3.1.2. Proper nouns and name signs
Proper nouns are used to describe specific entities: people’s names, country names, brand names, planet names, monument’s names, etc. In the examples below, the signs for Barcelona and Berlin in LSC are shown.
a) barcelona
b) berlin
LSC has its own toponyms for countries, but recently, a tendency to adopt the sign used in the local sign language of the place (or in International Sign) has increased. For instance, the sign for Italy used to be the one illustrated in (a) but nowadays it is more common among signers to use the sign shown in (b), which is the one used in Italian Sign Language and also in International Sign.
a) italy-1
b) italy -2
Apart from the countries and big cities, smaller cities or villages are also named with specific signs in LSC. The strategies for the formation of these signs vary. Many of the villages or cities are named after the name sign of a deaf person that used to live there. The sign for Manresa, a city in Catalonia, was named after a deaf person that used to live there.
manresa
Other signs for villages have been created related to their name in spoken language (in spoken Catalan or Spanish). In the coast of Catalonia there is a city called Lloret de Mar. The sign of this city is similar to the sign cry. The reason is that the name of the city Lloret resembles a lot to the verb ‘to cry’ in Spanish (llorar). The same happens with the sign for another town (Canet de Mar) in which the word Canet resembles the word carnet, that means ‘ID’ in Catalan. In this case the sign for Canet de Mar in LSC is the same as the sign for ID.
a) lloret de mar
b) canet de mar-1
In realizing of the misspelling mistakes, the Deaf community has replaced some of these signs for other signs like the one shown below for Canet de Mar.
canet de mar-2
LSC also have signs to name famous monuments like, for instance, la Sagrada Família. Sometimes the signs for monuments may change if the monuments change themselves. Not long ago the sign for sagrada familia was the one exemplified in (a). Nowadays, the sign has evolved into the one illustrated in (b). As you may know, sagrada familia is a monument that is still being built, so the new sign represents the new parts of the basilica that have been built during the last ten years.
a) sagrada familia-1
b) sagrada familia-2
Regarding name signs, they would be the equivalent to proper nouns in spoken languages. In LSC there are signs for famous people that are frequently borrowed from the sign language of the celebrity’s country, like the sign for Barack Obama that has been adopted from American Sign Language.
obama
Nevertheless, LSC also creates its own name signs for foreign celebrities or politicians. For example, the sign for Angela Merkel is articulated in a different way than the original sign in German Sign Language in order to avoid possible misunderstandings with a politically incorrect sign in LSC.
merkel
Moreover, all sign language users have their own name sign that is the one that they use to refer to each other in an easier and faster way than fingerspelling. Personal name signs can be created following different patterns. The most common one is the use of a metonymy, that is taking a property of the person, may it be a physical property, a property of their character or personality, or a frequent behaviour that characterizes that person. In (a) the name sign represents the cheeks of the person (Sara). In (b) the name sign represents a treat of the personality of the person, namely, that he/she laughs a lot. Lastly, in (c) the sign represents a repeated behaviour of the person, in this case the person used to brush her hair very often when she was a child.
a) sara (prominent cheeks)
b) Unknown signer (laugh)
c) delfina (brushing the hair, behaviour) [VÍDEO NEEDS TO BE RECORDED]
If the name of the person matches a real entity or referent in the world, the common noun used to refer to that entity is used as a name sign. These signs are not personalized and may be used to name different people. For instance, the name Blanca means ‘white’ in Catalan, so the name sign would be the same as the sign used to denote the colour ‘white’. The same happens with Rosa in (b), which means ‘pink’. In (c) the name Paz means ‘peace’ and the sign for peace in LSC is used for the name sign. Lastly, Clara means ‘clear’, and again the sign used for ‘clear’ is in this case used for the name sign. These are just some examples of the many that can be found in LSC.
a) blanca [VÍDEO NEEDS TO BE RECORDED]
b) rosa
c) paz
d) clara
In LSC there are also some proper names that are associated with a conventionalized or generic sign. Just as the ones that we saw before, these signs are not personalized and different people may have the same sign. Many of these signs are associated with religious characters (from the Bible), such as Jesus (a), Maria (b), and Josep (c). Also, some apostles and saints have a generic sign: (a) Santiago, (b) Pedro, and (c) Antoni, (d) Mercè, among others.
a) jesús
b) maria
c) josep
d) santiago
e) pedro
f) antoni
g) mercè
Nevertheless, even though it is very common to associate these generic name signs to catholic religion, there are some name signs that are created for other reasons. The name sign for Montserrat represents the mountain that bears that name. It is important to notice though that the mountain is named after a virgin (the mare de déu de Montserrat), so there is still some connection to catholic religion.
montserrat
Sometimes the name signs may be related to a specific profession that usually involves handmade work like tailor, painter, sculptor, carpenter, or dry_cleaner. Also, many times a name sign is assigned to a person depending on the country she/he comes from. For instance, a German deaf person that moves to Catalonia may be called by the name sign for Germany.
Lastly, a common strategy used in LSC to create personal name signs is initialization. This strategy consists in using the fingerspelled first letter of the name of the person combined with a specific movement and location. For instance, the name sign rosa is articulated with the fingerspelled ‘r’ located in the neutral signing space and combined with a short lateral repetitive movement.
rosa
The initialization strategy may be combined with some other strategies such as representing a hobby or a profession. In the example below, mireia is articulated with a fingerspelled ‘m’ located in the shoulder, since the person is a passionate violinist. This combination strategy though seems to be more related to hearing people creating their own name signs when they join the sign language community, and it is not that common among deaf signers.
mireia
Sometimes, the letter chosen for the creation of the name sign need not be the initial one, but some other that is more prominent. The letter ‘x’ is understood as a more visually prominent letter that is very often used in these processes. The sign shown below may refer to different names that contain the letter ‘x’, like, for instance, Meritxell or Xavier.
meritxell/xavi