science

Sign name

Sign name is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sign name rather than just read about it. In short: In Deaf culture and sign language, a sign name (or a name sign) is a special sign that is used to uniquely identify a person (a name). American Sign Language In the American deaf community and American Sign Language (ASL), there are cultural norms regarding ASL name signs; for example, they must be agreed upon by the named person and the broader deaf community.

Key takeaways

Sign name belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sign name to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sign name from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In Deaf culture and sign language, a sign name (or a name sign) is a special sign that is used to uniquely identify a person (a name).

American Sign Language In the American deaf community and American Sign Language (ASL), there are cultural norms regarding ASL name signs; for example, they must be agreed upon by the named person and the broader deaf community. This ensures that no one else in the community already has the same sign name or that the same sign has a different meaning. Until a person receives a sign name, the person's name is usually fingerspelled, rendering a letter-by-letter representation of a person's English-language name. Linguist Samuel James Supalla identifies name signs as having dual functions: to identify persons and to signify "membership in the Deaf community." Different deaf cultures have different customs around sign names. For example, in the deaf American community, sign names are usually subdivided into two naming systems: descriptive (DNS) and arbitrary (ANS). Descriptive names manually illustrate descriptions of the person (for example, personality or physical appearance) and are conveyed through classifier handshapes, and an arbitrary name sign corresponds to initials (or to the first letter of a spoken name) applied to one or more locations. A third category, nontraditional name signs, combine elements of the arbitrary and descriptive. An ANS sign is usually just a unique sign without other meaning, but there may be family patterns, like all the children in a family having names signed at the chin. Name signs may change over the course of a user's life. While name signs were originally exclusive to deaf people, some hearing people who use ASL and interact with the deaf community also have name signs. Prominent individuals with no direct connection to deaf culture are sometimes also assigned name signs; for example, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, William Shakespeare, and Vincent van Gogh all have name signs. Contemporary non-deaf figures, such as elected officials, are sometimes also given name signs. For example, after becoming Vice President-elect of the United States, Kamala Harris was assigned a name sign consisting of a rotation of the wrist completed concurrently with the unfurling of the thumb, index and middle finger; the sign was partly derived from the sign for lotus flower (which is what "Kamala" means in Sanskrit) and from the number three (representing Harris as the first vice president to be a woman, African American, and Asian American).

References

Further reading Erting, Carol (1994). The Deaf Way. Washington: Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1-56368-026-2.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sign name

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sign name claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sign name before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sign name ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sign name

In research: Sign name appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sign name in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sign name is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Onomastics, Sign languages, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sign name outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Sign name in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sign name means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sign name out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sign name in simple terms?

In Deaf culture and sign language, a sign name (or a name sign) is a special sign that is used to uniquely identify a person (a name). American Sign Language In the American deaf community and American Sign Language (ASL), there are cultural norms regarding ASL name signs; for example, they must be…

Why does Sign name matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sign name?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sign name.