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Griffin Jenkins

Linguistics 210

December 10, 2015

American Sign Language: Brief History and Function

*authors note on d/Deaf. Deaf (big D Deaf) refers to members of the Deaf community those

who associate with other Deaf people, usually attend schools for the deaf, and, most importantly,

use American Sign Language as their primary mode of communication. Conversely, deaf (little d

deaf) refers to individuals who cannot hear.

What is American Sign Language (ASL)? How did it evolve separately from spoken language?

Is ASL related to English? These questions can all be answered by understanding the basics of ASL

and how it has evolved over time in the Deaf world. ASL is a visual language that incorporates the

hands, body, and face. It is used by over 500,000 people (though estimates vary), mostly in the Deaf

community, and it is a language entirely separate from English (Mitchell, Young, Bachleda, Karchmer,

2006). American Sign Language has evolved similarly to its spoken counterparts and now stands as

its own unique and valid form of communication.

ASL is primarily a visual and movement based language. In contrast to spoken language, ASL

uses bodily motions, hand gestures, and facial expressions. These can be compared to phonemes,

morphemes, and intonation in spoken language, as well as certain syntactical elements. Users of ASL

must be receptive to all of these bodily cues in order to understand and communicate effectively.

The most crucial part of any signed language, American Sign Language in particular, is facial

expression. Facial cues convey not only the emotion of the signer, but also important syntactical

elements of the sentence. The eyebrows give indication of the type of sentence. For example, raised

eyebrows indicate that the sentence is a yes/no question, while furrowed eyebrows indicate that it

is a wh question (a question asking who, what, when, where, why, etc). The mouth often conveys

how intensely the verb happens or how specific an adjective is. Hundreds of different facial
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expressions are used extensively in everyday signing (Okrent, 2012). Researchers and linguists

continue to document how ASL users incorporate facial expressions into their signing.

As previously mentioned, facial expression is paramount in ASL. Mouth movements are a

key grammatical element. While other sign languages mouth each word of a sentence in a

corresponding language, this action is usually incorrect in ASL. Novice signers will often mouth each

word of a sentence. Signs in ASL fall into one of several categories that can vary by signer or regional

dialect. Some signs have a corresponding mouth morpheme derived from English. Without making

the sound, the mouth will form the correct shape of a word. Some signs have a separate mouth

movement. For example, when describing the size of objects, small objects will take the oo mouth

morpheme, medium objects will take pursed lips, and large object will take a cha morpheme.

Finally, some signs are mouthed. These signs are almost exclusively proper nouns or technical terms.

Terms that are spelled out (fingerspelled) are also usually mouthed (Mikos, Smith, Lentz, 1992).

ASL evolved primarily within Deaf communities. Throughout history, deaf people have been

isolated and often formed their own communities, creating some form of sign language to

communicate with each other. American Sign Language is closely related to French Sign Language

(LSF). Before LSF was studied and widely used, many small groups of deaf people in Paris would

convene and figure out how to communicate with each other (Ballin, 1930). Likewise, deaf people

have always been isolated from mainstream society. However, as the early Deaf filmmaker George

Verditz said in 1913:

As long as we have deaf people on earth, we will have signs. And as long as we

have our films, we can preserve signs in their old purity. It is my hope that we will all

love and guard our beautiful sign language as the noblest gift God has given to deaf

people.

In early America, several sign languages were prevalent. Many Native Americans used sign

language and non-verbal communication in everyday life. In some areas of Marthas Vineyard, up to
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a quarter of the population was deaf. Hearing and deaf individuals alike would use Marthas

Vineyard Sign Language as readily as English (Allison, 2013). The Reverend Thomas Gallaudet, a

minister and teacher of deaf children, wanted to create an American school for the deaf. In the early

1800s, Gallaudet traveled to Europe to study deaf education. In France, Gallaudet met an

experienced teacher named Leurant Clerc who would return to America with him. Together, they

founded the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut in 1817. There, Gallaudet and Clerc

implemented a combination of LSF and American signed languages, and this new language spread to

other subsequent deaf schools, uniting Deaf Americans with one language (DCAL, date unknown).

ASL evolved from this standard unit into several dialects. These dialects usually do not

incorporate changes in syntax and grammar but are instead prosodic. That is to say, individual hand-

shapes or signs themselves might vary by location, but true ASL grammar usually does not. An

interesting dialect of ASL has emerged among African American communities. This dialect is known

as Black ASL. Black ASL incorporates more slang than conventional ASL (such as using the sign

STUCK to mean pregnant), and it is usually signed lower on the body. One handed signs are

performed with two hands. Extensive documentation and study is ongoing, and more information

can be found in The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL from the Gallaudet University Press.

Unfortunately, sign language has not always been accepted in schools. In the UK, deaf

children have traditionally been educated through oralism in lip-reading. Gallaudet first went to

England to learn about deaf education, but was turned away through a conflict of interest. Early

American deaf schools valued education in ASL; however, at the turn of the century, these values

began to change. Many deaf schools adopted an oralist method and prohibited the use of sign

language. Many contemporary elderly Deaf individuals recall being forced to mouth words and sit

on their hands. As more linguists began to study ASL, they began to realize the merits of having an

accessible language in the classroom. Today, most deaf schools in America use American Sign
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Language as the language of classroom instruction, though most textbooks are still written in English

(Halcomb, 2012).

Sign writing has been attempted, though unsuccessfully. Throughout the years, many

individuals have attempted to create a form of sign writing, or a way to write down ASL. Most

efforts have proved unsuccessful, as pictures and symbols cannot accurately reflect the full nature of

ASL with body movements and facial expressions on top of hand gestures (si5s, date ongoing).

Subsequently, Deaf people value film. Many early 20th century films come from the Deaf community

and individuals like George Verditz traveling the country to catalogue ASL as a language and tenants

of Deaf culture. Due to these efforts, we have primary sources of what ASL looked like before the

American Civil War. In modern Deaf schools and universities, many assignments are completed in

ASL and returned to the professor in video format for grading.

American Sign Language is very distinct from English, though many non-signers perceive it as

just English-on-the-hands. ASL, in its true form, is actually incomparable to English. Many unique

linguistic elements exist in ASL that are not present in English. These elements include facial

expressions and use of the space around the body, known as the signing space. In English, if one

wanted to describe a room, he would use phrases like to the left, to the right, on the floor,

over there, etc. In ASL, if one wanted to describe a room, he would actually indicate the shape of

the room in the air and place the objects around the room or comment on the description of

things by pointing them out in his signing space room.

One form of English-on-the-hands is known as Signed Exact English (SEE). Instead of

following the rules of ASL, SEE attempts to borrow certain ASL signs and use them to convey English

sentences with English word order, grammar, and syntax. ASL users often cringe at this, as many

inexperienced signers use SEE instead of ASL. A similar example would be if a native English speaker

were to use Chinese words to form a sentence with English structure while disregarding the tones of

Mandarin Chinese as well. Another form of communication is known as Pidgin Signed English (PSE).
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PSE is a hybrid between ASL signs and syntax, and English grammar and word order. PSE is a true

pidgin in that it has no native speakers. It is often used by parents of deaf children who cannot sign

well to communicate to their children who learned to sign outside the home. PSE often incorporates

spoken English while signing, but most English words are dropped (Baker-Shenk, Cokely, 1980, pg.

73). Simultaneous communication, or SimCom, of English and ASL is discouraged by ASL pedagogues

because it distorts and confuses both languages. Moreover, due to the nature of this type of

communication, mutual intelligibility is limited.

American Sign Language is just as developed as any spoken language. It has a deep

grammatical and syntactic structure as well as a wide vocabulary. Thousands of people use ASL in

their daily lives and will continue to do so. And, like many other rich and meaningful languages, the

culture of its users is tied so closely to the language itself, that Deaf culture must be understood to

truly study American Sign Language on a higher level.


Bibliography

Baker-Shenk, Charlotte and Cokely, Dennis. 1980. Pidgin Sign English in the Deaf Community.
American Sign Language. Washington D.C.: Clerk Books.

Augustus, Robert. Ongoing. si5s.org

Holcomb, Thomas K. 2012. Introduction to American Deaf Culture. Oxford University Press.

McCaskill, Carolyn; Lucas, Ceil; Bayley, Robert; Hill, Joseph. 2011. The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL.
Washington D.C.: Gallaudet University Press

Lentz, Ella Mae; Mikos, Ken; Smith, Cherri. 1992. Signing Naturally. Dawn Sign Press.

Okrent, Anika. 2012. Why Great Sign Language Interpreter Are So Animated. The Atlantic.

Mitchell, Ross; Young, Travis; Bachleda, Bellamie; Karchmer, Michael. 2006. How Many People Use
ASL in the United States? Why Estimated Need Updating. Sign Language Studies.
Gallaudet University Press Journals.

Ballin, Albert. 1930. The Deaf Mute Howls. Los Angeles, CA: Grafton Publishing Company.

Verditz, George. 1913. Youtube George Verditz preservation of sign language quote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiBWnG9tDTs

University College London. Date unknown. Is Sign Language Universal?


http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/faqs/questions/bsl/question6

Allison. 2013. Typed of Sign Language and Their Development. Accredited Language Service.

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