American Sign Language

Alternative forms

• (with palm facing back) 1@Side-PalmBack

Production

• This one-handed ASL sign is produced as follows:
  1. 
     Posture the dominant hand in the “1” handshape about half an arm's length in front of the shoulder, palm facing forward.
  2. Hold the hand briefly in this posture.

GUH Hand	LUH Hand	LUH Move	GUH Move	GUH Hand	LUH Hand
GUH Palm	LUH Palm	Second	Second	GUH Palm	LUH Palm
GUH Position	LUH Separation	Third	Third
1
Out

Number

(ASL gloss: ONE)

1. one; 1

Usage notes

Some people always sign the number 1 with the palm forward. For others, however, the palm faces back (i.e., as 1@Side-PalmBack) for the actual number 1 but the palm faces forward when used as a part of a longer number like 555-1234, as a time (i.e. one o'clock), and in certain other numeral-incorporating constructs.

See also

• Previous number: O@Side-PalmForward ‎(“zero, 0”)
• Next number: V@Side-PalmForward ‎(“two, 2”)

Pronoun

(ASL gloss: CL-1, CLASSIFIER-1)

1. the person; ASL classifier used for a standing person.
2. the long, thin, vertical thing; ASL classifier used for a long, thin, vertical object, e.g. a telephone pole or a tree

Usage notes

• (the person, classifier for a standing person): As a person classifier, the pad of the index finger represents the face and the lower phalanges represent the lower portion of the body. The finger can thus be moved or turned in various ways to represent corresponding movements of the person. For example, if the hand slowly bounces while moving forward and then turns to the left, it means something like “the person was walking along leisurely and then made a left turn.”
• To show interactions with other classifiers, the nondominant hand is often used as this classifier:

  3@InsideChesthigh-FingerAcross-1@CenterChesthigh-PalmForward S@Finger-PalmBack-1@CenterChesthigh-PalmForward

  “[And then] the vehicle crashed into the pole.”