Signs for EXPERT

Meaning: having or involving special skill or extensive knowledge; a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.

Pronunciation (sign description): Dominant 9-num with tips of forefinger and middle finger moves toward the chin where palm faces the signer.

In English, "expert" is a person but in ASL, this signword usually means having a skill or knowledge.

Beyond basics

You may notice fluent/native Deaf signers signing "expert" or "expertise" with a mouth morpheme which modified the meaning. With the "oo" mouth morpheme, it means highly or very "skillful" ("EXPERT" if it were an adjective). Then again, the mouthing "oo" with a certain intonation conveys a different meaning which means that a person has the guts to do something (like crazy or something). Also, the mouth morpheme with puffed lips is similar to the "having the guts" to some degree but it's difficult to define one way. It's culturally linguistic.

Vocabulary

Related signs: ADEPT, SKILLFUL, TALENTED, ACCOMPLISHED, VIRTUOSO, MASTERY.

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