• 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> <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>