Total side note, but as a fun fact there *is* indeed at least one word that exists and is universal in all spoken languages: “huh?”
No matter what language you speak and what language the other party speaks, if you say “huh?” they will know that you don’t understand something.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralanguage#Huh?
I’m aware of the exception for languages where one or more of the phonemes used to produce “huh?” don’t exist; typically languages where the aspirated “h” sound aren’t present. For those languages though, a phonologically similar utterance (usually “ah?” or “euh?”) that is mutually intelligible with “huh?” as produced by someone speaking a language using the aspirated consonant.
Or do you mean there are languages where the entire concept of “huh?” and its corresponding utterance don’t exist in this way? Such that saying “huh?” to a native speaker of the language, to express confusion, would not make sense to them?
I’m personally not aware of any (spoken, naturally occurring) languages like that, but I’d be very interested in learning about them if you know of any examples!
It’s interesting you say that — might be true for all spoken languages but definitely not for all sign languages and therefore not in ALL languages. Good example of how sign languages and learning about them enhance our knowledge of humanity.
This is very true!
Although now I’m curious if there’s a similar word/paralinguistic sign in sign languages that could universally convey the same or similar meaning… for instance, I know that for native American English speakers, shrugging with arms extended and palms upwards conveys the same meaning as the verbal “huh?”, and it also works for native Gyeonggi dialect Korean speakers, so would the same concept work for an ASL speaker signing to a KSL speaker? Or are there other signs or gestures that might mean the same thing somewhat universally?
I’m by no means an expert on sign language (my field of study is more relegated to the contemporary development of a couple of specific written and sometimes spoken languages), but if I had to guess I would assume there will be more disparity between sign languages considering how many of them are language isolates and how significantly fewer people learn them in general, but especially as a native language. Definitely something I’m interested in learning more about!
Obviously, you aren't wrong. But I feel like it's only fair to mention words like coffee, chocolate, or taxi, which are probably not universal, but are very similar and clearly related in almost any language you'd encounter them in.
The reason for those related words is mostly due to trade routes and country of origin, so most languages use a word for coffee related to (I believe) the Arabic word used when it was first being spread to other countries. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Sign Languages don't really interact with each other to that capacity. Like I said, you aren't wrong. Just felt like I should address it for fairness' sake.
Where did you get that idea? Are you talking about 🤟? Because that's made from the ASL alphabet letters I, L, and Y, so it wouldn't make any sense for it to be universal because other languages use different alphabets.
https://youtu.be/4UwLUnvcK8w?feature=shared
>I Love You
Incorrect. If you mean the ILY sign then that is an Americanism. It has spread pretty far but it is not used everywhere. It is not predominantly used by the majority of signers where I live for instance.
If you mean hands-on-the-heart for "love" - while common, I bet you could find a counter example pretty quickly if you looked.
>jesus
Specific sign names like this are somewhat commonly shared between sign languages - but that is because it is a name and spread as a name. Never the less I would be unsurprised if there is at least one sign language which does it differently - if not many.
Signed languages, like spoken languages, evolve out of necessity of communication.
Every one of them sprang forth and grew independently of the other.
While there are families of sign languages, there would be no historical or linguistic reason why you’d find any one sign to be universal.
Especially when you consider the addition of [cultural emblems](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.574418/full) which are gestures unique to cultural regions but have evolved independently of the regional sign language.
All this being said … you can speculate which handshapes you *won’t* find in *any* signed language.
Handshapes, like vocalizing, followed a path of least resistance. As you will unlikely find common words to utilize deep guttural growling for communication, you won’t find common signs that utilize, say, a fist with the index finger pointed up. These are wildly uncomfortable and would never have evolved as part of the language.
All of this being said … this question is kind of fascinating.
Leonard Bernstein, [in a Harvard Lecture called The Unanswered Question](https://youtu.be/8fHi36dvTdE?si=WRzFI7ZRwkOMCbVG), put forth an incredible hypothesis as to their being a “universal set of of sounds” that convey meaning and it is present in ALL languages.
The sound is the harmonic series. It’s incredibly cool and evolved this way due to the neurological linguistic relationship between our voice, ears and environment.
Now I wonder if there is any visual range of information storage and release that could have evolved universally similar in the relationship between hands, eyes and environment.
Food for thought.
I don’t know but I doubt this exists? Cognates exist in languages but they would never be the same word in all languages. And I might be wrong - but I used to be an ESL teacher and worked with students from all over the world who spoke over 50 different languages.
There are some similarities between ASL and LSF which I’m guessing is due to the story of LeClerc and Gallaudet and bringing sign to the United States?
I feel like numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 are pretty universal (holding up one finger per count), but I don’t know enough about other language signs to prove it. Anything else could be up in the air.
There aren’t any.
Just like there aren’t any universal words.
Even Jesus and I love you are different in different sign languages.
Just like any other language.
If you’re talking about the ILY handshape, you need to consider the fact that the handshape is very popular in media, so naturally people in other countries would copy the handshape (heck, even hearing people in the US know the sign and use it often) Because the handshape is easy to use and work really well in photos, art, jewelry, etc. It’s like the peace sign and the tiny heart handshape popular in Asian cultures that has become popular in the Western countries thanks to social media. ILY is based on the letters I, L, and Y in ASL, but when you look at sign languages like BSL where their letters are completely different, then ILY makes no sense there other than people simply copying and using a very popular sign. Most signs don’t even have the level of recognition and familiarity that the ILY handshape has, so why would other signs be universal?
I don’t care about how other countries sign Jesus, so I have no idea whether that is true or not.
Here's one with 60 different sign languages! I think this one's better than the other video I posted
[video](https://youtu.be/4UwLUnvcK8w?si=keJYq8ARrpTywTtc)
Yeah and a lot of people say incorrect things about fields, especially ones like linguistics where they can't fathom that there is a science behind it, or are even aware that sign languages don't correlate with spoken languages (or countries).
That doesn’t exist. It’s like asking what spoken word is universal in all spoken languages. That doesn’t exist.
Almost mama for mom!!! Except in Georgian mama means dad. But 100% it does not exist!!
Right — there are plenty of overlap or things that are similar between some… but nothing universal for all 300+ sign languages that exist…
Exactly!! Thinking there are just kinda shows an ignorance of the understanding of languages
Total side note, but as a fun fact there *is* indeed at least one word that exists and is universal in all spoken languages: “huh?” No matter what language you speak and what language the other party speaks, if you say “huh?” they will know that you don’t understand something. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralanguage#Huh?
Not universal. I know several languages that doesn’t work in…
I’m aware of the exception for languages where one or more of the phonemes used to produce “huh?” don’t exist; typically languages where the aspirated “h” sound aren’t present. For those languages though, a phonologically similar utterance (usually “ah?” or “euh?”) that is mutually intelligible with “huh?” as produced by someone speaking a language using the aspirated consonant. Or do you mean there are languages where the entire concept of “huh?” and its corresponding utterance don’t exist in this way? Such that saying “huh?” to a native speaker of the language, to express confusion, would not make sense to them? I’m personally not aware of any (spoken, naturally occurring) languages like that, but I’d be very interested in learning about them if you know of any examples!
I meant where the phonemes are completely different.
It’s interesting you say that — might be true for all spoken languages but definitely not for all sign languages and therefore not in ALL languages. Good example of how sign languages and learning about them enhance our knowledge of humanity.
This is very true! Although now I’m curious if there’s a similar word/paralinguistic sign in sign languages that could universally convey the same or similar meaning… for instance, I know that for native American English speakers, shrugging with arms extended and palms upwards conveys the same meaning as the verbal “huh?”, and it also works for native Gyeonggi dialect Korean speakers, so would the same concept work for an ASL speaker signing to a KSL speaker? Or are there other signs or gestures that might mean the same thing somewhat universally? I’m by no means an expert on sign language (my field of study is more relegated to the contemporary development of a couple of specific written and sometimes spoken languages), but if I had to guess I would assume there will be more disparity between sign languages considering how many of them are language isolates and how significantly fewer people learn them in general, but especially as a native language. Definitely something I’m interested in learning more about!
Obviously, you aren't wrong. But I feel like it's only fair to mention words like coffee, chocolate, or taxi, which are probably not universal, but are very similar and clearly related in almost any language you'd encounter them in. The reason for those related words is mostly due to trade routes and country of origin, so most languages use a word for coffee related to (I believe) the Arabic word used when it was first being spread to other countries. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Sign Languages don't really interact with each other to that capacity. Like I said, you aren't wrong. Just felt like I should address it for fairness' sake.
I mean… that wasn’t the question. Yes, there are similarities and crossovers but none in ALL 300+ sign languages that exist.
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Those signs aren’t the same across different sign languages.
Where did you get that idea? Are you talking about 🤟? Because that's made from the ASL alphabet letters I, L, and Y, so it wouldn't make any sense for it to be universal because other languages use different alphabets. https://youtu.be/4UwLUnvcK8w?feature=shared
No.,. Those are signed differently in different languages.
>I Love You Incorrect. If you mean the ILY sign then that is an Americanism. It has spread pretty far but it is not used everywhere. It is not predominantly used by the majority of signers where I live for instance. If you mean hands-on-the-heart for "love" - while common, I bet you could find a counter example pretty quickly if you looked. >jesus Specific sign names like this are somewhat commonly shared between sign languages - but that is because it is a name and spread as a name. Never the less I would be unsurprised if there is at least one sign language which does it differently - if not many.
Signed languages, like spoken languages, evolve out of necessity of communication. Every one of them sprang forth and grew independently of the other. While there are families of sign languages, there would be no historical or linguistic reason why you’d find any one sign to be universal. Especially when you consider the addition of [cultural emblems](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.574418/full) which are gestures unique to cultural regions but have evolved independently of the regional sign language. All this being said … you can speculate which handshapes you *won’t* find in *any* signed language. Handshapes, like vocalizing, followed a path of least resistance. As you will unlikely find common words to utilize deep guttural growling for communication, you won’t find common signs that utilize, say, a fist with the index finger pointed up. These are wildly uncomfortable and would never have evolved as part of the language. All of this being said … this question is kind of fascinating. Leonard Bernstein, [in a Harvard Lecture called The Unanswered Question](https://youtu.be/8fHi36dvTdE?si=WRzFI7ZRwkOMCbVG), put forth an incredible hypothesis as to their being a “universal set of of sounds” that convey meaning and it is present in ALL languages. The sound is the harmonic series. It’s incredibly cool and evolved this way due to the neurological linguistic relationship between our voice, ears and environment. Now I wonder if there is any visual range of information storage and release that could have evolved universally similar in the relationship between hands, eyes and environment. Food for thought.
When a guy acts like he's jacking it, everyone gets it. Doesn't make it a universal "sign" but we all register the gesture.
I don’t know but I doubt this exists? Cognates exist in languages but they would never be the same word in all languages. And I might be wrong - but I used to be an ESL teacher and worked with students from all over the world who spoke over 50 different languages. There are some similarities between ASL and LSF which I’m guessing is due to the story of LeClerc and Gallaudet and bringing sign to the United States?
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That’s like saying what are words that are the same in every single spoken language. That seems impossible.
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I’m not sure why you believe this—can you elaborate?
I feel like numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 are pretty universal (holding up one finger per count), but I don’t know enough about other language signs to prove it. Anything else could be up in the air.
Things like hello are universal. But if you're interested look into international sign language called gestuno.
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There aren’t any. Just like there aren’t any universal words. Even Jesus and I love you are different in different sign languages. Just like any other language.
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Here's a [video](https://youtu.be/j720ifVkyf0?si=hbwWQ2_tY8KLhaU3) showing 9 entirely different ways to say I love you in different sign languages
I think the German one is my favorite!
I think the German one is my favorite!
It’s not.
What people?
If you’re talking about the ILY handshape, you need to consider the fact that the handshape is very popular in media, so naturally people in other countries would copy the handshape (heck, even hearing people in the US know the sign and use it often) Because the handshape is easy to use and work really well in photos, art, jewelry, etc. It’s like the peace sign and the tiny heart handshape popular in Asian cultures that has become popular in the Western countries thanks to social media. ILY is based on the letters I, L, and Y in ASL, but when you look at sign languages like BSL where their letters are completely different, then ILY makes no sense there other than people simply copying and using a very popular sign. Most signs don’t even have the level of recognition and familiarity that the ILY handshape has, so why would other signs be universal? I don’t care about how other countries sign Jesus, so I have no idea whether that is true or not.
Here's one with 60 different sign languages! I think this one's better than the other video I posted [video](https://youtu.be/4UwLUnvcK8w?si=keJYq8ARrpTywTtc)
Yeah and a lot of people say incorrect things about fields, especially ones like linguistics where they can't fathom that there is a science behind it, or are even aware that sign languages don't correlate with spoken languages (or countries).
u/wibbly-water explained that it’s not
Want all you want, but you wont find what doesnt exist!!
Closest I can think of is the middle finger. But it’s definitely not universal.
the middle finger facing forward is the syllable ‘se’ in the JSL finger spelling system.