(rightward movement of question signs)
Also see: ASL Grammar
(discussion pages)
Question:
A student asks:
I was taught that when we ask questions we should put the question sign at the
end but I also see people signing ‘HOW SIGN (spell word)?’ putting the question
sign at the beginning. Could you maybe explain why?
(edited for flow and clarity)
Response:
You will find people online who list rules as if each of their rules is "the"
(one right) way to do something -- when actually the rule only describes "one of
the various ways to do something."
Putting the question sign at the end of a question is a way to ask a question
but not the only way.
For example it is common in ASL to sign "HOW YOU?" (How are you?).
It would seem awkward to put the question sign "HOW" at the end of the question
"How are you?"
For example we would not typically sign "YOU HOW?" to ask "How are you?"
That's real life.
In real life it is very common to use the phrase, "HOW SIGN ..." and then
fingerspell the concept you want to see signed. If a teacher tells you that is
wrong it means the teacher is being prescriptive rather than descriptive. In
other words they are prescribing how they think you "ought" to do it rather than
describing how it is typically done in the Deaf community. Tip: Sign the way
your teacher wants until you get the grade you want -- and then go out in the
real world and learn to sign like socially active, adult, native Deaf signers.
ASL is flexible and uses quite a few different sentence structures depending on
context and the individual needs of the people communicating. The more context,
familiarity, and repetition influencing a signed concept -- the more abbreviated
and streamlined the signing tends to become.
Notes: For more information on this topic, see:
The problem of induction and
extrapolation in the teaching of ASL
Also see: ASL Grammar