Fingerspelling to show emphasis?

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KatieTheActivist

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I am not deaf or HoH. I am learning ASL independently and I am taking classes in 2014 thru my school's PSEOP program.
I just saw a deaf signer on Switched at Birth fingerspell words that have their own signs. Is this sort of like putting dashes between the letters or using all caps to show emphasis? I hadn't seen it done before.
 
Try something like that in real life instead of watching Switched at Birth then ask again.
 
?
I saw something on a TV show. I'm curious to know whether it was accurate. I can't try it in the real world because I don't have many ties with the deaf community. Please don't attack me for my curiousity. It's very unattractive.
 
Yes, sometimes words are fingerspelled either for clarification (on the exact meaning/nuance intended) or to emphasis.

An example might be if you're dealing with a stalling child at bedtime, you might sign "GO-TO BED" then when they don't go... you repeat it saying instead "GO-TO B-E-D"

There are a million other examples of course. Be is sometimes fingerspelled "B-E" to emphasis something like what in English would be "BE yourself", "BE Brave", etc ... where there's an emphasis intended.

Hope that helps
 
Oh yea, fingerspelling can be used to show emphasis. One has to be fluent in ASL to do it correctly and at the right time.
 
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