ASL Facts

American Sign Language is the language that people of Deaf communities use in the United States, Canada and parts of Mexico.

ASL is one of five most commonly used languages in the United States. (English is our most used common language and Spanish is the second).

ASL is a visual language with its own grammatical rules, and is completely different from spoken languages because it relies on visual rather than auditory. It is composed of handshapes, movements and facial expressions.

ASL is not universal. ASL is a language is similar to languages spoken by people in different countries just as Deaf people have different sign languages in their countries. For example, Japanese Deaf people don’t use ASL but JSL in their country and Deaf Russians are not familiar with Mexican Sign Language. Ironically, ASL is more like French Sign Language than like British Sign Language, even though Deaf Americans do use written English and the majority of the Deaf Americans are not familiar with French as a language.

ASL is not a form of English because it employs different grammatical rules and does not have any written form. (People consider Deaf people to be bilingual because they use both ASL and written English in their everyday communication. For example, they use ASL as their primary communication mode when they talk with Deaf people, their family members and others who use ASL and use written English for making requests when they talk to hearing people at work, stores, writing back and forth, and even with email.)

ASL is recognized as a language whereas the other sign systems in use in the United States are usually methods of communicating with Deaf people and are not actual languages.

ASL displays the highest increase in enrollment for foreign languages at colleges/universities. According to USAToday newspaper (November 2003), there were 11,420 students taking ASL classes in 1998 and in 2002, 60,849 students took ASL classes (432.8% change). There is still an overwhelming demand for ASL classes, even at high schools across the country.

ASL is not primarily influenced by System of Signs from French* because it is also strongly influenced by AISL (American Indian Sign Language) and there were Deaf people in the United States before Laurent Clerc, a Deaf education pioneer used methodical French signs in his instruction to Deaf students at the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, CT.

* people currently call it Old French Sign Language.

Most Deaf children who come from hearing families are not familiar with ASL until they attend Deaf schools or programs for due to various reasons, ranging from denial, embarrassment, doctors’ orders, confusion, ignorance, to misinformation/misunderstanding.

More second language users are exposed to ASL rather than first language users because the majority of second language users are students who take ASL as a foreign language, or are attending interpreter training program and Deaf education or other Deaf fields at colleges and universities. There are also other different groups of second language users that are hearing parents and family members of Deaf children, hearing children of Deaf parents, teachers, specialists, friends, co-workers, community service workers, and others with ties to the Deaf community.

Let us unite and support ASL together !