Vocabulary review for:
How to sign "black" in American Sign Language (ASL)?
Meaning: Of the very darkest color owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of white.
Pronunciation (sign description): Dominant forefinger (handshape), palm down (orientation), brushes from the left-sided forehead across toward the right-sided forehead (location and movement).
The time-lapse video shows how the ASL-speaking bilingual kid acquired the word "black" in ASL from toddler to preschooler.
The "1" handshape is unmarked, one of few about 7 unmarked handshapes in a set of 50+ handshapes in ASL. Only the unmarked handshapes emerged in the first 24 months of age. Thus, baby and toddler have no problem with the handshape in the early language development in ASL.
However, movement parameter of the ASL sign/word takes more time. It's interesting to observe how the movement develops in the early language acquisition. When toddler signed "black", the movement was the opposite. At age 2;9, she produced the movement correctly.
Related colors: GRAY/GREY, PITCH-BLACK, COLOR.
Opposite color: WHITE.
Review 101 words. Refresher.