S.A., are the various versions of signing based on a strict adherence to English grammar, i.e., Signing Exact English, Seeing Essential English, and others. LSM vocabulary, however, seems to have been developed with a very strong Spanish influence and has kept the initialization to this day. Initialization is not seen as a negative strategy, nor is it viewed as a characteristic of hearing signers (Faurot et al., p. 3). Faurot et al., went on to discuss the Geographic distinctions that exist in LSM. Geographic distinctions do not seem to be as important as other differences. The greatest lexical variations seem to result from three factors: religious differences (for religious terminology), age distinctions, and levels of education. Religious terminology differs from church to church (and between denominations) and from city to city. If there are two variations of a sign, sometimes the Deaf would refuse to use the sign that more closely resembled the corresponding ASL sign as "American influenced," if the church that used that sign had had an American...
Educational level also influenced a person's signing. Those with more education were more likely to use signed Spanish or a more Spanish-influenced sign, and therefore less likely to be understood by those with less education.Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
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