Beginner
Learn how to express months of the year in American Sign Language (ASL).
The ASL signs for the months of a year are usually fingerspelled in abbreviation. Eg. JAN for January, FEB for February, MARCH for March, APRIL for April, MAY for May, JUN for June, JULY for July, AUG for August, SEPT for September, OCT for October, NOV for November, and DEC for December.
Practice listening (with your eyes) and repeat watching the fingerspelled abbreviations to improve your receptive skill.
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The speed of fingerspelling which a bit more faster than the video above in real life is normal. If you find them too fast, remember to pay attention to the configuration (shape and movement) of the word, not letter by letter.
The following illustrations demonstrate some ASL signs how to express a number of months.
month
If you sign two words/signs, it's, for example, THREE + MONTH. But, you can use a numeral incorporation which merge two signs into one sign. E.g. THREE-MONTH.
three-months
The base word (or morpheme) month can be modified by incorporating with an ASL number between one and nine. For example, three months above. For the numbers after ten, you sign a number and then "month".
The following illustrations demonstrate some ASL signs how to to express a frequency of month(s).
monthly; every-month
bimonthly; every-two-months
The base word (or morpheme) monthly can be modified by incorporating with a number between one and nine. For example, bimonthly above, "every three months", "every six months", etc. The repetition of the sign (movement) is generally twice.
Watch each of the videos and try your answer. Each question asks you what or which month it is for an event or holiday.
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Related lesson: how to tell YEAR in ASL.
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