Japanese Sign Language - Elements of Japanese Sign Language (JSL)

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.