Quick question about sign language

[ffutures]

I don't know sign language. If I write a scene where both characters in a dialogue are using it, should the text be normal English with contractions etc., or would it be more stripped down and / or basic? ASL, if it makes any difference.

Comments

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I think using no contractions in an English-language translation of an informal ASL sign language conversation would give a mistaken impression of the tone of the conversation. There's tremendous range in formality in ASL, at a far higher level of granularity than in English.

But, yeah, I am a native English speaker with only limited ASL fluency, so if a native ASL speaker thinks that contractions feel wrong for a translation, they are the person to follow.