• ASL • American Sign Language

<body"> <H1 align="center">ASL (American Sign Language)</H1> </li> </ul> <P>ASL University is a place to learn sign language.  It is an online curriculum resource for ASL students, instructors, interpreters, and parents of deaf children. </p> <P align="center"><a href="asl101/index.htm">ASL Introduction</a> | <a href="asl101/pages-layout/concepts.htm" style="text-decoration: none">Baby Signing</a> | <a href="asl101/index/phrases.htm" style="text-decoration: none">Phrases</a> | <a href="asl101/pages-layout/history1.htm" style="text-decoration: none">History</a> | <a href="asl101/topics/ily.htm" style="text-decoration: none">I Love You</a> | <a href="dictionary.htm" style="text-decoration: none">Dictionary</a> |<a href="asl101/topics/religion/frame.htm" style="text-decoration: none"> Christian Sign Language</a> |<a href="asl101/pages-signs/t/thankyou.htm" style="text-decoration: none"> Thank you</a> | <a href="asl101/pages-signs/h/hello.htm" style="text-decoration: none">Hello</a>  </p> <P align="center"> <img border="0" src="asl101/images-layout/american%20sign%20language.gif" width="428" height="59" longdesc="American Sign Language" alt="ASL"></p> <P align="left"> <br> Hello, I'm a hard of hearing fellow (hearing impaired is not the term anymore) who prefers to communicate in ASL (American sign Language). I put together this site to provide a place to discuss American Sign Language (ASL), interpreters, deafness, and signing. Note: Interpreting is a broad field that involves more than just "body language." I also take a look at how ASL qualifies as a foreign language.<br> <br> I use a hearing aid, and occasionally an interpreter for the deaf (or sign interpreters, but not "deaf interpreter.") My wife and I have had four babies and we taught them all to sign ASL (not just baby signs).<br> <br> I also write a bit about deaf education and baby sign / baby talk using signlanguage. Baby signing is sort of new to deaf culture. Deaf children have, of course, use sign language but it is (was) new for hearing children. We do not have a deaf child but one of our kids is hard of hearing and attended the Utah School for the Deaf ASL is so much more than just "deaf communication" it is truly becoming a world language. In this website I also talk about deaf services agencies, some of which provide "deaf interpreters."<br> <br> I don't discuss BSL much. (British Sign Language) The fingerspelling is different and not used by the American Deaf Community.<br> <br> It seems so many people these days want to learn sign. However many of my students don't even know how to spell it. This is a personal pet peeve of mine I guess: In their papers my students call it:: sign langage, american signs language, american sign languages, american sign langage, signs languages, or my favorite signage language.<br> And don't get me started on what they call fingerspelling (e.g. lettering alphabets!)<br> Plus there are the weird old names for ASL that never caught on, like "Amslan." One time I saw someone calling it auslan but I reckon that is Australian Sign Language?<br> <br> I've also set up an area of this site that deals with Linguistics (linguistic signs/linguistic sign).<br> Use the links to jump around and check out the site.<br>  </p> <h2>What is ASL (American Sign Language)?</h2> <P><b>ASL Definitions</b>:  A definition that has been around for a long time is: "American Sign Language is a visual-gestural language used by 500,000 members of the North American Deaf community." According to www.dictionary.com we have:  American Sign Language  n. Abbr. ASL<br>The primary sign language used by deaf and hearing-impaired people in the United States and Canada, devised in part by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet on the basis of sign language in France. Also called <b>Ameslan</b>. A quick trip to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (www.m-w.com) and we get: Main Entry: <b>American Sign Language: </b>Function: <i>noun. </i>Date: 1960<b>:</b> a sign language for the deaf in which meaning is conveyed by a system of articulated hand gestures and their placement relative to the upper body.  Notice the date of that entry from Merriam-Webster?  1960!  ASL hasn't been "recognized" as a language for very long has it?  Oh sure, the language itself has been around since the early 1800's but it wasn't until 1960 that "experts" <i>started</i> recognizing it as a full-blown autonomous language.</p> <p>Now let's discuss those definitions a bit.<br><br>We should say "at <i>least</i>" 500,000 people use ASL.  That is an OLD statistic from the 1980's.  My estimate is more along the lines of: 2 million people are using ASL on a daily basis and at least 500,000 of those people are using it as their primary means of communication.  Millions more people know "some" sign language and use it "once in a while."  For example, a grandmother of a deaf child.  She may have taken a six-week community education course and now she knows just enough to offer her grandson candy and cookies.   </p><p>"ASL is a visual gestural language." That means it is a language that is expressed through the hands and face and is perceived through the eyes.  It isn't just waving your hands in the air.  If you furrow your eyebrows, tilt your head, glance in a certain direction, twist your body a certain way, puff your cheek, or any number of other "inflections" --you are adding or changing meaning in ASL.  A "visual gestural" language carries just as much information as an oral/aural (mouth/ear) language. </p><p>Is ASL limited to just the United States and Canada?  No.  ASL is also used in varying degrees in the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Zaire, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar, Benin, Togo, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong. (See notes below. L1.1).   </p> <h4>Is ASL a universal language?  </h4> <p>Nope.  Not even close.  Those countries I just  mentioned have their own signed languages.  ASL is the dominant signed language in North America, plus it is used <i>to some extent</i> in quite a few other countries, but it is certainly not understood by deaf people everywhere. </p><p>Did we get ASL from Native American sign language?  Answer: No.</p><hr color="#800080"> <p align="left"> Suggested topics for your study:  <br> Sign Language for Babies | Sign Language Phrases | Sign Language History | I Love You in Sign Language | Words in Sign Language | Christian Sign Language | Sign Language Thank you | Sign Language Hello </p> <hr> <hr> <p> </p></BODY>