Indeterminate Fingerspelling:

or "indeterminate spelling in ASL"

Indeterminate fingerspelling is a process or approach to handling the communicating of words for which a person perhaps knows the first few letters of the word but doesn't know or is not sure of how to spell the rest of the word.


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Question:
In the Lesson 33 video could the fruit you are discussing be durians?

Answer: Yes!  At around the 40:33 mark of the Lesson 33 Video  ( https://youtu.be/FUHOI951gQ4?t=2434 ) I start discussing a type of fruit and use a process I refer to as "indeterminate spelling" (or indeterminate fingerspelling). You see me start to spell "durian" D-U-R... at which point I realize I'm not going to be able to finish spelling it with any level of confidence in the accuracy of the spelling so I just add the general sign for "SPELL."  The resulting meaning is as if I'm stating "D, U, R, ... something."

So bravo to you for figuring out that I was referring to a "durian" (and/or durians) and even bigger bravo for catching an authentic example of indeterminate fingerspelling!  A rather common example of indeterminate fingerspelling that comes up from time to time in the Deaf world is the spelling of spinal meningitis. See: https://youtu.be/BVaB2KDQ9-c

 






 
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