question: How do you say proper nouns (countries, names etc.) in sign language?
comment: If it is a name referenced frequently, signers will use sign names. They are usually the first letter of the name in conjunction with a sign relating to something unique to that person or place. Finger spelling can be used for other names.
passages: One way in which many sign languages take advantage of the spatial nature of the language is through the use of classifiers. Classifiers allow a signer to spatially show a referent's type, size, shape, movement, or extent.
   The two systems, arbitrary and descriptive, are sometimes combined, usually for humorous purposes. For example, U.S. President Richard Nixon may be signed by signing "to lie" with his initial, N, as the hand shape, effectively meaning "Nixon the Liar". Hearing people learning ASL are also often assigned combined name signs. This is not traditional for Deaf people.
  
  Sometimes people with very short English names, such as "Ann" or "Lee", or ones that flow easily, such as "Larry", may never acquire a name sign, but may instead be referred to with finger-spelling.
  
  Section::::Syntax.
   Bilingual signs are also used in the Republic of Ireland, with all roads, towns, important buildings etc. named in both the Irish and English languages. The Irish appears on the top of the sign (usually in italic text) with the English underneath. The exception to this is in Gaeltacht regions, where only Irish language signage tends to be used.
   BULLET::::- The deaf actor Horst Dittrich translated the cycle of poems into Austrian Sign Language in 2007 and presented it on stage in a production of ARBOS – Company for Music and Theatre directed by Herbert Gantschacher, with Rupert Bergmann (bass-baritone) and Gert Hecher (piano), in 2008 in Vienna and Salzburg and in 2009 in Villach (Austria).
   There are two constraints on arbitrary signs. First, it should not mean anything. That is, it should not duplicate an existing ASL word. Second, there should not be more than one person with the name sign in the local community. If a person moves to a new community where someone already has their name sign, then the newcomer is obligated to modify theirs. This is usually accomplished by compounding the hand shape, so that the first tap of the sign takes the initial of the person's first English name, and the second tap takes the initial of their last name. There are potentially thousands of such compound-initial signs.
   Schembri and Johnston (in press) found that the most commonly fingerspelled words in Auslan include "so", "to", "if", "but" and "do".
  
  Some signs also feature an English word's initial letter as a handshape from a one- or two-handed manual alphabet and use it within a sign. For example, part of the sign for "Canberra" incorporates the letter "C".
  
  Section::::Auslan in relation to English.:Signed English.
   Sign names are specific signs which are associated with proper names (a location, a person, an organisation). Sign names are often chosen based on a salient physical property. For instance, the sign name for Nelson Mandela is signed using a flat B-hand that "follows a hair-line over the head". The sign name for the bank ABSA is made with both hands following the movement implied in the company corporate logo.
  
  Section::::Linguistic features.:Variation.
   Section::::Sign Structure.:Sign Actor, Action, and Location.:Sign Action.
  
  The pattern of action that is employed to produce the sign.
  
  Section::::Sign Structure.:Sign Actor, Action, and Location.:Sign Location.
  
  Where the utilized body parts are placed as they carry out the action performed.
  
  Section::::Sign Structure.:Formula.
  
  The Stokoe notation, a phonemic script used for writing down sign languages, was adapted by Kendon for use in recording Australian Aboriginal signs.
   ASL has a productive system of classifiers, which are used to classify objects and their movement in space. For example, a rabbit running downhill would use a classifier consisting of a bent V classifier handshape with a downhill-directed path; if the rabbit is hopping, the path is executed with a bouncy manner. In general, classifiers are composed of a "classifier handshape" bound to a "movement root". The classifier handshape represents the object as a whole, incorporating such attributes as surface, depth, and shape, and is usually very iconic. The movement root consists of a path, a direction and a manner.
   If the referent is not physically present, the speaker identifies the referent and then points to a location (the "locus)" in the sign space near their body. This locus can then be pointed at to refer to the referent. Theoretically, any number of loci may be set up, as long as the signer and recipient remember them all, but in practice, no more than eight loci are used.
   In 2016, Port Angeles, Washington installed bilingual signs in English and the indigenous Klallam languages to preserve and revitalize the area's Klallam culture.
  
  Section::::Bilingual signs around the world.:Asia.
   Where signs use a language, the recognized language/s of the area is normally used. Signs in most of the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are in English. Quebec uses French, while New Brunswick and the Jacques-Cartier and Champlain bridges, in Montreal (as well as some parts in the West Island), use both English and French, and a number of other provinces and states, such as Ontario, Manitoba, and Vermont use bilingual French–English signs in certain localities. Puerto Rico (a US territory) and Mexico use Spanish. Within a few miles of the US–Mexico border, road signs are often in English and Spanish in places like San Diego, Yuma, and El Paso. Indigenous languages, mainly Nahuatl as well as some Mayan languages, have been used as well.
   We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915
  
  We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 is a 2012 comedy/drama play by the American playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury.
  
  Section::::Plot.
   Section::::Symbols.:Hand shapes.
  
  There are over a hundred glyphs for hand shapes, but all the ones used in ASL are based on five basic elements:
  
  BULLET::::- A square represents a closed fist, with the knuckles of the flexed fingers bent 90° so that the fingers touch the palm and the thumb lies over the fingers. Unadorned, this square represents the S hand of fingerspelling. Modified as described below, it indicates that at least one of the four fingers touches the palm of the hand.
   As an example of the language could be used engraving on the tombstone of Rafael Podmanitzky in the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Považská Bystrica.
   Thus, in sentences of the type "I gave a book to you" we may have a single sign GIVE, inflected for agreement (motion of the verb begins from the signer (= I) and moves towards the recipient [= you]), and the handshape of the verb GIVE is modified to incorporate a "thick classifier" handling classifier handshape (= object the size and shape of a BOOK).
  
  Section::::Morphosyntax.:Syntax.
   As a sign language develops, it sometimes borrows elements from spoken languages, just as all languages borrow from other languages that they are in contact with. Sign languages vary in how and how much they borrow from spoken languages. In many sign languages, a manual alphabet (fingerspelling) may be used in signed communication to borrow a word from a spoken language, by spelling out the letters. This is most commonly used for proper names of people and places; it is also used in some languages for concepts for which no sign is available at that moment, particularly if the people involved are to some extent bilingual in the spoken language. Fingerspelling can sometimes be a source of new signs, such as initialized signs, in which the handshape represents the first letter of a spoken word with the same meaning.
   In terms of the Use of Official Languages Act, Act No. 12 of 2012, all government departments and government entities must have a language policy that states which languages are considered the official languages of that entity, and each language policy must also specify how that department or entity intends to communicate with people whose language of choice is "South African sign language".
   There are three types of personal name signs in ASL: arbitrary, descriptive, and finger-spelled. Once given, names are for life, apart from changing from one of the latter types to an arbitrary sign in childhood. Name signs are usually assigned by another member of the Deaf community, and signal inclusion in that community. Name signs are not used to address people, as names are in English, but are used only for third-person reference, and usually only when the person is absent.
   Sometimes foreigners visiting the countries mentioned above use the "two-fingered salute" without knowing it is offensive to the natives, for example when ordering two beers in a noisy pub, or in the case of the United States president George H. W. Bush, who, while touring Australia in 1992, attempted to give a "peace sign" to a group of farmers in Canberra—who were protesting about U.S. farm subsidies—and instead gave the insulting V sign.
  
  Section::::As an insult.:Origins.
   Sign languages do not have a traditional or formal written form. Many deaf people do not see a need to write their own language.
  
  Several ways to represent sign languages in written form have been developed.
  
  BULLET::::- Stokoe notation, devised by Dr. William Stokoe for his 1965 "Dictionary of American Sign Language", is an abstract phonemic notation system. Designed specifically for representing the use of the hands, it has no way of expressing facial expression or other non-manual features of sign languages. However, his was designed for research, particularly in a dictionary, not for general use.
   Section::::Symbols.:Shoulder, head, and eye movement.
  
  Arrows on the face at the eyes show the direction of gaze.
  
  Section::::Symbols.:Contact.
  
  Six contact glyphs show hand contact with the location of the sign. That is, a handshape glyph located at the side of the face, together with a contact glyph, indicates that the hand touches the side of the face. The choice of the contact glyph indicates the manner of the contact:
  
  BULLET::::- an asterisk (∗ or *) for simply touching the place;
  
  BULLET::::- a plus sign (+) for grasping the place (usually the other hand);
   One analysis treats certain handshape morphemes as a type of pronoun. Like pronouns, the signer has to first introduce the referent, usually by signing or fingerspelling the noun. Some classifiers also denote a specific group the same way that the pronoun "she" can refer to women or waitresses. Similarly, ASL has a classifier which refers to vehicles, but not people or animals.
  
  Section::::History.
   The copula "to be" does not exist in DGS. Predicative adjectives are generally separated from the noun by a determiner.
  
  Compare the preceding sentence to the following noun phrase, in which the determiner follows the adjective.
  
  Possessive adjectives stand between the possessor and the possession.
  
  Here is an example of a longer but nevertheless simple, unmarked sentence.
  
  Section::::Grammar.:Syntax.:Clause structure.:Marked sentences.
  
  Parts of the sentence which are moved outside of their usual unmarked position are accompanied by non-manual marking.
   The Convention recommends that certain signs – such as "STOP", "ZONE", etc. – be in English; however, use of the local language is also permitted. If a language uses non-Latin characters, a Latin-script transliteration of the names of cities and other important places should also be given. Road signs in the Republic of Ireland are bilingual, using Irish and English. Wales similarly uses bilingual Welsh–English signs, while some parts of Scotland have bilingual Scottish Gaelic–English signs. Finland also uses bilingual signs, in Finnish and Swedish. Signs in Belgium are in French, Dutch, or German depending on the region. In the Brussels Capital Region, road signs are in both French and Dutch. Signs in Switzerland are in French, German, Italian, or Romansh depending on the canton.
  