“Mouth” is a fun word, isn’t it? Could be the mouth on your face that you open and close, eat food with, kiss with, etc. Could be “mouthy” — that mouthy kid who always has a smart-alec answer for everything (and gets him in trouble). Could be an opening of some kind, like the mouth of a cave. Or could be “mouthing” words, forming their shape, but not their sound.
Many people who are considered “poor readers” tend to “mouth” the words as they read along. However, this slows down reading, and can break comprehension of longer or more complex sentences. While younger children may mouth or read aloud, they are expected to soon drop this habit.
I find it very interesting that “mouthing” has a similar effect in signing (and I’m extremely amused that Deaf Chipmunk raised the issue yesterday here and here). Last Friday I saw something for myself that I had seen people discuss. I was at our local deaf meet, and as usual there were far more terps and such than deaf people. At one point, there were four terps discussing the various issues and hurdles toward qualifying for certification (as far as I can tell, the process is long, laborious, and byzantine in its complexity) and while they never stopped signing, I noticed that they started to mouth, then talk while signing.
I forget what exactly happened, but one person wound up asking me if I was hearing, and when I said no, I was deaf, all of a sudden they all stopped talking and strictly signed instead. What surprised me was that in a few moments I noticed that their signing was much faster, smoother, and more fluid as a result. It was really fascinating to watch.
So, yeah. Put that duct tape over your mouth first 
(As an aside: Do any of you ever now and then look at a particular word (or maybe even sign) long enough and over and over until it looks absolutely ridiculous and no longer meaning what it’s supposed to mean? I hate that… )
Do any of you ever now and then look at a particular word (or maybe even sign) long enough and over and over until it looks absolutely ridiculous and no longer meaning what it’s supposed to mean?
After the past week at work, hunting up the staff for the county offices of ed for all 58 counties in California, the word “superintendent” no longer has any meaning whatsoever for me.
Hmm, am I reading you right, here? “Mouth” in ASL terms can be an insult. Now, I understand that we are supposed to keep our mouths CLOSED while speaking ASL. But what about those of us who had to deal with many, many different types of students at the residential school?? We had to use all types of communication, and “Total Coommunication” was demanded of us if we wanted to salvage our jobs. It all became a habit — and my own brand of ASL is just that, my own brand! ASL was not my first language (nor my last), but I adapted and am sorry if people like ME offend the die hard ASL people. I am proud to say that I have been told that I have my very own style and that is good enough for me. Take it or leave it. “Mouth” or no mouth, that is me!
Lantana, Lantana’s Latitude
Hi, Lantana! That’s interesting about the word for mouth in ASL. No, I didn’t know that so it’s a good thing this was written in English, rather than signed, isn’t it? I’ve put foot in mouth often enough as it is. Anyway, ASL certainly isn’t my first language either. Sorry if my observations of others speaking ASL as I am myself learning it have offended you.
Offended? Me? Why so? To me (but not many others) ASL is ASL, no matter what degree you speak it! As long as your intentions are honest, why sweat?
Lantana
Zany mouth politics aside, it’s good that you notice that shift. What was unconscious suddenly becomes conscious. It’s like this, the crew talking nonsense until the supervisor comes, they start talking some sense. Well… something like that. I think Toby Welch did some mouthing vlogs and it’s good to use ASL mouthing styles when telling a story, like a racing car story. Offer wonderful cues than just mouthing English.
Oh, by mouthing I’m thinking strictly of mouthing English words while signing. The facial cues and such are “Non Manual Signs,” in other words, signs not made with the hands, and yes Toby Welch did a lovely set of those here and here. I wouldn’t consider those mouthings at all, and I hope to cultivate these as I learn!
Proficient ASL signers mouth English words (full to “half drop”) mostly in noun phrases and much less in verb phrases. That is what I found in one of my ASL research projects.
There are ASL signers, sometime like me, nearly do not mouth anything English. Instead, a variety of adverbial mouth movements (ee, oo, puckering lips etc) and underlying muscles of cheek configure endless adverbials with fluidity. The reason for not mouthing English words is to allow eyebrows move freely to sync in sentence structures, raising eyebrows for topic comment to furrowing eyebrows for question marking.
So..simultaneous communication is foul mouthing.
Deaf people mouthing while they signed helped the deaf novice signers understand them better, especially in the educational setting where time isn’t a luxury. Frequently it isn’t so easy for people learning sign language later in life.
lol at that phenomenon of a word becoming meaningless because it was examined too closely lol
Yes, I think I said elsewhere if people are mouthing or talking while signing, I cheat. I’m not sure it helps me learn sign, because I watch the mouth too closely to see which sign is what. Although I have picked up some signs this way…
I’ve discovered that I can understand ASL with or without lip movements, but it helps me greatly if people don’t clamp their mouths closed firmly and avoid all sorts of mouth movements. They DO help even if they don’t form complete words. The mouth is a part of the whole body and adds meaning, if not more than the rest of the body does.
So, take off the duct tape and stop pretending the mouth doesn’t exist! The expressiiveness, emphasis, imitative of sound, emotionality, and color the lips provide to accent signs is valuable.
Thank you for bringing up a good subject, BEG!
I confess…I am one of those people who finds it almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to sign without mouthing. I suppose part of that is because in reality, English is my first language, and will always be so. Even though I am a pretty good signer (at least nobody’s told me I’m lousy!) I still tend to mouth, and tend to prefer others to do so as well. To be honest, I do find it easier to understand when I do have mouth movements as well.
I remember being at the local Deaf Club one evening and having this Deaf person come up to me and bawl me out, saying “this is a Deaf Club, ASL is used here, so zip your mouth!” I was really taken back by this, and somewhat offended as well. As long as the person can understand me, what difference should it make? Why is it such a big deal? I almost felt like shooting back “Since when did you become the ASL police???”
The funny thing is, this is a guy who mouths at least half of the time himself!
Ha, I know what you mean.
I definitely don’t mean to be like the guy who screams about not mouthing. But the one thing I’ve heard, that speaking and signing tend not to mix, I’ve seen, and was describing said incident.
Plus which, drmzz’s vlog was just too funny not to refer to
Well I can tell you why a lot of hearing people speak and sign at the same time. Because their teachers did! I took sign language classes a long time ago and all mine did, anyway.
Nowdays I’ve forgotten most of it so if I ever try to sign I still tend move my mouth, because I figure if somebody can’t understand my lousy signs then maybe they can read lips.
Like your blog!