A@Chest-RadialBack Contact

American Sign Language

Alternative forms

• (rotated with the knuckles facing toward the signer) A@Chest-TipBack Contact
• (with the “open A” handshape) OpenA@Chest-RadialBack
• (emphatic form, made with a large, quick motion, without the repeated contact) A@Chest-RadialBack

Etymology

The same handshape as various signs indicating oneself, e.g. A@RadialFinger-1@Center-FingerUp (“oneself”), and the same location as other first person pronouns.

Production

• This one-handed ASL sign is produced as follows:
  1. Posture the dominant hand in a shape similar to the “A” handshape (i.e. with the fingers together and curled into a fist, the thumb unopposed and closed) but with the tip of the thumb extended about an inch past the edge of the index finger on the chest, radial (thumb-side) edge of the dominant hand facing back.
  2. Touch the back of the thumb twice against the chest.
  3. Hold the hand still briefly.

Noun

Upload png, jpg, or gif image. (ASL gloss: MYSELF, SELF-ONLY-1)

1. I myself; only I; I and no one else

Usage notes

This sign indicates that the signer alone satisfies the sentence predicate. This pronoun and the related SELF-ONLY signs are only used as subjects.

Related terms

• A@Chesthigh SmallFrontandback (“SELF-ONLY, you yourself, he himself, she herself”)
• A@IpsiChest-RadialBack A@ContraChest-RadialBack (“SELF-ONLY-PL-1, we ourselves”)
• A@Chesthigh RoundHoriz (“SELF-ONLY-PL, you yourselves, they themselves”)
• A@RadialFinger-1@Center-FingerUp (“self, oneself”)