"texas" ASL American Sign Language

David asks:
<<Complete confusion here on my part. The signer isn't you, she isn't using the "x" hand but the "d" hand, and she isn't moving in a "7" but in a banana arc. And no explanation of what "7 & x" should convey. My teacher taught the class "Paris, France" as an Eiffel Towel and that makes sense, but how does "7 & x" convey Texas?>>

Dr. Bill replies:
Yah...you are right. She isn't me, heh. No plastic surgeon in the world could pull that off. "Crystil" was a language model I hired many years ago as part of an interpreter training workshop I was conducting for a school district. Having lived in Texas for three years I consider myself somewhat well versed in the sign "TEXAS" but I thought it would be interesting to use this clip of Crystil signing Texas.

Now...the handshape is indeed an "X." She's just doing a very "loose" X. Her index finger is slightly bent, plus her other fingers are curled in more than would be done for a "D." The movement is right then down. Admittedly she is starting farther to the left and doing the sign much higher than I do.

Signs don't have to "look-like" anything. Does the English word "bus" look like a bus? No, the word "bus" is very small, not yellow, and has no wheels, yet English users continue to use it to refer to something that looks completely different. It makes no more sense to use the English word "bus" to refer to a "bus" than it makes to move an "x" in a "7" shape to mean "Texas." And that is my point. Language doesn't have to be "iconic." ASL signs don't have to "look like" the concept they are representing any more than English words have to "sound-like" the concepts being "talked about." Hearing people don't say "woof" to mean "dog." They say, "DOG."
Deaf people don't have to use a "T" from English to represent their sign in ASL for TEXAS. The sign "TEXAS" means "Texas" because of "social convention" (ASL users recognize it and use it because others use it).

In a message dated 11/12/2009 10:00:44 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Erin writes:

Dear Dr. Bill,

...I saw on the page for the Texas sign, that you were explaining what it's supposed to represent in response to someone's e-mail. I just thought I'd let you know how we think of it in Corpus Christi, Texas.
...The way that my ASL teachers have given the idea is that the movement is representing the "pan handle" of Texas, and the "X" is representing the 'x' in Te'X'as, because Texas is the only state with an 'x' in it's name.
=)

Thanks for reading!

~Erin