Comprehensive Study Notes on American Sign Language (ASL) American Sign Language

Fundamental Definition and Characteristics of American Sign Language

• American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural, complete, and organized visual language. It serves as the predominant sign language for deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada.

• ASL is expressed through both manual features (hand signs) and nonmanual features (facial expressions and body movements).

• ASL is not a universal language; there are between $200-300$ officially recognized signed languages across the globe.

• ASL is not based on English and is distinct from British Sign Language (BSL) and Auslan (Australian Sign Language), meaning they are not mutually intelligible.

• ASL is most closely related to French Sign Language (LSF). It has been proposed as a creole of LSF, though it possesses features like agglutinative morphology that are atypical of classic creole languages.

• Approximately $58\%$ of signs in modern ASL are cognates to Old French Sign Language signs.

Historical Origins and the American School for the Deaf

• ASL originated in the early $19^{th}$ century at the American School for the Deaf (ASD) in Hartford, Connecticut.

• The ASD was co-founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc on April 15, $1817$. April 15 was declared National American Sign Language Day in $2019$.

• Thomas Gallaudet, inspired by Alice Cogswell, traveled to Europe to learn deaf pedagogy. He adopted the methods of the Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris.

• Laurent Clerc, an assistant to the Parisian school's founder, Charles-Michel de l'Épée, accompanied Gallaudet back to the U.S. to serve as the first teacher.

• ASL emerged from language contact between LSF and several indigenous sign languages brought by students to the ASD:

  • Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL): Historically used in Chilmark, Massachusetts, where genetic deafness was high ($4\%$) due to intermarriage among settlers from the $1690s$.

  • Village sign languages from Henniker, New Hampshire ($44$ students) and Sandy River Valley, Maine ($27$ students).

  • Various regional home sign systems.

• Clerc noted that he often learned signs from his "uneducated pupils" rather than strictly teaching LSF, leading to the unique development of ASL.

Evolution of Deaf Education and the Oralism Conflict

• Oralism, an approach focusing on spoken language through lip-reading and speech, became dominant after the Milan Congress of $1880$, which effectively banned sign language in many schools.

• In response to the Milan mandate, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was established to advocate for sign language.

• The NAD created "Preservation of Sign Language" silent films to document and protect the language; these are now kept in the U.S. Library of Congress.

• Despite the ban, ASL persisted through use in religious education and deaf community organizations.

Linguistic Legitimacy and the Work of William Stokoe

• Historically, linguists viewed ASL as an inferior form of communication or pantomime rather than a true language.

• William Stokoe, a linguist at Gallaudet University starting in $1955$, proved the legitimacy of ASL by demonstrating it shared the essential features of oral languages.

• Stokoe’s work in the $1960s$ revolutionized linguistics and supported manualism (the use of sign language in education).

• In the past, ASL was sometimes called "Ameslan," though this term is now considered obsolete.

Population Statistics and Demographic Challenges

• No accurate count of ASL users exists because it was not listed as a language option on the $2020$ U.S. Census.

• Reliable estimates from the National Census of the Deaf Population (NCDP) in $1972$ (Schein and Delk, $1974$) suggested a signing population between $250,000$ and $500,000$.

• Incorrect estimates sometimes reach as high as $15,000,000$ due to confusion between the total deaf population and the population using ASL as their primary language.

• A lower bound of $100,000$ is sometimes cited, possibly representing the prelingually deaf population.

• ASL is often mistakenly called the third- or fourth-most-spoken language in the U.S.; in reality, it was cited as the third-largest population requiring a court interpreter.

Geographic Distribution and Global Influence

• ASL is used throughout Anglo-America and has spread through West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Mauritania, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo).

• ASL is also reported as a first language in Barbados, Bolivia, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Hong Kong, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Philippines, Singapore, and Zimbabwe.

• In West Africa, ASL-based systems are often designated as official national sign languages, such as Nigerian Sign Language and Ghanaian Sign Language.

• Many universities and high schools now accept ASL for foreign language credit.

Regional and Social Variation in Sign Production

• Regional Accents: Southern signers tend to sign with more "flow and ease," while signers from New York and California are reported to sign faster and sharper.

• Age Variation: Older signers may produce letters and signs differently than younger generations.

• Learner Variation: Second-language learners, both deaf (who knew another sign language first) and hearing, exhibit differences in rhythm, arm posture, and palm orientation.

• Black American Sign Language (BASL): Developed due to racially segregated schools. BASL is more linguistically conservative (preserving older sign forms), uses more two-handed signs, employs a wider signing space, and incorporates idioms from African American English (AAE), such as "I feel you."

• Lexical variation: The sign for "school" differs between black and white signers. Other commonly varied signs include "birthday," "pizza," "Halloween," "early," and "soon."

Varieties and Modalities of ASL

• Canadian ASL Variations: Three distinct signs for "about" (standard, Atlantic, and Ontario variations).

• Tactile ASL (TASL): Used by the DeafBlind, particularly those with Usher's syndrome (Type $1$ or Type $2$). Signs are produced by touching palms to compensate for the loss of visual nonmanual signals.

• Pidgin Signed English (PSE) / Contact Signing: A blend of ASL vocabulary with English word order, used frequently between deaf signers and hearing people.

• Manually Coded English (MCE): Constructed systems (like Signing Exact English) that match English grammar exactly; these are not considered varieties of ASL.

• Technological Influence: Signs like "telephone" have evolved from the physical shape of old handsets to signs suited for small video screens.

Writing and Transcription Systems

• There is no widely accepted universal writing system, but several candidates exist:

  • Stokoe Notation ($1960s$): Alphabetic system using letters and diacritics for handshape, orientation, motion, and position.

  • SignWriting ($1974$, Valerie Sutton): Uses over $5000$ iconic graphs; included in the Unicode Standard and used in over $40$ countries.

  • HamNoSys: Developed at the University of Hamburg with about $200$ graphs; based on Stokoe notation.

  • Glossing: Writing ASL in all-capitalized English words (e.g., DOG NOW CHASE CAT). This is an academic tool, not a functional writing system for native speakers.

Structure and Parameters

• Every ASL sign consists of five phonemic parameters:

  1. Handshape

  2. Movement

  3. Palm Orientation

  4. Location

  5. Nonmanual Markers (facial expressions, torso movement, etc.)

• Examples of contrast (Minimal Pairs):

  • THINK: Handshape (closed fist, index extended), Orientation (facing body), Location (forehead), Movement (unidirectional contact).

  • DISAPPOINTED: Same parameters as THINK, but the Location is the chin.

• Handshapes /2/ and /3/ are distinguished by the feature [+/- closed thumb].

Classifiers

• Verbal Inflection: Marks grammatical aspect and agreement.

  • Continuous aspect: Rhythmic, circular movement.

  • Punctual aspect: Stationary hand position.

• Reciprocity: Indicated by two hands (e.g., SHOOT[reciprocal] uses two hands "shooting" at each other).

• Classifiers: Used to describe objects, size, shape, and spatial movement.

  • Consist of a "classifier handshape" (the object) and a "movement root" (path and manner).

  • Example: A hopping rabbit uses a bent "V" handshape with a bouncy movement path.

Syntax and Word Order Variations

• Fundamental Word Order: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).

• Topicalization: Moving the object to the front for emphasis (Object-Subject-Verb or OSV). Marked by a forward head-tilt and a pause.

• Subject Copy: Repeating the subject at the end of the sentence for emphasis, accompanied by head nodding (SVO + Subject).

• Null Subject: ASL allows the subject to be implied. A subject copy without the initial subject produces Verb-Object-Subject (VOS).

• OVS Order: Result of combining topicalization, null subject, and subject copy.

• Alternative theories suggest ASL uses a Topic-Comment structure or has free word order encoded by head and eyebrow movements.

Professional Interpretation and Legal Recognition

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires public facilities to provide auxiliary aids like interpreters.

• High Shortage: There is an estimated ratio of $1$ interpreter for every $50$ Deaf/hard-of-hearing persons ($50:1$).

• The National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf maintains a database of qualified professionals.

• Barriers: Professional certification is difficult to obtain, and "undue burden" clauses may allow facilities to avoid providing accommodation.

Iconicity

• While many signs resemble their referents, they are not simple pantomime; many signs are arbitrary symbols or have had their iconicity obscured over time.

• Arbitrariness: Saussurean theory suggests the link between form and meaning is arbitrary, but ASL’s high percentage of iconic signs challenges this.

• Acquisition: Children do not always rely on iconicity; they may confuse the iconic "point" of the pronoun "you" as a name rather than a directional indicator.

• Memory: Research suggests iconicity does not affect recall; iconic and non-iconic signs are remembered equally well.