GRANDMOTHER in sign language

Drawing of the sign grandmother

ASL signs for GRANDMOTHER

How to sign "grandmother", "grandma" in American Sign Language?

Meaning: The mother of one's father or mother.

Pronunciation (production): Dominant "5" or sometimes flat hand (handshape), palm facing left if right-handed (orientation), thumb on the low cheek (location), moves forward in arc twice away from the cheek (movement).

Baby Signing GRANDMOTHER

Observe how a bilingual kid acquires the ASL sign "GRANDMOTHER" on the phonological level in the video, involving proximilization -- which involves the development of motor control from the arm to the hand.

At age 1;2, the baby began to sign "grandmother" during the one-word stage, somehow more focusing on the movement rather than the handshape. At at 2;4, all handshape, location, and movement emerged.

For another example of proximilization in phonological acquisition, see DIRTY.

Vocabulary

"How do you say 'great grandmother'?" Sign GREAT + GRANDMOTHER.

Related signs: MOTHER (also MOM), GRANDCHILD, GRANDPARENT.

Opposite: GRANDFATHER.

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