How to sign simile - ASL translation of children's book

Question

My daughter is almost three months old and was diagnosed with hearing loss. We have been put in contact with early intervention services, but have yet to meet with them. In the meantime, I've been trying to begin learning ASL through Sign It and Dr. Vicar's ASLU. In addition to exposing her to some of the popular "baby" signs, I'd like to learn to sign a few young children's books in ASL. I've since realized that many of the videos of children books are not ASL, but a form of Signed English. This has been disappointing because the grammar/syntax is the hardest part of learning a new language - and because youtube will probably be her primary way of being able to watch native signers for receptivity purposes. Anyways, I'm wondering if ASL has similes - or whether they directly transfer, in terms of meaning. Based on what I know so far, it seems like the words "like" and "as" don't seem to work the same way they do in English (to make comparisons). Is this correct? The book I'm looking at right now has the first two lines: I love you as big as the world. I love you as deep as the sea. Can anyone help me figure out what this would look like in ASL gloss? ​ ​

Answer 1

Signing stories forces you to visualize what's happening in the story. Sometimes you can use the pictures provided to help you convey the meaning. When I read to my children and my goal was to comfort them, it didn't matter what the words were on the page, they wanted to hear my voice. For Deaf children I would imagine the most important thing would be to see your face and the expressions you are making to accompany the pictures. If I was reading for literacy, I focused on one word on the page that was vital to the story. Children learn language the same whether they are hearing or Deaf. Start small and add as you go. In whole, what I'm saying is don't worry about whether your baby understands similes right now. Be with him/her, share the joy you have in books, communicate what's important and leave the rest until they do understand.

Answer 2

Yes those expressions can be communicated in ASL but to do so effectively would require probably more skill in ASL than you have right now. You can't simply rely on the sign words to convey the meaning. Communicating those comparisons would require using the power of ASL to develop visual pictures using the vocabulary and classifier system of ASL. To get to the depth of meaning conveyed by those similes would take artistic skill in making the picture of the "Big world" and the"deep ocean" come to visual life. This would be accomplished by giving examples that develop these two concepts and then at the end the signer would state I LOVE YOU SAME-AS.

I really applaud you for you desire to learn ASL for your daughter and I know if you keep your eye on that goal and with the love and acceptance you clearly have for her you will be able to sign those expressions beautifully to her soon. She is very, very fortunate to have you as her mother.

Best wishes

Bill