Signing Spaces and the Brain

What does deafness of the ears do to it, if the minds hear can?

The only real deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind.

—Besançon, 26 februari 1802, Paris

 

 

The first thing to understand signing spaces in ASL is the brain itself.  In simple terms, there are two sides to every mind—literally two hemispheres of “gray matter” in the one brain—and each side has its own way of doing ASL and its own special functions.

A complex motor skill like doing ASL requires the participation of both sides of the brain.  In fact, I think doing ASL may be unique among languages in the degree of participation and cooperation it demands of each hemisphere.

We are probably already aware of the fact that, physically, the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of our body and that the right hemisphere controls our body’s left side.  Thus, if a person suffers a stroke in the left side of his brain, he risks paralysis in the right side of his body.  This crossover effect is a mechanical aspect of the nervous system.  This chapter is about the special mental faculties that each side of the brain has developed.
The two hemispheres, which for convenience I shall label the analyzer and the integrator, acquired their preferences for doing ASL.  The result is that with the analyzer, or left hemisphere, we do most of step-by-step thinking.  Doing ASL is controlled primarily through the analyzer.  On the other hand, the integrator or right hemisphere has become or skills in creative and artistic endeavors and the signing spaces.
The integrator has intuitive rather than analytic powers.  It can help us in doing ASL to visualize and create images. Also, and of great importance to motor skill performance, the integrator helps us keep ASL oriented in space, in the proper relation to our thoughts.
The five to ten percent of ASL users who are left-handed, incidentally, do not automatically follow this pattern of left brain being analyzer and right brain being integrator.  For many lefties, the pattern is reversed.  But the challenge of doing ASL with a brain consisting of two specialized hemispheres is exactly the same.
The point I am trying to make is that the two hemisphere brain theory is not a figment of our own right hemisphere.  It is an exciting and valid new concept with far-reaching implication—and with intriguing possibilities for doing ASL.
We need both sides of the brain for doing ASL.  The analyzer serves as an evaluator and decision-maker during doing ASL.  It assesses signs and devises expressive tactics for communication.  It checks the parts of signs in the Movement-Hold Models and selects the H-deletions.
Suppose, for example, you are to meet someone that you have not seen for a while.  Here’s how your analyzer might function in doing ASL:
“Let’s find out how he has been, how his parents are doing, and where he is heading for.”
The analyzer may also be active in this situation to ask (HOW-YOU?), to talk (PARENTS-FINE?), and to start a conversation (WHERE-GO?).  During this round of conversation, the integrator serves as synthesizer and executor.  It translates the analytic information about each signs into doing ASL, which permits him to communicate.  The integrator visualizes language patterns, senses doing ASL, and provides the communication.
All signs are made in the space for your need and want.  Your conversation plays them to your own self.  One of my ASL students wrote a good interpretation of what I had taught, and I quote him in part: If you were talking to someone at the dining table you wouldn't yell at them. The same thing can be applied to ASL; when talking to someone at a dining table you wouldn't use a large signing space because you might hit someone sitting next to you or annoy someone around you. Instead, you would use a conservative space near your body (see Singing Space: Dining Table below).

The following are the similar signing space cue cards (with their descriptions by the same student) that I use during the free-signing exercises.

SIGNING SPACE: Theatre

Signing Space: Theater is used in theater or when you're mad or arguing, or when you're very excited telling the climax of a story to a room of viewers.

SIGNING SPACE: Classroom

Signing Space: Classroom is used in a classroom setting. This can be used for giving a speech or telling a story with enthusiasm without being over the top.

SIGNING SPACE: Dinner Table

Signing Space: Dining Table is used at the dining table or in normal conversation.

SIGNING SPACE: Whispering

Signing space: Whispering is used when you want to keep a secret without telling the whole room.

 

The Sideways View of Signing Spaces