American Sign Language University is an online curriculum resource for ASL students, instructors,
interpreters, and parents of deaf children.
What is American Sign Language (ASL)?
ASL Definitions: A definition that has been around for a long time is: "American Sign Language is a visual-gestural
language used by 500,000 members of the North American Deaf community."
According to www.dictionary.com we have:
American Sign Language n. Abbr. ASL
The primary sign language used by deaf and hearing-impaired people in the United
States and Canada, devised in part by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet on the basis of sign language in France. Also called Ameslan.
A quick trip to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (www.m-w.com) and we get: Main Entry: American Sign Language:
Function: noun. Date: 1960: a sign language for the deaf in which meaning is conveyed by a system of articulated
hand gestures and their placement relative to the upper body.
Notice the date of that entry from Merriam-Webster? 1960! ASL hasn't been "recognized" as a language for very long
has it? Oh sure, the language itself has been around since the early 1800's but it wasn't until 1960 that "experts"
started recognizing it as a full-blown autonomous language.
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