Mouthing


In sign language, mouthing is the production of visual syllables with the mouth while signing. That is, signers sometimes say or mouth a word in a spoken language at the same time as producing the sign for it. Mouthing is one of the many ways in which the face and mouth is used while signing. Although not present in all sign languages, and not in all signers, where it does occur it may be an essential element of a sign, distinguishing signs which would otherwise be homophones; in other cases a sign may seen to be flat and incomplete without mouthing even if it is unambiguous. Other signs use a combination of mouth movements and hand movements to indicate the sign; for example, the ASL sign for includes a mouth gesture where the mouth is slightly open. In such cases, mouthing is not available.
Mouthing often originates from oralist education, where sign and speech are used together. Thus mouthing may preserve an often abbreviated rendition of the spoken translation of a sign. In educated Ugandan Sign Language, for example, where both English and Ganda are influential, the word for, Av", is accompanied by the mouthed syllable nyo, from Ganda nnyo 'very', and, jO*v", is accompanied by vu, from Ganda onvuma. Similarly, the USL sign, t55bf, is mouthed fsh, an abbreviation of English finish, and,