Motion diagram. A Deaf-recorded clip from the PopSign corpus (CC BY 4.0) exists for this sign and can be placed here.
WHERE
“where”
How to make it
Hold up a single index finger and shake it side to side, brows furrowed.
Grammar
Like all WH-words, it takes furrowed brows. In ASL a WH-word usually comes at the *end*: 'YOUR NAME WHAT?' rather than 'what is your name'.
Where the sign comes from
IconicThe sign visibly depicts its meaning — a present-day resemblance, not a historical claim.
A finger wagging between possible places — 'which spot?'
Sources
- ASL-LEXSehyr, Zed Sevcikova, Naomi Caselli, Ariel Cohen-Goldberg, and Karen Emmorey. "The ASL-LEX 2.0 Project: A Database of Lexical and Phonological Properties for 2,723 Signs in American Sign Language." Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 26, no. 2 (2021): 263–277. link
The sign, taken apart
Every ASL sign is built from a handshape, a place it's made, and a movement. Learn to see these three and you can read and store any sign.
Location
Neutral space
Made at the neutral space.
Movement
back and forth
One-handed.
Repeated. Palm facing out.