Describing things, continued
Opposites in pairs — loud and quiet, wet and dry, clean and dirty, good and bad.
Focus
Antonyms built from direction
GOOD comes from the chin and lands palm-up; BAD comes from the chin and flips palm-down. OPEN and CLOSE are the same hands moving opposite ways. Many ASL opposites reverse a movement rather than change a handshape.
Two ways to be an opposite
LOUD and QUIET are built from different pictures (the ear; the lips); WET and DRY have nothing in common. Pairs of meaning aren't always pairs of form — which is exactly why the receptive drill mixes both kinds.
Signs in this lesson
Open any sign for its full history, sources and minimal pairs.
Touch a flat hand to your chin, then flip it over and throw it down.
Point to your ear, then shake two open hands outward as if the noise fills the space.
Cross two flat hands at your lips, then lower them apart, palms down — a hush.
Hold two open hands out and close them slowly into flat 'O's, as if squeezing water out.
Drag a hooked index finger ('X') across your chin from one side to the other.
Wipe the palm of one flat hand across the upturned palm of the other, once.
Hold an open hand under your chin, palm down, and wiggle the fingers.
Point two index fingers forward, then snap them back into 'X' hooks.
Slide the bent middle finger of an open '8' hand along the back of your other hand, from wrist to fingertips.
Hold two fists palm-up and flick them open into '5' hands, twice.
Circle a flat hand around and land it, palm up, in your other palm.
Raise an 'H' hand upward in front of you in two small steps.
Brush the two fingers of a 'U' hand down your chin twice, ending in a bent shape.
Start an open '5' hand at your forehead and circle it around your face, closing to a flat 'O' at the chin.
Watch out for
Pairs in this lesson that learners mix up — the drill will test exactly these.
- LOUD / QUIET — Opposites: LOUD shakes outward from the ear; QUIET lowers crossed hands from the lips.
- WET / DRY — Opposites with unrelated forms: WET squeezes two hands; DRY drags an X hand across the chin.