The sign for “hear/ heard”

Question

i’ve noticed recently that a lot of signs (at least in asl in the midwest) have been changing to separate from the english/ hearing roots. for example removing starting letters from signs like “party” instead of using a P, it’s now a hand-shape using the thumb and pinky fingers extended. Has anyone else seen the sign “heard” changing it’s location to focus around the eye? Originally (7 years or so ago) I was taught to sign this around the ear but yesterday one of my Deaf classmates signed heard with the location shifted to under the eye/ cheek area. i’m assuming this is to separate from the hearing societal root of the word/sign “Hear/heard”. thoughts?? I’m all for these adjustments for signs to become more ASL/Deaf community based!!

Answer 1

You are correct in your observation. Signers are tending to use "RECEIVE-THROUGH-EYES to refer to listening or taking in what is being signed. It makes sense because that is how sign language is received. The sign to listen when referring to listening through the ears would still be signed at the ear. There may be circumstances where a Deaf person would use that sign. For example, if the person heard a noise or sound coming through his/her ears then they would sign at the ear with the appropriate sign because that is how the sound was processed. Obviously did not take in the sign through their eyes. If a deaf person wants to ask if someone heard an actual sound he/she would sign at the ear because that is what is being referred to. So it is only when talking about taking in language (sign language) through the eyes is it appropriate to use the sign in the location of the eyes.

Generally speaking signs "make sense" in other words represent reality so it would not "make sense" to refer to processing a sound through the eyes. It would make sense to say that something was "listened to" by using one's eyes if that is actually how the "listening" is occurring.

Hope this helps disambiguate how these signs are used.

Regards

Bill