Fi–”

“Fives didn’t give me a choice,” Fox said, his voice too calm, too even, despite the way his head seemed to jerk painfully. “He tried to assassinate the Chancellor–”

“He’d never do anything like that without a reason!” Echo snarled, throwing Fox to the ground. He was about to jump on him when a familiar voice stopped him. “Fives, no!”

“Echo, stand down!” Rex shouted as he pulled his brother away from the commander. Cody moved past to Fox as Echo struggled against his Captain.

“This hut’uun murdered Fives right in front of you!” Echo raged. 

Rex growled. “Echo–”

“I was following orders,” Fox spat. 

Cody sighed, “Fox, don’t–”

“That order was wrong and you know it! Fives needed help, not a kriffing blaster bolt to the chest!”

“That’s enough, Echo!” Rex screamed, finally wrestling his friend into a headlock until he stopped struggling. He dragged him out of the office into an interrogation room.

“Echo, you know it wasn’t his fault,” Rex panted. He ran a hand over his face. “The whole osik’la situation was kriffed from the beginning. He didn’t have a choice.”

“We always have a choice!” Echo cried. “I read the files on Umbara; I know Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase stood up to that shebs’palon sith wannabe. I know you did, too!”

“Umbara was different,” Rex sighed. 

“It proves–”

“Echo, stop.”

“–that if an order is morally corrupt–”

“I mean it, Echo.”

“–it shouldn’t be followed just because–”

Rex was on him in an instant, grabbing Echo by the collar. “I said stow it, trooper! Before I bust your ass back down to cadet.”

Echo’s words died in his throat, coating his tongue with a sour taste. He couldn’t think of a time he’d heard Rex more angry.

Rex took a deep breath, releasing his grasp. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, moving to lean against the table.

“Rex, I–”

“You know I’m not defending Fox, right?” Rex said, his eyes trained on the room across the hall. “Fives… he wasn’t himself. He should’ve known better than to pick up my pistol. I still don’t know why he did it.”

Echo closed his eyes. He could see the security cam footage behind his eyes–not that his neural interface would let him forget it. 

“You found the footage, didn’t you?” Rex asked, his voice softer.

Echo didn’t need to answer but he nodded anyway. 

“I know why you’re angry,” he continued. “I was angry for a while, too. We always expect to lose our brothers, but not at the hands of another one.”

Echo’s thoughts were back in the files from Umbara. 

“We all know what it’s like to receive orders we don’t agree with,” Rex said, his eyes finally landing on Echo’s face. “You should know that, too.”

Echo sighed. “I’m sorry, Rex.”

“I’m not the one you threw to the floor.”

“Right,” Echo said, turning towards the door.

“Maybe thank Cody while you’re at it; his soft spot for me is probably the only reason Fox didn’t put you on your ass.”

Echo knocked this time and waited for the door to slide open.

Cody let him in with a raised brow.

“Commander,” Echo started. “I acted without thinking. I’m sorry.”

To his surprise, Fox chuckled. “Yeah, you’re one of Rex’s alright.”

Echo’s brows shot up. “I– what?”

“Little Rexy here was a firebrand back in the day, too,” Fox smirked, nodding to the captain as he joined them. “Always jumping without looking. Why did you think he got stuck with Skywalker? That dini’la jetii is the only person in the galaxy crazier than this di’kut.”

“Guess that does make sense,” Echo hummed, lips pulling in a slight smirk. 

Fox sighed. “For what it’s worth, Echo, I– I didn’t… agree with the order. I thought it was extreme.”

Echo nodded. “Thank you, Commander.”

“I was–” Fox started, before stopping with a slight gasp and groan as he clutched the side of his head.

“Are you alright, Commander?” Echo asked, startling slightly as Cody placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head slightly.

“I’m– ugh, fine,” Fox growled, his eyes meeting Cody’s as his hands moved somewhat rapidly.

Cody sighed as he looked up at Echo’s confused expression. “He’s using Basic Sign Language. He said ‘I am silenced, but I’m so sorry.’”

Fox nodded as Echo looked at him, continuing to sign as Cody translated.

“‘You’re part of this now.’”

Fox gestured to Cody and Rex.

“Part of what?” Echo breathed.

Cody sighed as he translated again. “‘Your twin was right about the chips, and he’s alive.’”

Mando'a Guide: vode - brothers hut'uun - coward; worst possible insult to mandos osik'la - shitty sheb'palon - asshole dini'la jetii - insane jedi di'kut - idiot

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Thanks for reading! - River

Whumptober 2024 Masterlist DangRaccoon Masterlist Taglist Form Read on AO3

Tags: @writing-positivelyexisting @nekotaetae @lokigirlszendaya @get-wr3ckered @jediknightjana @idoubleswearimawriter @lucyysthings @unstable-kiwi @6oceansofmoons @l3xi3luv @savebytheodoresnonjosestuff @winter-phoenix1995 @serenityselene @nomercyforthewarrior @padawancat97 @flowered-bicycles @error6gendernotfound @techs-goggles9902

[ent-is-indecisive]

id : a digital painting of steve dressed as a mermaid along the side of an aquarium tank and eddie, outside of it, dressed as a pirate. steve has a long blue tail, ribbons, pearl and coral jewellry, and blue makeup. eddie has a curbed sword, a white pirate shirt, and a lot of silver and red jewellry, with a red strip of fabric braided into his hair. they are looking at each other and smiling slightly, eddie, apparently mid sentence, is signing the word "cute" in asl. /end id

saw this post and got haunted by merman steve and his coworker pirate eddie so here's, like, this

[i-guess-i-like-turtles-now]

Attempting to adapt my hearing autistic home signs to turtle hands (for artists’ reference)

DISCLAIMER: This is for fanart/fanfiction use only and not education for the real world. If you are interested in genuinely learning ASL please learn from a qualified source, preferably Deaf/HoH/CODA identified, such as www.lifeprint.com or a class at your local community college.

(1/7) First (and most important): pizza.

(2/7) “Tired” arcs hands downward, flipping palms up. Tired body language helps (if signer is able): flop head and body forward, sigh, etc.

(3/7) A classic ASL sign is ILY (I Love You). My boyfriend and I sign it to each other casually, but I usually see it as an expression of platonic affection to friends/family/community, like as a greeting/farewell, and as a symbol of ASL/Deaf pride. So I could see the brothers and April signing ILY to each other in a sibling affection way (and maybe Splinter when he’s being heartfelt and not emotionally constipated). Unfortunately it doesn’t translate well to three fingers! So it may only be a “Y” held up for a second, or shaken side-to-side, with context. (Or maybe their hands are permanently fixed in an ILY lol)

More TMNT signs:

Father/Pain/Bullsh*t

Yes/No

[rawenky]

if mitch is the only deaf person working at hinobi, he gets to give everyone their name sign and you CANNOT tell me he wouldn’t abuse this and specifically point out embarrassing traits as name signs

[miodiodavinci]

anyway probably my favorite thing about fafnir is the ever present gap moe of this incredibly sad and tired looking corpse man acting and behaving like a nervous little creature in a shopping mall, or perhaps a teenager who has been miraculously hired onto their first job despite having None of the qualifications w

my other favorite thing is the fact that he can do this w

[rosieposiepie]

What are your thoughts on a written Sign language?

It's not really possible to write in a signed language because signed language is signed—the entire language is designed to be done manually with your hands. To be a visual-spatial language, it isn't linear in any way. Grammar and emphasis depend on facial expressions and body language; there's really no way to perfectly translate that onto a page.

Now, for ASL specifically, we do have something called Gloss, which is not the same thing as writing ASL. Rather, it's a simplification of ASL to help teach people the patterns of grammar, but it's not really something that would be an effective way to communicate except when teaching people ASL.

See, Gloss is a way to convey the grammatical structure of ASL, but it really doesn't have any meaning outside of an educational context and ultimately isn't an effective way to communicate. The whole point of signed languages is that they are signed - signing is the most effective way for Deaf people to communicate. It's better than written language for our needs, and that's why any attempt to write ASL ultimately is more useful for hearing people trying to learn it than for anyone Deaf to actually communicate.

If you want to write a character who signs, like for a story, then there are a couple of things you can do, depending on the POV and your experience with ASL. The easiest thing to do would just be to replace "he said" with "he signed" and keep the actual content of the conversation in English or whatever language the story is being written in. As a Deaf person who is fluent in ASL, I did write some fanfiction involving a Deaf character and her interpreter, and here is an example of how I conveyed ASL in writing:

He realized Joey and her interpreter, Kenny, were entering the bullpen. Joey waved and Josh with a friendly smile and signed something at him, eyebrows furrowed as she pointed at the television. “How’s she doing?” Kenny interpreted – ‘she’ was clearly C.J. “It’s getting away from her a little bit,” Josh said as Kenny stood next to him, Joey across from him. He saw Kenny’s hands moving in his periphery. Joey nodded, and her hands flew in response. Kenny interpreted, “They’re making her the story.” “Yeah,” Josh agreed, straightening up from where he was slumped against the doorway. “Hey, listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He didn’t need to hear Kenny give a response for Joey. He knew what it meant when she nodded, raised her eyebrows, and waved a fist with an outstretched pinkie and thumb. He explained, “The Justice Department wants another thirty million to fund its suit against the tobacco companies, and we want them to have it. The Appropriations Subcommittee on Justice, State, and Commerce handles that money, and they won’t bring it to a vote.” She fingerspelled K-A-L-M-B-A-C-H. “Is the chairman?” “Yeah. Now, I wanted to turn up the heat and issue a release.” “Incendiary?” “Yeah. It calls them ‘well-fed members lining their campaign war chests and being complicit in hundreds of thousands of negligent homicide.’” Joey scoffed and slid her hands together, “Nice.” Josh continued, “We didn’t send the release out yesterday because of the M.S. announcement and Missus Landingham. But in a day or two, I wanna leak it. What do you think?” “Yeah, that’s really stupid,” Joey signed, and Kenny spoke. “Why?” Josh asked, a burst of confusion rippling through him. “Because offense makes people play defense.” “I’m raising the profile to bring public opinion down on him. Play defense with that.”

I think when writing a major character who uses sign language, you really do need some understanding of ASL and Deaf culture to write a signing Deaf character. The positioning of the interpreter and the Deaf person, the fact that the POV character knows a little bit of ASL, so they understand some of the signs being used like the fingerspelling, describing the character's facial expression and body language as they sign (and having it make sense with the grammar/tone the character is trying to convey), and then providing a translation/interpretation in English.

Anyway, I hope that answers your question?

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! Apologies if this is the wrong blog to ask, but I was wondering about speech bubbles in comics for signing characters.

I would like to make it clear the character is signing and not speaking aloud, which is significantly harder than written word (where I can just use a dialogue tag like "signs" or describe their actions). However, I can't draw a specific sign during the conversation as it's a fantastical sign language and I'm not particularly eager to make up a whole new language. I'm having trouble finding the balance between alienating sign vs. making sure my audience understands the difference.

Might you have any tips?

Hi!

If you want to show a character signing, you're going to need to show their hands in motion.

Consider the fact that your characters are speaking a fantasy language, but you're still writing the speech bubbles in a real language. Why not do the same with the sign language? (Do get a Deaf and sign language fluent beta reader/editor who will help you get the signs correct!)

Or you don't have to do that and can just do speech bubbles. It's fine to put at your character's mouth/head rather than their hands. You can just pick a different font or outline color that represents sign.

Mod Rock

[scribbledquillz]

It isn't much, but if there's other writers or artists out there who want to make the effort to be more inclusive in their works I've found this site to be an excellent reference for American Sign Language. There is also a directory for BSL available on the same site for those outside the US.

It won't replace hiring a sensitivity reader - which I absolutely still plan to do - but it's been an immensely helpful starting source for writing the deaf characters in my comic and I wanted to share.

[who-is-muses]

@violetgleams | Message me with “Hey there little one” to interact with my muse as a child [ accepting! ]

"Hey there, little one" for Guy~

Fierce little blue eyes glare through choppy bangs up at the unfamiliar person, childish indignation completely overpowering the sense of stranger danger. Besides, it's not like he didn't break his uncle's foot when he was first introduced to him by surprise (that's a long story.)

"Who ya callin' 'little?' I'm eight-an'-a-freakin'-half, dumby!" The freckles abundant on the boys' cheeks are rapidly being swallowed up a flush of anger, a somewhat stumpy finger being pointed as close as in the stranger's face as he can manage at this height. "I already got my own chores and make dinner some nights- babies can't do that."

Maybe he's projecting his older brother's teasing a little, still sensitive after being belittled just an hour before. Maybe he doesn't even know what it means to project- not yet, at least. It's still a few years before this little ginger fluffball gets his growth spurt, after all.

But, one hand balled into a fist and shaking with anger, the Guy Gardner attitude is definitely there already.