ASL Is Not A True Language

270 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: My Reflection on the American Sign Language

I disagree with the assessment that ASL is not a true language. I feel like ASL is a visual-gestural language. You do not have to verbally talk for it to be consider a language. ASL has symbols that have meaning to it. Therefore, gestural language have a meaning to it and for me is consider a language. When a person who speak learns American Sign Language for me is consider bilingual. English is considered a language so is ASL. ASL has a lot in common with English. A phrase used in the book is, “All languages utilize arbitrarily created symbols to assign meaning to the objects they represent.” (Holcomb, 2013 pg.115) I believe it is true because ASL has a lot of symbols and have meaning to it which is why Deaf people are able to communicate

Show More
Related

  • For Hearing People Only: Chapters 71-131 Book Reaction

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    In my family, I have a close cousin who is Deaf, and I know that many of my family members have questions about Deaf culture but are too afraid to ask. I felt the same way, which was a main reason I decided to take the ASL class. The class not only opened my mind to the study of American Sign Language, but also how Deaf culture is used in our society. This book has helped me learn a lot, from ways to respect Deaf people and to understand them, which is why I have advised my family to give the book a look as well. I definitely agree with points this book makes, because nearly all of them relate to today’s society and the world that we live in right now. Although, occasionally, some points were a bit confusing and took me off-guard, I performed some critical thinking on it and made a list of those I didn’t quite understand or agree with.

    Read More

  • History of ASL

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    Louis Laurent Marie Clerc was born on December 26, 1785 in La Balme-les-Grottes, in southeastern France. He was born into a wealthy family that served the king, and his father was mayor of their village from 1780-1814. When Clerc was one year old he fell off a chair and hit his head hard on the floor, leaving a scar. The scar on his face later became part of his name sign, the middle and index finger would brush downward across the right cheek near the mouth. Soon later he developed a fever, and both his sense of hearing and smell were damaged. And it was never clear if the his loss of senses were from the accident or if he was born with those disabilities. His parents had tried everything to fix his hearing but nothing worked.

    Read More

  • Benefits Of British Sign Language

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sign language is a natural human language, they have their own vocabularies and sentence structures. Sign language comes into practice wherever Deaf societies come into existence. Sign language is not identical worldwide; every country has its own language and accents; however, these are not the verbal or transcribed languages used by hearing individuals around them.

    Read More

  • American Sign Language And Pidgin Signed English

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sign language is a method of communication for people who have hearing or speech impairments. Sign language is a language that is made up of gestures using the hands and some facial expressions which classifies it as a visual language. There are two different versions of sign language for english, American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE). Both are widely used across the world, but the signer who uses the versions and the syntax will be different, while the signs and the actual use will be the same.

    Read More

  • Ben Jarashow Journey Into The Deaf World Analysis

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Ben Jarashow’s Journey Into the Deaf World, he explained Deaf culture and how it feels to be deaf within the world of those who hear. People who are born deaf have a loss of what is commonly viewed as the most important sense, hearing. This leaves them with four senses instead of five; most important sense now being sight followed by touch. In return, this means that a language must be developed that is based heavily on sight. In the United States, it was not until 1960 that American Sign Language (ASL) was recognized as its own language.

    Read More

  • English Vs American Sign Language Essay

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Unites States and Canada, an estimated range of 500,00 to 2 million people speak/use American Sign Language. According to the Census Bureau, ASL is the leading minority language after Spanish, Italian German and French. ASL is the focal point of Deaf Culture and nothing is dearer to the Deaf people’s hearts because it is a store of cultural knowledge and also a symbol of social identity, and social interactions. It is a fully complete, autonomous and natural language with complex grammar not derived and independent of English. ASL is visual manual, making visual manual words, moving the larger articulators od the limbs around in space. English uses audible words using small muscles

    Read More

  • American Sign Language: God's Noblest Gift

    2326 Words  | 5 Pages

    In general, sign language—as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “any means of communication through bodily movements … used when spoken communication is impossible or not desirable”—has been used by dozens of cultures for ages, but American Sign Language (ASL) is fairly new. The Native Americans hold one of the earliest records of sign language with their ancient system of communication using signs to converse and break “language barriers” between tribes who spoke different dialects (American). Because many of their cultures were so intertwined with various “shared elements,” the Indians were able to devise “common symbols” to communicate with each other without the use of formal interpreters (American). Across the sea, Juan Pablo de Bonet of Spain was conducting his own research of sign language for the deaf and published the first documentation of a manual alphabet in 1620 (Butterworth). Before ...

    Read More

  • Essay On American Sign Language

    1745 Words  | 4 Pages

    When children are born and as they grow most of what they learn to speak is from hearing their parents talk but what if they couldn 't hear? How would they learn? Its pretty simple actually. They wouldn 't learn. Those who were born hearing but got sick or eventually lost their hearing learned a few things and use them but, eventually they turn to ASL to be able to communicate with others and be able to further their education. When having to learn this language you have to keep many things in mind such as handshape, palm orientation, location, movement and facial expression, all of those things are crucial to being able to speak this language correctly. While this language has been around for many years there are still things that don 't have an ASL name and in those cases you would do something called finger spelling, where you spell out what you are trying to say in order to get your point across.(Learning Sign Language,2) As every language you are learning a whole different way of saying things and you are also opening yourself to those who can’t really open themselves to you. The deaf community do really try to not be a burden to us. They learn to read lips or even talk because they were forced to. A couple a years ago they were restricted from learning ASL and were punished if they tried to sign. (About sign

    Read More

  • Facial Expressions In ASL

    290 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many people believe that sign language is all about the hands, but to fully understand sign language people need to pay attention to facial expressions. Deaf people and those who are fluent in ASL, American Sign Language, know how to correctly use facial expressions. Many facial expressions hold different meanings and to fully comprehend sign language one has to ask: What does each facial expression mean in sign language?

    Read More

  • Language Is A Virus

    403 Words  | 1 Pages

    A written work, whether it is a story, a poem or a song, can be as vague

    Read More

  • American Sign Language Thesis Statement

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    THESIS STATEMENT (central idea + preview statement): American Sign Language didn’t begin until 1814 which is fairly new language compared to modern languages such as English, Spanish, and French. ASL started when deaf education was first introduced in America. In this speech, we will be discussing the following: where, when, and why did ASL started, the history of Martha’s Vineyard, evolution of ASL, recognition of ASL as a real language.

    Read More

  • Monolingual

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Bilingual Education looks pretty on the surface but it’s cracking up underneath,” Jill smirked as she took a spoonful of the salmon brioche. Seated at the corner of a quaint café, Jill was dressed formally as she was from her workplace. Being one of the few Eurasians who interns at an international law firm, she has definitely proven herself to be an outstanding candidate for the firm due to her impeccable command of English. However, on that day, Jill reverted to speaking conversational English as she recollected her thoughts and unveiled her experiences during her ten years of Bilingual Education.

    Read More

  • Contradiction: Formulas And Consequences Of L1 Is A Regular Language

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Consider i=3, we need to prove that xy³z = is not in L1 i.e, we need to show that m²+2b is not a square.

    Read More

  • Sign Language Essay

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Art can be a controversial topic, no matter what type of art is being discussed. Most people would not automatically think of Sign Language when they hear the word “art”. American Sign Language is an amazing form of communication, which incorporates different forms of art within the art itself. Sign language incorporates facial expressions, space, and movement. This art form allows Deaf people to communicate with others. Some people in the education system do not think sign language is a positive form of art because it separates the Deaf from the hearing. Others are trying to figure out methods to “fix” the Deaf so they can be more like the majority of people. Instead of adapting to the Deaf and learning their language, many want them to learn how to speak. Sign language is an important art and form of communication that is often overlooked. Sign Language may not be as poetic as French, or as widely used as Spanish, but it is an important form of communication that helps connect those who are Deaf to the hearing world.

    Read More

  • Are Apes Capable Of Using The Language?

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scientists have shown that such mammals as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are capable of learning and using ASL (American Sign Language) and several artificial languages like, for example, «Yerkish.» However, there is a controversy in how far that ability of great apes spans. There are two different groups of researchers, experimenting with language and apes, those who are in favor of a «traditional» approach, and those who prefer a new, «modern» one. Most debates among them are about the questions:

    Read More

More about ASL Is Not A True Language

Open Document