Read The American Sign Language Phrase Book Online
Authors: Lou Fant,Barbara Bernstein Fant,Betty Miller
The American Sign Language Phrase Book (4 page)
A few people use the voice carryover feature on the video relay service
My deaf-blind friend has a closed-circuit television magnifier
Preface to the Third Edition
Nowadays, deaf people are using video relay services rather than TTYs
Copyright © 2008 by the Estate of Lou Fant and Barbara Bernstein Fant. Click here for terms of use
.
I
N
1983, L
OU
F
ANT
set out to create an American Sign Language phrase book that made communication easier by presenting common and frequently used phrases. For the hearing world,
The American Sign Language Phrase Book
became an indispensable aid to signing, skipping formal grammatical exercises and vocabulary lists in favor of simply presenting everyday phrases—with a concise section on the grammatical components, sentence structure, and other unique features of ASL. An added bonus was the illustrations, by the nationally renowned deaf artist Betty Miller, which were accessible and detailed without being complicated—and which featured a stylized version of Lou!
A second edition was published in 1994 that incorporated additional vocabulary signs used by deaf people of other nationalities, in particular. More elaboration on these signs can be found in
Chapter 13
, "Travel." New discoveries were made about ASL grammar, which was expanded upon in the second edition. That edition was a success as much as the first book. Combined sales of both editions reached the 250,000 mark!
I must sadly report that my husband, Lou Fant, died in 2001. An internationally known man of many talents, Lou was indeed a rare breed, and his demise was widely mourned by many. He was truly a great ambassador between the deaf and hearing worlds, leaving the
Phrase Book
as part of his legacy.
Inevitably, though, there was a need in the intervening 14 years since the second edition to bring the
Phrase Book
up to date. Technology is now a big part of everyone's lives, and this third edition acknowledges that role in
Chapter 18
, an entirely new chapter featuring more than 50 phrases incorporating technologies such as e-mail, video relay services, closed captioning, and more. Once again, we've used the artistic expertise of Betty Miller to render the new phrases (this time with a stylized version of me). Also in this third edition, phrases were vetted to ensure they were still important for common use.
Since technology sign concepts were a fairly recent addition to ASL, I enlisted the aid of some dear friends and colleagues to arrive at a consensus of what signs were used by deaf people throughout the United States. (Please keep in mind there will be some regional sign differences in certain parts of the country.)
For their invaluable input and rather lively and spirited discussions, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to
Randy Bessner, Pagan A. Thomsen, Lisa J. Berke, Kellie McComas, Brenda Aron, John Plecher, Nat Wilson, Christine Visser, Eric Scheir, and Adam Novsam.
Helen and Arthur Novsam, Adam's hearing parents who chanced to be in Seattle for a visit and gladly offered some popular technology phrases.
Brenda Bessner, for the long, countless hours she spent painstakingly taking pictures of every sign concept and transferring more than a thousand of these photos to CDs.
Aline Smith and Laura Harvey for their artistic input on the cover of the third edition.
Dr. Marina McIntire, my former professor at California State University–Northridge and friend, for her perusal of the second edition and suggested changes.
Nancy Creighton, for her invaluable assistance with the new art.
Kristi Winter and Katie Roberts, for their gracious linguistic input on ASL.
Holly McGuire at McGraw-Hill, for her guidance, patience, and diplomacy throughout this project.
Bee, Fern, Marie, Lisa, Kristen, and Nancy, my sisters in spirit.
Lou, Dad, and Diana: thank you always for your love, support, and guidance in the past. Like you said, let the universe take care of itself.
I hope you will find this third edition of
The American Sign Language Phrase Book
to be as worthy and helpful as the previous two editions. Best wishes and happy learning!
—Barbara Bernstein Fant
How to Use This Book
Copyright © 2008 by the Estate of Lou Fant and Barbara Bernstein Fant. Click here for terms of use
.
A
MERICAN
S
IGN
L
ANGUAGE
,
commonly abbreviated to ASL and occasionally known as Ameslan, is the sign language most deaf people use when they are communicating among themselves. It has its own grammatical structure, which differs from English grammar. You must approach ASL in the same manner you would approach any foreign language—do not expect ASL to be like English or to conform to rules of English grammar. (For a more detailed discussion of the grammatical structure of ASL, see
Chapter 2
.) Do not ask why ASL, or any language, has a certain structure; ask only how it works. It does no good at all to ask Spanish-speaking people, for example, why they put adjectives after nouns; they just do, and you must accept that. Some of the constructions in ASL may seem odd to you at first because they depart radically from the way we say things in English, but after a while they will seem as natural as English.
It is a common misconception that ASL is merely the fingerspelling of English words. Fingerspelling—using the manual alphabet to spell out entire words letter by letter—is occasionally incorporated into ASL, but the vocabulary of ASL consists of signs. (See the Appendix for a complete treatment of this manual alphabet.)
The format of this book is not that of a traditional foreign language textbook. There are no formal grammatical exercises or drills, and there are no vocabulary lists to memorize. Rather, this book is a guide to conversation with deaf people. It contains phrases, expressions, sentences, and questions that come up in casual, everyday
conversations. These phrases enable you to begin talking with deaf people without first having to master the grammar of the language.
Chapter 2
, "A Guide to American Sign Language," covers the major components of ASL grammar. Not a complete grammar of ASL, the guide is intended to help you better understand the structure of the sentences in this book. It is not necessary, however, to understand the grammatical structure before you begin signing those sentences. You may skip over the chapter on grammar and go directly to the sentences and begin signing. As you become more proficient in ASL, you will want to create your own sentences, and then you will need to study the ASL guide. At this stage, the Dictionary/Index will also be helpful to you in locating the signs you want to use in your own expressions.
