AMERICAN SING
LANGUAGE
Is the dominant sign
language through which the deaf community in the United States of America, in
the English-speaking places of Canada, and parts of Mexico, communicate.
ASL is also sometimes
used (usually in conjunction with an indigenous sign language) in the
Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico,
Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria , Chad, Gabon, Central
African Republic, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. Like other sign
languages, their grammar and syntax are distinct from oral languages. It is
estimated that ASL is used by about 500 000 to 2 million deaf people in the
United States alone.
What is American Sign Language?
Is a complete and complex
language that employs signs made by moving the hands combined with facial
expressions and postures of the body. It is the primary language of many North
Americans who are deaf and is one of several communication options used by
people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Is sign language
the same in other countries?
No
one form of sign language is universal. Different sign languages are used in
different countries or regions. For example, British Sign Language (BSL) is a
different language from ASL, and Americans who know ASL may not understand BSL.
Where did ASL
originate?
The exact
beginnings of ASL are not clear, but some suggest that it arose more than 200
years ago from the intermixing of local sign languages and French Sign Language
(LSF, or Langue des Signes Française).Today’s ASL includes some elements of LSF
plus the original local sign languages, which over the years have melded and
changed into a rich, complex, and mature language. Modern ASL and modern LSF
are distinct languages and, while they still contain some similar signs, can no
longer be understood by each other’s users.
How does ASL compare
with spoken language?
In
spoken language, words are produced by using the mouth and voice to make
sounds. But for people who are deaf (particularly those who are profoundly
deaf), the sounds of speech are often not heard, and only a fraction of speech
sounds can be seen on the lips. Sign languages are based on the idea that
vision is the most useful tool a deaf person has to communicate and receive
information.
ASL is a
language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the
fundamental features of language—it has its own rules for pronunciation, word
order, and complex grammar. While every language has ways of signaling different
functions, such as asking a question rather than making a statement, languages
differ in how this is done. For example, English speakers ask a question by
raising the pitch of their voice; ASL users ask a question by raising their
eyebrows, widening their eyes, and tilting their bodies forward.
Just as with
other languages, specific ways of expressing ideas in ASL vary as much as ASL
users do. In addition to individual differences in expression, ASL has regional
accents and dialects. Just as certain English words are spoken differently in
different parts of the country, ASL has regional variations in the rhythm of
signing, form, and pronunciation. Ethnicity and age are a few more factors that
affect ASL usage and contribute to its variety.
The letters of the alphabet in
American Sign Language.
American Sign Language.
How do most
children learn ASL?
Parents
are often the source of a child’s early acquisition of language, but for
children who are deaf, additional people may be models for language
acquisition. A deaf child born to parents who are deaf and who already use ASL
will begin to acquire ASL as naturally as a hearing child picks up spoken
language from hearing parents. However, for a deaf child with hearing parents
who have no prior experience with ASL, language may be acquired differently. In
fact, nine out of 10 children who are born deaf are born to parents who hear.
Some hearing parents choose to introduce sign language to their deaf children.
Hearing parents who choose to learn sign language often learn it along with
their child. Surprisingly, children who are deaf can learn to sign quite
fluently from their parents, even when their parents might not be perfectly
fluent themselves.
What research is
being done on ASL and other sign languages?
The
NIDCD supports research looking at whether children with cochlear implants
become bilingual in spoken language and sign language in the same way that (or
in different ways from how) hearing children become bilingual in both
languages. This research will tell us more about how language development in
children with cochlear implants might differ between hearing and nonhearing
families and could offer important insights to help guide educational decisions
and parent counseling.
An NIDCD-funded
researcher is studying Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), a sign language
used over the past 75 years by both hearing and nonhearing people in an
isolated Bedouin village in Israel. Because it was developed among a small
group of people with little to no outside influence and no direct linguistic
input, ABSL offers researchers the opportunity to document a new language as it
develops and evolves. It can also be used to model the essential elements and
organization of natural language.
Another
NIDCD-funded research team is also looking at sign language systems that
develop in isolation. The research team is learning more about how grammar is
built and expanded in situations where there is little linguistic input. In one
setting, they are observing “home sign” systems used by deaf children who live
in isolation. In another, they are studying a family sign language that has
been used and handed down over several generations on a remote fishing island.
Conducted by the student of the second year of
chemistry, Raíssa Ismaela do Nascimento
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