Rosanne N. answered • 05/31/22
Learn Real-World ASL Skills from an Interpreter, One Sign at a Time!
It is done the same way... just as you saw in Lifeprint. If it's your ultimate favorite, you can show that with facial expression, but most people then would use the KISS-FIST sign along with facial expression.
The meaning is known based on context; how it is used in a sentence. For example, MY FAVORITE COLOR WHAT? RED - My favorite color is red or CHOCOLATE I PREFER, I prefer chocolate... and do it with the mouth expression of "MM' to show it is a preference. If you want it to mean, Chocolate is my favorite, your facial expression will emphasize this, usually eyebrows are up, and you are smiling. Then again, you can use the KISS-FIST sign if it is something you really love (but don't use it for people). So, being that the signs are the same, the meaning comes from context along with facial expression.
This sign also means TASTE, FLAVOR, PREFERENCE or another way to say what you WANT, as in, SOUP ME PREFER - I prefer soup... Here again, facial expression is important, because you want to be able to differentiate between it is what you prefer to eat for dinner vs. it is just your favorite thing to eat.
There is also another way to sign PREFER, see the link below. It is a sign done like the sign BEST, but the location of the sign is done at the chest.
American Sign Language ASL Video Dictionary - rather prefer (signasl.org)
It also means PREFERENCE or RATHER. Example of RATHER: STAY HOME ME PREFER - Can be translated as, "I prefer to stay home", or "I'd rather stay home." In ASL there can many sign choices for the same meaning just like there are many word choices in English for the same meaning.
You'll notice that this represents several English words, but the majority of those English words are synonyms of each other. So, they all have the same meaning more or less, thus the same sign is used.
