CHARGE: The American Sign Language (ASL) sign for "charge"
How you sign the concept of "charge" is going to depend on the situation and
your intended meaning.
If you mean "charge" as in to charge an electronic device, then use this
sign:
PLUG-IN, charge,
Example sentence: My phone? I need to plug it in.
Example sentence: I need to plug in my phone.
CHARGED (charged with)
If you mean "charged" as in "charged with a crime" (and if
you have enough context) you can use this sign:
CHARGE, charged with, formally accuse, impeach, ...
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CHARGED, charged with, formally accuse, impeach, ...
See: https://youtu.be/ItvMJOaNRTg
Also see: https://youtu.be/zsGCR_-PEdk
(first degree murder charge)
If you mean "charge" as in to buy something with a credit card use this sign:
If you mean "charge" as in a "charging bull" then use the "horns" (corna)
handshape to depict the how a bull charges.
Dad Joke:
How do you stop a bull from charging? Take away his credit card.
Notes, references, discussion, and/or examples:
Question:
A student writes:
Hello Professor Vicars,
My name is ██████ and I am working on an assignment for my ASL 2 class on
semantics. We have to translate sentences from English to ASL and once sentence
has really tripped me up. The sentence is "They charged him with breaking and
entering". My thought now is to use the sign BLAME but I have seen some
contradicting info out there. You are my most trusted source of online ASL
support and was wondering if you could help me out. I'm translating the sentence
now as BREAK ENTER BLAME (they to him). Am I on the right track?
Thank you for all the content on ASL that you have made!
I appreciate all that you do,
██████
Response:
The BLAME sign was used for many years as a common way of signing “charged
with.” Something to consider though is that the BLAME sign has more meanings
than just “blame.” The BLAME sign can also convey a meaning (or “connotation”)
of "it is your fault / it is that person's fault" – thus the BLAME sign can be
confusing since “being charged with something” doesn't mean it is actually your
fault. In other words the sign BLAME has an overlapping but different set of
meanings than the English word "blame." The sign BLAME tends to carry more of a
judgment of culpability than simply being accused of (or charged with) possibly
having done something.
Language evolves and these days, to sign “charged with” (in the legal sense) I
recommend you use the sign that evolved from a version of “pinned down” which
also, somewhat ironically, perhaps also mutated or evolved from the sign PLUG-IN
– or in other words to “charge” a device.
Keep in mind that the movement of the sign “CHARGED-(legal)” is somewhat
different from “PLUG-in.” The dominant hand of the CHARGED-(legal) sign pulls
back after making the forward jab movement.
Note that you will still sometimes see the BLAME sign used to mean “charged
with.” I do not consider the BLAME sign to be wrong – just not my first
recommendation.
For a video example of "charged with breaking and entering" see the 13:02 mark of this video:
https://youtu.be/UgqB79-BaJ4
Also see the 8:47 mark of this video:
https://youtu.be/T3EE8msFORw?t=524
Notice how the "CHARGED" sign is followed by the "BLAME" sign for clarity?
Then notice the 4:15 mark of this video:
https://youtu.be/t8AD-WroGuA?t=254
and note that "CHARGED" is followed by "WITH" (however I do not recommend the
WITH sign in this case yet it is important to see it show up in real life
interpretive reporting by a Deaf newscaster).
We see the WITH sign show up again as CHARGED IX-(him) WITH at the 6:00 mark of:
https://youtu.be/wv33kuIHC5Y?t=360
At the 5:14 mark of this video we see an approach to the idea of "charged with
two counts of murder, four counts of ..." signed as:
CHARGE, CHARGE THESE-(list-index) ...
thus creating the meaning of "the following charges ..." (then listed)
https://youtu.be/HZ8H8pfNwLA?t=314
Check out the 5:13 mark of this video and note that the sign WITH is not used.
The sign CHARGED is done (without WITH) to create the meaning of "charged with a
crime."
https://youtu.be/u919vf-yghQ?t=313
At 2:52 we see CHARGED-me (done directionally) to refer to "a person (or people)
who has (or have) been charged with a crime (or crimes)." The larger context is
in reference to someone having been an oppressor of people who have been charged
with crimes.
https://youtu.be/9C82salEk7w?t=172
At the 4:48 mark of this video we (again) see the BLAME sign used after the
CHARGED sign to create a meaning of "charged with."
Of possible interest is a Gallaudet University YouTube channel hosted video in
which at the 16:03 mark we see "charged" (in a legal sense of meaning) being
signed by using the COST/price/fee/... sign:
https://youtu.be/eZeTKsiPgqE?t=961
While many signers might currently scoff at the use of COST to mean "charged
with"-(legally) -- we should pause and ask ourselves: Is the sign "PLUG-IN-(an
electric cord or device)" any more appropriate or a better choice than the sign
"COST" to go through semantic expansion and be applied to "charge with"?
Regardless, we can see an evolution in how the concept of "charged with" (a crime) is
signed.
My recommendation is to use the "CHARGED" sign (with the jab and pull back
movement) without needing to add the WITH sign nor the BLAME sign. However,
adding either of those two signs to CHARGED only makes it more clearer.
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