Core Vocabulary and Deaf Culture

ASL vocabulary is organized into semantic categories. In greetings, you will use: HELLO (a flat-hand wave from the forehead outward), THANK-YOU (fingertips touching the chin, then moving forward), PLEASE (a circular motion on the chest), HOW-ARE-YOU (combined sign using both hands in a rolling forward motion), MY-NAME-IS (index finger tapping temple twice, then fingerspelling your name), and NICE-TO-MEET-YOU (one flat hand slides off the other, then the NICE/CLEAN compound). Family vocabulary includes MOTHER (thumb tapping chin), FATHER (thumb tapping forehead), SISTER (index-thumb L-shape sliding forward at the chin for GIRL, then becoming SAME at the torso), BROTHER (similar logic at the forehead for BOY then SAME), and BABY (cradling motion with both arms). Colors are rich in ASL: RED (index finger brushing the lips), BLUE (B-handshape shaking slightly), GREEN (G-handshape shaking), YELLOW (Y-handshape shaking), ORANGE (squeezing a C-handshape at the chin like squeezing a fruit), PURPLE (P-handshape shaking), BLACK (index finger sliding across the forehead), WHITE (5-handshape pulling outward from the chest), and BROWN (B-handshape sliding down the cheek).