Elements of Japanese Sign Language (JSL)
As in other sign languages, JSL (usually called simply 手話 shuwa, "hand talk") consists of words, or signs, and the grammar with which they are put together. JSL signs may be nouns, verbs, adjectives, or any other part of a sentence, including suffixes indicating tense, negation, and grammatical particles. Signs consist not just of a manual gesture, but also mouthing (口話, kōwa?, "mouth talk") (pronouncing a standard Japanese word with or without making a sound). The same sign may assume one of two different but semantically related meanings, as for example in "home" and "house", according to its mouthing. Another indispensable part of many signs is facial expression.
In addition to signs and their grammar, JSL is augmented by yubimoji (指文字, "finger letters"?), a form of fingerspelling, which was introduced from the United States in the early part of the twentieth century, but is used less often than in American Sign Language. Each yubimoji corresponds to a kana, as illustrated by the JSL syllabary). Fingerspelling is used mostly for foreign words, last names, and unusual words. Pantomime (身振り, miburi?, "gestures") is used to cover situations where existing signs are not sufficient.
Because, like the standard Japanese from which it partly derives, JSL is strongly influenced by the complex Japanese writing system, it dedicates particular attention to the written language and includes elements specifically designed to express kanji in signs. For either conciseness or disambiguation, particular signs are associated with certain commonly used kanji, place names, and sometimes surnames. Finger writing (空書, kūsho?, "air writing") (tracing kanji in the air) is also sometimes used for last names or place names, just as it is in spoken Japanese.
Read more about this topic: Japanese Sign Language
Famous quotes containing the words elements, japanese, sign and/or language:
“Icebergs behoove the soul
(both being self-made from elements least visible
to see them so; fleshed, fair, erected indivisible.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)
“The Japanese are, to the highest degree, both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“The desire to annoy no one, to harm no one, can equally well be the sign of a just as of an anxious disposition.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself. He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or for anything else.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)