STATES: The
American Sign Language (ASL) sign for "states"
Signs for "states" in the United States have quite a few variations.
If you learn a sign for a state out of a book or on a website and later a local
ASL native (from that state) tells you "That isn't how it is signed. Sign it
this way..." -- pay attention and learn another way to sign that state and use
the same sign as the local native Deaf adults (particularly those who went to
residential schools).
Below are some fairly common versions of states. If your local
teacher prefers something else, hey, he or she gives the grade eh?
Note: Some states and cities have signs others you fingerspell.
Alabama: Fingerspell "ALA"
Alaska:
Fingerspell "Alaska" or do the "fur
around face" sign.
ALASKA-[advanced/casual version]:
Arizona:
Fingerspell "Arizona" or do the "A" at the corners of the mouth sign.
Arkansas:
Fingerspell "ARK"
California:
ILY-hand index fingertip to earlobe swing once into a "Y"-hand.
Colorado:
Do a "C" arc on the forearm or sign [COLOR and spell "do" or
"ado"] or spell
Fingerspell "Colorado" (Some people just spell "COLO" but
that feels weird to me.)
COLOR + DO-[version]:
Connecticut: CONN
Delaware: DEL
Florida: FLA
Georgia: GA
Hawaii: Spell or H-FACE or FACE
HAWAII-[initialized-version]:
HAWAII-[non-initialized-version] / face / looks:
Idaho: Spell or "potato"
Illinois: Spell ILL but it ends up looking like ILY sign.
Indiana: IND (Using a bit of a bounce)
INDIANA-[version]:
Iowa: Spell
Kansas: Spell, or KAN-(some-people-sign), KS
KANSAS-[ks-version]:
Kentucky: KY
Louisiana: L sideways movement into an "A"
Maine: Spell or sign "profit"
Maryland: MD
Massachusetts: MASS
Michigan: MICH
Minnesota: MINN
Mississippi: MISS
Missouri: sideways-M into an O
Montana:
spell or sign MUSEUM
MONTANA-[museum version]:
MONTANA / MCDONALD'S:
Nebraska: NEB
Nevada: spell or NEV
New Hampshire: NH
New Jersey: NJ
New Mexico: NM
New York: palm-down-Y sliding on non-dominant-palm
NEW YORK:
NEW YORK-[one-movement-version]:
North
Carolina: NC
North Dakota: ND (with a modified D)
Ohio: Spell
Oklahoma: OKLA-(lexicalized with a bit of a clockwise arc from the signer perspective)
Oregon: Spell or circle an O in the air.
OREGON-[circled-O-version]:
OREGON-[shoulder version / not recommended]:
Pennsylvania: sideways-P changes into an "A"
Rhode Island: RI
South Carolina: SC
South Dakota: SD with a modified D
Tennessee: TENN
Texas: X moves in a "7 path" (draw a 7 in the air with an X-hand)
Utah: Spell
Vermont: VT
Virginia: VA
Washington: W moves forward off of the shoulder
West Virginia: Sign WEST then VA. Note: Some people move the W to the right.
Wisconsin: WIS or WISC
Wyoming: WYO (a bit lexicalized with a dip on the Y)
United States Territories:
Canadian Provinces:
Alberta: A-hand brushes backwards twice on back of
loose-non-dominant hand
British Columbia: BC
Manitoba: Spell or
use a BENT-hand to brush heart-area out to the side and back.
New Brunswick: NB
Newfoundland: tips-of-5-hands-thumbs touch waist/hips area and wiggle the fingers
Nova Scotia: NS or HS
Ontario: palm-up-O circled (similar to and upside-down Oregon) or use the same sign as OREGON (a circled O hand)
Prince Edward Island: PEI
Quebec: Circle a Q or Circle a modified-X-(thumb-pointed-forward)
Saskatchewan: SASK or spell SASK with the "A" turned sideways
Notes:
See: COUNTRIES
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