Words in Hand

Well, now that you have noticed that, you certainly don't need me to tell you that the face is important in sign language. But we’ll look a bit more carefully at what work the face is doing and what information it is giving us.

Can you remember the two categories of signs we talked about in the first tape for non-manual features? The first group is multi-channel signs where we must have a particular facial expression. The second group is ordinary signs – normal signs – that could have an extra bit added from the face which makes a little bit of change – or some change – to the meaning.

Now, Maureen uses both of the categories. At the beginning of this tape we had a couple of examples of these two signs, both of which we have seen before already. It's showing exactly where the rats were, that they were really there and exactly where they are.

Also we've noticed that there were lots of examples of Maureen using puffed cheeks. This is used in sign language as what we call an 'intensifier'. In English we might use a word like 'very'. So when Maureen signs 'lots of trees' – like this – we might translate it as 'many trees' or 'very many trees'.

There are other examples like where the rats are having a great time having a party. The sign we know for 'party' is this, but then she added the puffed cheeks – like this – to show what a marvellous party it was.

When she's in the shop looking at the different animals, she says 'there are different animals' and again puffs her cheeks when she signs 'different' to emphasise – to say how many – different animals there were in the shop.

When the rats scuttle down the stairs in fear after first seeing the cat, it is signed like this. You know what type of cat it was from the clear description Maureen gives. One of the signs she uses we can translate as 'fierce' or 'vicious', like this. That is a sign where we really need to have puffed cheeks. You can't just sign it like this as it looks strange without puffed cheeks.

But it's not only puffed cheeks. It's important to notice when Maureen told us that the woman was always angry and nagging the rats. Did you see what she did with her face? Watch it again to check it as you can see it's clear it’s giving us the extra information.

We know the parrot in the shop was swinging upside down but we also know that it was swinging in a crazy way. We know that through the facial expression and the extra information provided, like this.