American Sign Language
American Sign Language (old names: Amslan, Ameslan ) is the most popular sign language for the Deaf in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. Although the United Kingdom and the United States share English as a spoken and written language, British Sign Language (BSL) is different from American Sign Language. ASL actually comes from French Sign Language, as Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet went to England for help learning sign language to teach to his deaf neighbors. He could not find anyone willing to teach him the British Sign Language, but did find some French people who were willing to help, he convinced one of them to travel back to the United States with him to set up the first deaf school in the U.S.[4]
| American Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Langue des Signes Américaine (in the Canadian province of Québec) | |
 | |
| Native to | United States, Canada |
| Region | English-speaking North America |
| Native speakers | 250,000–500,000 in the United States (1972)[1]:26 L2 users: Used as L2 by many hearing people and by Hawaii Sign Language speakers. |
| Language family | |
| Dialects | |
| Writing system | None are widely accepted si5s (ASLwrite), ASL-phabet, Stokoe notation, SignWriting |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | none |
| Recognised minority language in | Ontario only in domains of: legislation, education and judiciary proceedings.[2] 40 US states recognize ASL to varying degrees, from a foreign language for school credits to the official language of that state's deaf population.[3] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ase |
.png) Areas where ASL or a dialect/derivative thereof is the national sign language Areas where ASL is in significant use alongside another sign language | |
ASL is also used (sometimes with other sign languages) in the Philippines, Singapore, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe. Like other sign languages, its grammar is different from any spoken language.
ASL includes fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is a way to show the written letter. ASL uses one hand to show the English alphabet, although there are ways to show alphabets from other languages. Names of people and places can be fingerspelled. Fingerspelling is also used for words that have no sign, or for when people are confused about what a used sign means.
Statistics
Counting the number of ASL speakers is difficult because ASL users have never been counted by the American census.[5] ASL use in the general American population has not been directly measured. The ultimate source for current estimates of the number of ASL users in the United States is a report for the National Census of the Deaf Population (NCDP) by Schein and Delk (1974).[5] Based on a 1972 survey of the NCDP, Schein and Delk provided estimates consistent with a signing population between 250,000 and 500,000. The survey did not distinguish between ASL and other forms of signing.
Incorrect figures are sometimes cited for the population of ASL speakers in the United States based on misunderstandings of statistics.[5] Demographics of the deaf population have been confused with those of ASL use. This accounts for cited estimations which are greater than 500,000. Such mistaken estimations can reach as high as 15,000,000.[5]
ASL is sometimes incorrectly cited as the third- or fourth-most-spoken language in the United States.[5] These figures misquote Schein and Delk (1974), who said ASL speakers constituted the third-largest population requiring an interpreter in court.[5]
American Sign Language Media
Travis Dougherty explains and demonstrates the ASL alphabet. Voice-over interpretation by Gilbert G. Lensbower.
A sign language interpreter at a presentation
American Sign Language Convention of March 2008 in Austin, Texas
The ASL phrase "American Sign Language", written in Stokoe notation
The ASL phrase "American Sign Language", written in Sutton SignWriting
الارقام في لغة الاشارة الامريكية
Comparison of ASL writing systems. Sutton SignWriting is on the left, followed by Si5s, then Stokoe notation in the center, with SignFont and its simplified derivation ASL-phabet on the right.
Two men and a woman signing
The American manual alphabet and numbers
References
- ↑ Mitchell et al. (2006)
- ↑ Province of Ontario (2007). Bill 213: An Act to recognize sign language as an official language in Ontario. http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=1619&isCurrent=false&BillStagePrintId=. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
- ↑ Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. "States that Recognize American Sign Language as a Foreign Language" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ "ASL history". ASL University. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Mitchell, Ross et al 2006. How many people use ASL in the United States?: Why estimates need updating. Sign Language Studies 6 (3). [1] Archived 2012-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
Bibliography
- Mitchell, Ross; Young, Travas; Bachleda, Bellamie; Karchmer, Michael (2006). "How Many People Use ASL in the United States?: Why Estimates Need Updating" (PDF). Sign Language Studies. Gallaudet University Press. 6 (3). ISSN 0302-1475. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 15, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
Other websites
- ASL browser(See lots of signs in American Sign Language)
- ASLPro.com Home
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