Knowra American Sign Language American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural visual language used by many Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the United States and parts of Canada. It has its own grammar and vocabulary and is not a signed version of English.
Phonology of sign languages : The study of how sign languages organize contrastive visual units such as handshape, movement, and location. ASL signs combine contrastive visual features rather than spoken sounds.
Spatial grammar : The use of spatial locations and relations to express grammatical or semantic information in a language. ASL can associate locations with entities and use space to show relations among them.
French Sign Language : A sign language used in France, with a history distinct from spoken French. French Sign Language contributed to the historical formation of ASL.
Manually coded English : A system that represents English words and grammar through signs, fingerspelling, or other manual symbols. Unlike ASL, it aims to encode English rather than use an independent language grammar.
Deaf culture : The shared social traditions, values, and institutions of communities centered on Deaf people and sign languages. ASL is a central language through which many Deaf communities share culture and identity.
Handshape : The configuration of the fingers and hand used in a sign. Different handshapes can distinguish ASL signs even when other features are similar.
Classifier construction : A sign-language construction in which handshapes and movement represent classes of entities and their actions or locations. ASL classifier constructions depict motion, handling, and spatial arrangement.
Martha's Vineyard Sign Language : A historical sign language that developed in the Martha's Vineyard community in Massachusetts. Some Martha's Vineyard signers joined the early Deaf community that shaped ASL.
Signed Exact English : An English-based signing system designed to represent English vocabulary and grammatical forms manually. It follows English structures that ASL does not require.
ASL-English interpreting : The practice of conveying meaning between American Sign Language and English across spoken, signed, or written forms. Interpreters make communication across ASL and English possible in public and private settings.
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