American Sign Language: Is it A Language?

[Ender78]

Hi,
As some of you know, I am mostly deaf and I wear two hearing aids. I use American Sign Language as well as spoken American (Yes I know it is called English) and I am taking Linguistics 205: Linguistics of Sign Languages. I would like to see what you all think about American Sign Language and Sign language as a whole.

 

[SilentTuba]

Of course it's a language.

In fact, I remember taking an infant and Child Development course in college, and the professor was talking about language development. Children raised by deaf parents, whether they are hearing or not, will go through the same stages of language and speech development as children raised by hearing parents; the difference is, they will demonstrate those stages through signs and gestures, rather than vocal babbling and words. The brain processes sign language the same way it processes any other language.

 

[Ender78]

Of course it's a language.

In fact, I remember taking an infant and Child Development course in college, and the professor was talking about language development. Children raised by deaf parents, whether they are hearing or not, will go through the same stages of language and speech development as children raised by hearing parents; the difference is, they will demonstrate those stages through signs and gestures, rather than vocal babbling and words. The brain processes sign language the same way it processes any other language.

True but there are still people who say that ASL (American Sign Language) isn't a language. There are a number of reasons why they think that way. I.E. They say things like it's only gestures, it does not have a written form, etc...

 

[rajagra]

True but there are still people who say that ASL (American Sign Language) isn't a language. There are a number of reasons why they think that way. I.E. They say things like it's only gestures, it does not have a written form, etc...

Just playing Devil's advocate here, but "language" is derived from the word "langue", meaning tongue. So language could be taken to mean use of the tongue for communication, which would exclude signing.

But etymology aside, it is generally accepted that signing is a language. Apparently it's the second most commonly used language over here.

 

[athair]

ASL has it's own grammar, yes it's a language.

 

[BaritoneJP]

Just because a method of conveying meaning isn't an "oral language" doesn't mean it ~isn't~ a language. And while it isn't used heavily, people can "write" or display graphics that mimic the hand signs. (check the iPhone emoticons)

Merriam-Webster's meaning of language: a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.

Wikipedia: Language is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, and a language is any specific example of such a system.

... at the root of any language is a goal ... to convey meaning. It doesn't matter if it is written, spoken, gestured ... it is the conveying of understood meanings.

 

[Ender78]

Just playing Devil's advocate here, but "language" is derived from the word "langue", meaning tongue. So language could be taken to mean use of the tongue for communication, which would exclude signing.

But etymology aside, it is generally accepted that signing is a language. Apparently it's the second most commonly used language over here.

The mouth and position of the tongue as well as the face and space around the person are all used in Sign Language. For example: If I sign "Work" and purse my lips that means I am working hard. Or if I sign "move one foot at a time" and make mouth movements as if saying "Sta" it means it is taking a lot of effort for me to move one foot at a time especially if I am pushing a car or something heavy.

 

[Commander Quan]

I always found it strange that sign language was never offered as a second language option to students in high schools.

I'm not sure I would have ever used it, but the only thing I ever used my 2 years of Spanish for was ordering another beer while on my honeymoon.

 

[the_edski]

I vote yes. My fiancee used to work at a center for the severely mentally disabled. Even people who couldn't take care of themselves, let alone speak, could use some rudimentary sign language to communicate. IMO, if it helps communicate, it's a language.

 

[whavens]

My girlfriend is the Deaf Student Services Coordinator at a community college neare where we live. She also teaches ASL and Interpreting at a local University. So of course my vote is yes. She is totally accepted by the deaf community here and is deeply loved by them.

 

[Hunter]

Of course it is a language...

 

[Toothpick]

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary .com

lan·guage

noun \ˈlaŋ-gwij, -wij\ : the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other
: any one of the systems of human language that are used and understood by a particular group of people
: words of a particular kind


"the system of words or signs"





Sign language is a language and that is my argument.

 

[August West]

Yes. It is a language. Hand signals can convey a powerful message. I see it every morning when I drive.

 

[Senshi]

Language is simply the negotiation of meaning. A system where thoughts and/or feelings are expressed in gestures or sounds or even written symbols. If "language" was only spoken then there would be no need to affix the word "oral" to language, because it would already be the default.

 

[rajagra]

It's a shame different countries use different sign language. I've always thought that was odd.
Imagine if there was only one. It would be worth everyone learning it. Not only for noisy environments but for speaking to foreigners. A universal language.

 

[Mick]

True but there are still people who say that ASL (American Sign Language) isn't a language. There are a number of reasons why they think that way. I.E. They say things like it's only gestures, it does not have a written form, etc...

You would have just as many argue that American English is not a language either but a dialect.

 

[russhatch]

Yes, by all means it is a language.

 

[Slash McCoy]

It's a shame different countries use different sign language. I've always thought that was odd.
Imagine if there was only one. It would be worth everyone learning it. Not only for noisy environments but for speaking to foreigners. A universal language.

Oddly enough in most of Mexico ASL is used. This by Deaf people with often no knowledge of written English.

A language does not have to have a written form to be a language.

ASL is very much a language. Had a Deaf GF for a while, many years ago. ASL BTW is based as much on French as on English. I believe it is actually the 3rd, not the second, most used language in the U.S..

Many hearing people confuse fingerspelling with ASL. Fingerspelling I would NOT consider a language. Fingerspelling is simply manually encoded written English.

 

[Ender78]

I must say I am amazed and pleased by all of the responses here. I expected more to say no or I don't know. It looks like the future of ASL is looking brighter and brighter these days. ASL has fought a long hard battle. There was a period (1880-1969) where sign language was mostly not allowed use in education. This is known as the oralism period. The oralism movement was started by Alexander G Bell among others. While those with normal hearing praise him for the invention of the telephone (it has been recently discovered that he stole it from another inventor who could not afford to patent it), the deaf (those that use ASL or SEE) see him as evil incarnate.

 

[rajagra]

You would have just as many argue that American English is not a language either but a dialect.

I've heard many call it worse!