American sign language - Wikipedia American sign language `` ASL '' redirects here. For other uses, see ASL ( disambiguation ). `` Canadian Sign Language '' redirects here. For French Canadian Sign Language, see Quebec Sign Language. American Sign Language Langue des Signes Américaine ( in the Canadian province of Québec ) Native to United States, Canada Region English - speaking North America Native speakers 250,000 -- 500,000 in the United States ( 1972 ) L2 users : Used as L2 by many hearing people and by Hawaii Sign Language speakers. Language family French Sign - based ( possibly a creole with Martha 's Vineyard Sign Language ) American Sign Language Dialects African - American Sign Bolivian Sign Costa Rican Sign Ghanaian Sign Nigerian Sign Francophone African Sign Québec Sign Writing system None are widely accepted si5s ( ASLwrite ), ASL - phabet, Stokoe notation, SignWriting Official status Official language in none Recognised minority language in Ontario only in domains of : legislation, education and judiciary proceedings. 40 US states recognize ASL to varying degrees, from a foreign language for school credits to the official language of that state 's deaf population. Language codes ISO 639 - 3 ase Glottolog asli1244 ASL family amer1248 ASL proper Areas where ASL or a dialect / derivative thereof is the national sign language Areas where ASL is in significant use alongside another sign language American Sign Language ( ASL ) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. Besides North America, dialects of ASL and ASL - based creoles are used in many countries around the world, including much of West Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. ASL is also widely learned as a second language, serving as a lingua franca. ASL is most closely related to French Sign Language ( LSF ). It has been proposed that ASL is a creole language of LSF, although ASL shows features atypical of creole languages, such as agglutinative morphology. ASL originated in the early 19th century in the American School for the Deaf ( ASD ) in Hartford, Connecticut, from a situation of language contact. Since then, ASL use has propagated widely via schools for the deaf and Deaf community organizations. Despite its wide use, no accurate count of ASL users has been taken, though reliable estimates for American ASL users range from 250,000 to 500,000 persons, including a number of children of deaf adults. ASL users face stigma due to beliefs in the superiority of oral language to sign language, compounded by the fact that ASL is often glossed in English due to the lack of a standard writing system. ASL signs have a number of phonemic components, including movement of the face and torso as well as the hands. ASL is not a form of pantomime, but iconicity does play a larger role in ASL than in spoken languages. English loan words are often borrowed through fingerspelling, although ASL grammar is unrelated to that of English. ASL has verbal agreement and aspectual marking and has a productive system of forming agglutinative classifiers. Many linguists believe ASL to be a subject -- verb -- object ( SVO ) language, but there are several alternative proposals to account for ASL word order. Contents 1 Classification 2 History 3 Population 4 Geographic distribution 5 Regional variation 5.1 Sign production 5.2 Sign variants 5.3 History and implications 6 Varieties 7 Stigma 8 Writing systems 9 Phonology 10 Grammar 10.1 Morphology 10.1. 1 Fingerspelling 10.2 Syntax 11 Iconicity 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 Bibliography 16 External links Classification Play media Travis Dougherty explains and demonstrates the ASL alphabet. Voice - over interpretation by Gilbert G. Lensbower. ASL emerged as a language in the American School for the Deaf ( ASD ), founded in 1817. This school brought together Old French Sign Language, various village sign languages, and home sign systems ; ASL was created in this situation of language contact. ASL was influenced by its forerunners but distinct from all of them. The influence of French Sign Language ( LSF ) on ASL is readily apparent ; for example, it has been found that about 58 % of signs in modern ASL are cognate to Old French Sign Language signs. However, this is far less than the standard 80 % measure used to determine whether related languages are actually dialects. This suggests that nascent ASL was highly affected by the other signing systems brought by the ASD students, despite the fact that the school 's original director Laurent Clerc taught in LSF. In fact, Clerc reported that he often learned the students ' signs rather than conveying LSF : I see, however, and I say it with regret, that any efforts that we have made or may still be making, to do better than, we have inadvertently fallen somewhat back of Abbé de l'Épée. Some of us have learned and still learn signs from uneducated pupils, instead of learning them from well instructed and experienced teachers. -- Clerc, 1852, from Woodward 1978 : 336 It has been proposed that ASL is a creole with LSF as the superstrate language and with the native village sign languages as substrate languages. However, more recent research has shown that modern ASL does not share many of the structural features that characterize creole languages. ASL may have begun as a creole and then undergone structural change over time, but it is also possible that it was never a creole - type language. There are modality - specific reasons that sign languages tend towards agglutination, for example the ability to simultaneously convey information via the face, head, torso, and other body parts. This might override creole characteristics such as the tendency towards isolating morphology. Additionally, Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet may have used an artificially constructed form of manually coded language in instruction rather than true LSF. Although the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia share English as a common oral and written language, ASL is not mutually intelligible with British Sign Language ( BSL ) or Auslan. All three languages show degrees of borrowing from English, but this alone is not sufficient for cross-language comprehension. It has been found that a relatively high percentage ( 37 -- 44 % ) of ASL signs have similar translations in Auslan, which for oral languages would suggest that they belong to the same language family. However, this does not seem justified historically for ASL and Auslan, and it is likely that this resemblance is due to the higher degree of iconicity in sign languages in general, as well as contact with English. American Sign Language is growing in popularity among many states. Many people in high school and colleges desire to take it as a foreign language, but until recently, it was not a creditable foreign language elective. The issue was that many did n't consider it a foreign language. ASL users, however, have a very distinct culture and way they interact when talking. Their facial expressions and hand movements reflect what they are conveying. They also have their own sentence structure which sets the language apart. American sign language is now being accepted by many colleges as a foreign language credit ; many states are making it mandatory to accept it. History A sign language interpreter at a presentation Prior to the birth of ASL, sign language had been used by various communities in the United States. In the United States, as elsewhere in the world, hearing families with deaf children have historically employed ad - hoc home sign, which often reaches much higher levels of sophistication than gestures used by hearing people in spoken conversation. As early as 1541 at first contact by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, there were reports that the Plains Indians had developed a sign language to communicate between tribes of different languages. In the 19th century, a `` triangle '' of village sign languages developed in New England : one in Martha 's Vineyard, Massachusetts ; one in Henniker, New Hampshire, and one in Sandy River Valley, Maine. Martha 's Vineyard Sign Language ( MVSL ), which was particularly important for the history of ASL, was used mainly in Chilmark, Massachusetts. Due to intermarriage in the original community of English settlers of the 1690s, and the recessive nature of genetic deafness, Chilmark had a high 4 % rate of genetic deafness.. MVSL was used even by hearing residents whenever a deaf person was present, and also in some situations where spoken language would be ineffective or inappropriate, such as during church sermons or between boats at sea. ASL is thought to have originated in the American School for the Deaf ( ASD ), founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817. Originally known as The American Asylum, At Hartford, For The Education And Instruction Of The Deaf And Dumb, the school was founded by the Yale graduate and divinity student Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. Gallaudet, inspired by his success in demonstrating the learning abilities of a young deaf girl Alice Cogswell, traveled to Europe in order to learn deaf pedagogy from European institutions. Ultimately, Gallaudet chose to adopt the methods of the French Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris, and convinced Laurent Clerc, an assistant to the school 's founder Charles - Michel de l'Épée, to accompany him back to the United States. Upon his return, Gallaudet founded the ASD on April 15, 1817. The largest group of students during the first seven decades of the school were from Martha 's Vineyard, and they brought MVSL with them. There were also 44 students from around Henniker, New Hampshire, and 27 from the Sandy River valley in Maine, each of which had their own village sign language. Other students brought knowledge of their own home signs. Laurent Clerc, the first teacher at ASD, taught using French Sign Language ( LSF ), which itself had developed in the Parisian school for the deaf established in 1755. From this situation of language contact, a new language emerged, now known as ASL. American Sign Language Convention of March 2008 in Austin, Texas More schools for the deaf were founded after ASD, and knowledge of ASL spread to these schools. In addition, the rise of Deaf community organizations bolstered the continued use of ASL. Societies such as the National Association of the Deaf and the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf held national conventions that attracted signers from across the country. This all contributed to ASL 's wide use over a large geographical area, atypical of a sign language. Up to the 1950s, the predominant method in deaf education was oralism -- acquiring oral language comprehension and production. Linguists did not consider sign language to be true `` language '', but rather something inferior. Recognition of the legitimacy of ASL was achieved by William Stokoe, a linguist who arrived at Gallaudet University in 1955 when this was still the dominant assumption. Aided by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Stokoe argued for manualism, the use of sign language in deaf education. Stokoe noted that sign language shares the important features that oral languages have as a means of communication, and even devised a transcription system for ASL. In doing so, Stokoe revolutionized both deaf education and linguistics. In the 1960s, ASL was sometimes referred to as `` Ameslan '', but this term is now considered obsolete. Population Counting the number of ASL signers is difficult because ASL users have never been counted by the American census. The ultimate source for current estimates of the number of ASL users in the United States is a report for the National Census of the Deaf Population ( NCDP ) by Schein and Delk ( 1974 ). Based on a 1972 survey of the NCDP, Schein and Delk provided estimates consistent with a signing population between 250,000 and 500,000. The survey did not distinguish between ASL and other forms of signing ; in fact, the name `` ASL '' was not yet in widespread use. Incorrect figures are sometimes cited for the population of ASL speakers in the United States based on misunderstandings of known statistics. Demographics of the deaf population have been confused with those of ASL use, since adults who become deaf late in life rarely use ASL in the home. This accounts for currently cited estimations which are greater than 500,000 ; such mistaken estimations can reach as high as 15,000,000. A 100,000 - person lower bound has been cited for ASL users ; the source of this figure is unclear, but it may be an estimate of prelingual deafness, which is correlated with but not equivalent to signing. ASL is sometimes incorrectly cited as the third - or fourth-most - spoken language in the United States. These figures misquote Schein and Delk ( 1974 ), who actually concluded that ASL speakers constituted the third - largest population requiring an interpreter in court. Although this would make ASL the third-most used language among monolinguals other than English, it does not imply that it is the fourth-most - spoken language in the United States, since speakers of other languages may also speak English. Geographic distribution ASL is used throughout Anglo - America. This contrasts with Europe, where a variety of sign languages are used within the same continent. The unique situation of ASL seems to have been caused by the proliferation of ASL through schools influenced by the American School for the Deaf, wherein ASL originated, and the rise of community organizations for the Deaf. Throughout West Africa, ASL - based sign languages are spoken by educated Deaf adults. These languages, imported by boarding schools, are often considered by associations to be the official sign languages of their countries, and are named accordingly, e.g. Nigerian Sign Language, Ghanaian Sign Language. Such signing systems are found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Mauritania, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo. Due to lack of data, it is still an open question how similar these sign languages are to the variety of ASL used in America. In addition to the aforementioned West African countries, ASL is reported to be used as a first language in Barbados, Bolivia, Cambodia, the Central African Republic, Chad, China ( Hong Kong ), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Zimbabwe. ASL is also used as a lingua franca throughout the deaf world, widely learned as a second language. Regional variation Sign production Sign production can often vary according to location. Signers from the South tend to sign with more flow and ease. Native signers from New York have been reported as signing comparatively more quickly and sharply. Sign production of native Californian signers has also been reported as being fast as well. Research on this phenomenon often concludes this fast - paced production for signers form the coast could be due to the fast - paced nature of living in large metropolitan areas. This conclusion also supports how the ease with which Southern sign could be due to the easy going environment of the South in comparison to that of the East and West coast. Sign production can also vary depending on age and native language. For example, sign production of letters may vary in older signers. Slight differences in finger spelling production can be a signal of age. Additionally, signers who learned American Sign Language as a second language vary in production. For Deaf signers who learned a different sign language before learning American Sign Language, qualities of their native language may show in their ASL production. Some examples of this varied production are finger spelling towards the body instead of away from, and signing certain movement from bottom to top instead of top to bottom. Hearing people that learn American Sign Language also have noticeable differences in signing production. The most notable production difference of hearing people learning American Sign Language is their rhythm and arm posture. Sign variants Most popularly there are variants of the signs for English words such as `` birthday '', `` pizza '', `` Halloween '', `` early '', and `` soon ''. These are just a sample of the most commonly recognized signs with variant based on regional change. The sign for `` school '' is commonly varied between black and white signers. The variation between sign produced by black and white signers is sometimes referred to as Black American Sign Language. History and implications The prevalence of residential Deaf schools can account for much of the regional variance of signs and sign productions across the United States. Deaf schools often serve students of the state in which the school resides. This limited access to signers from other regions, combined with the residential quality of Deaf Schools promoted specific use of certain sign variants. Native signers did not have much access to signers from other regions during the beginning years of their education. It is hypothesized that because of this seclusion, certain variants of a sign prevailed over others other due to the choice of variant used by the student of the school / signers in the community. However, American Sign Language does not appear to be vastly varied when compared to other signed languages. This is because when Deaf education was beginning in the United States, many educators flocked to the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. This central location for the first generation of educators in Deaf education to learn American Sign Language allows ASL to be more standardized than it is variant. Varieties Main article : Varieties of American Sign Language Variants of ABOUT in Canadian ASL Play media About -- General sign ( Canadian ASL ) Play media About -- Atlantic Variation ( Canadian ASL ) Play media About -- Ontario Variation ( Canadian ASL ) Varieties of ASL are found throughout the world. There is little difficulty in comprehension among the varieties of the United States and Canada. Just as there are accents in speech, there are regional accents in sign. People from the South sign slower than people in the North -- even people from northern and southern Indiana have different styles. -- Walker, Lou Ann ( 1987 ). A Loss for Words : The Story of Deafness in a Family. New York : HarperPerennial. p. 31. ISBN 0 - 06 - 091425 - 4. Mutual intelligibility among these ASL varieties is high, and the variation is primarily lexical. For example, there are three different words for English about in Canadian ASL ; the standard way, and two regional variations ( Atlantic and Ontario ), as shown in the videos on the right. Variation may also be phonological, meaning that the same sign may be signed in a different way depending on the region. For example, an extremely common type of variation is between the handshapes / 1 /, / L /, and / 5 / in signs with one handshape. There is also a distinct variety of ASL used by the Black Deaf community. Black ASL evolved as a result of racially segregated schools in some states, which included the residential schools for the deaf. Black ASL differs from standard ASL in vocabulary, phonology, and some grammatical structure. While African American English ( AAE ) is generally viewed as more innovating than standard English, Black ASL is more conservative than standard ASL, preserving older forms of many signs. Black sign language speakers use more two - handed signs than in mainstream ASL, are less likely to show assimilatory lowering of signs produced on the forehead ( e.g. KNOW ) and use a wider signing space. Modern Black ASL borrows a number of idioms from AAE ; for instance, the AAE idiom `` I feel you '' is calqued into Black ASL. ASL is used internationally as a lingua franca, and a number of closely related sign languages derived from ASL are used in many different countries. Even so, there have been varying degrees of divergence from standard ASL in these imported ASL varieties. Bolivian Sign Language is reported to be a dialect of ASL, no more divergent than other acknowledged dialects. On the other hand, it is also known that some imported ASL varieties have diverged to the extent of being separate languages. For example, Malaysian Sign Language, which has ASL origins, is no longer mutually comprehensible with ASL and must be considered its own language. For some imported ASL varieties, such as those used in West Africa, it is still an open question how similar they are to American ASL. When communicating with hearing English speakers, ASL - speakers often use what is commonly called Pidgin Signed English ( PSE ) or ' contact signing ', a blend of English structure with ASL. Various types of PSE exist, ranging from highly English - influenced PSE ( practically relexified English ) to PSE which is quite close to ASL lexically and grammatically, but may alter some subtle features of ASL grammar. Fingerspelling may be used more often in PSE than it is normally used in ASL. There have been some constructed sign languages, known as Manually Coded English ( MCE ), which match English grammar exactly and simply replace spoken words with signs ; these systems are not considered to be varieties of ASL. Tactile ASL ( TASL ) is a variety of ASL used throughout the United States by and with the deaf - blind. It is particularly common among those with Usher 's syndrome. This syndrome results in deafness from birth followed by loss of vision later in life ; consequently, those with Usher 's syndrome often grow up in the Deaf community using ASL, and later transition to TASL. TASL differs from ASL in that signs are produced by touching the palms, and there are some grammatical differences from standard ASL in order to compensate for the lack of non-manual signing. Stigma In 2013 the White House published a response to a petition that gained over 37,000 signatures to officially recognize American Sign Language as a community language and a language of instruction in schools. The response is titled `` there should n't be any stigma about American Sign Language '' and addressed that ASL is a vital language for the Deaf and hard of hearing. Stigmas associated with sign languages and the use of sign for educating children often lead to the absence of sign during periods in children 's lives when they can access languages most effectively. Scholars such as Beth S. Benedict advocate not only for bilingualism ( using ASL and English training ) but also for early childhood intervention for children who are deaf. York University psychologist Ellen Bialystok has also campaigned for bilingualism, arguing that those who are bilingual acquire cognitive skills that may help to prevent dementia later in life. The majority of children born to deaf parents are hearing. These children, known as CODAs ( `` Children Of Deaf Adults '' ) are often more culturally Deaf than deaf children, the majority of whom are born to hearing parents. Unlike many deaf children, CODAs acquire ASL as well as Deaf cultural values and behaviors from birth. These bilingual hearing children may be mistakenly labeled as being `` slow learners '' or as having `` language difficulties '' due to preferential attitudes towards spoken language. Writing systems The ASL phrase `` American Sign Language '', written in Stokoe notation The ASL phrase `` American Sign Language '', written in Sutton SignWriting ASL signs for counting Although there is no well - established writing system for ASL, written sign language dates back almost two centuries. The first systematic writing system for a sign language seems to be that of Roch - Ambroise Auguste Bébian, developed in 1825. However, written sign language remained marginal among the public. In the 1960s, linguist William Stokoe created Stokoe notation specifically for ASL. It is alphabetic, with a letter or diacritic for every phonemic ( distinctive ) hand shape, orientation, motion, and position, though it lacks any representation of facial expression, and is better suited for individual words than for extended passages of text. Stokoe used this system for his 1965 A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. SignWriting, proposed in 1974 by Valerie Sutton, is the first writing system to gain use among the public and the first writing system for sign languages to be included in the Unicode Standard. SignWriting consists of more than 5000 distinct iconic graphs / glyphs. Currently, it is in use in many schools for the Deaf, particularly in Brazil, and has been used in International Sign forums with speakers and researchers in more than 40 countries, including Brazil, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Tunisia, and the United States. Sutton SignWriting has both a printed and an electronically produced form so that persons can use the system anywhere that oral languages are written ( personal letters, newspapers, and media, academic research ). The systematic examination of the International Sign Writing Alphabet ( ISWA ) as an equivalent usage structure to the International Phonetic Alphabet for spoken languages has been proposed. According to some researchers, SignWriting is not a phonemic orthography and does not have a one - to - one map from phonological forms to written forms. This assertion has been disputed and the process for each country to look at the ISWA and create a phonemic / morphemic assignment of features of each sign language was proposed by researchers Msc. Roberto Cesar Reis da Costa and Madson Barreto in a thesis forum on June 23, 2014. The SignWriting community has an open project on Wikimedia Labs to support the various Wikimedia projects on Wikimedia Incubator and elsewhere involving SignWriting. The ASL Wikipedia request was marked as eligible in 2008 and the test ASL Wikipedia has 50 articles written in ASL using SignWriting. The most widely used transcription system among academics is HamNoSys, developed at the University of Hamburg. Based on Stokoe Notation, HamNoSys was expanded to about 200 graphs in order to allow transcription of any sign language. Phonological features are usually indicated with single symbols, though the group of features that make up a handshape is indicated collectively with a symbol. Comparison of ASL writing systems. Sutton SignWriting is on the left, followed by Si5s, then Stokoe notation in the center, with SignFont and its simplified derivation ASL - phabet on the right. Several additional candidates for written ASL have appeared over the years, including SignFont, ASL - phabet, and Si5s. For English - speaking audiences, ASL is often glossed using English words. These glosses are typically all - capitalized and are arranged in ASL order. For example, the ASL sentence DOG NOW CHASE > IX = 3 CAT, meaning `` the dog is chasing the cat '', uses NOW to mark ASL progressive aspect and shows ASL verbal inflection for the third person ( written with > IX = 3 ). However, glossing is not used to write the language for speakers of ASL. Phonology Main article : American Sign Language phonology Distinctive features in ASL Phonemic handshape / 2 / ( + closed thumb ) Phonemic handshape / 3 / ( − closed thumb ) Each sign in ASL is composed of a number of distinctive components, generally referred to as parameters. A sign may use one hand or both. All signs can be described using the five parameters involved in signed languages, which are handshape, movement, palm orientation, location and non-manual markers. Just as phonemes of sound distinguish meaning in spoken languages, these parameters are the phonemes that distinguish meaning in signed languages like ASL. Changing any one of these may change the meaning of a sign, as illustrated by the ASL signs THINK and DISAPPOINTED : THINK handshape closed fist with index finger extended orientation facing signer 's body location tip of finger in contact with forehead movement unidirectional single contacting movement DISAPPOINTED handshape ( as for THINK ) orientation ( as for THINK ) location tip of finger in contact with chin movement ( as for THINK ) There are also meaningful non-manual signals in ASL. This may include movement of the eyebrows, the cheeks, the nose, the head, the torso, and the eyes. William Stokoe proposed that these components are analogous to the phonemes of spoken languages. There has also been a proposal that these are analogous to classes like place and manner of articulation. As in spoken languages, these phonological units can be split into distinctive features. For instance, the handshapes / 2 / and / 3 / are distinguished by the presence or absence of the feature ( ± closed thumb ), as illustrated to the right. ASL has processes of allophony and phonotactic restrictions. There is ongoing research into whether ASL has an analog of syllables in spoken language. Grammar Main article : American Sign Language grammar Two men and a woman signing Morphology ASL has a rich system of verbal inflection. This involves both grammatical aspect -- how the action of verbs flows in time -- and agreement marking. Aspect can be marked by changing the manner of movement of the verb ; for example, continuous aspect is marked by incorporating rhythmic, circular movement, while punctual aspect is achieved by modifying the sign so that it has a stationary hand position. Verbs may agree with both the subject and the object, and are marked for number and reciprocity. Reciprocity is indicated by using two one - handed signs ; for example, the sign SHOOT, made with an L - shaped handshape with inward movement of the thumb, inflects to SHOOT, articulated by having two L - shaped hands `` shooting '' at each other. ASL has a productive system of classifiers, which are used to classify objects and their movement in space. For example, a rabbit running downhill would use a classifier consisting of a bent V classifier handshape with a downhill - directed path ; if the rabbit is hopping, the path is executed with a bouncy manner. In general, classifiers are composed of a `` classifier handshape '' bound to a `` movement root ''. The classifier handshape represents the object as a whole, incorporating such attributes as surface, depth, and shape, and is usually very iconic. The movement root consists of a path, a direction and a manner. Fingerspelling Main article : Fingerspelling The American manual alphabet and numbers. ASL possesses a set of 26 signs known as the American manual alphabet, which can be used to spell out words from the English language. These signs make use of the 19 handshapes of ASL. For example, the signs for ' p ' and ' k ' use the same handshape but different orientations. A common misconception is that ASL consists only of fingerspelling ; although such a method ( Rochester Method ) has been used, it is not ASL. Fingerspelling is a form of borrowing, a linguistic process wherein words from one language are incorporated into another. In ASL, fingerspelling is used for proper nouns and for technical terms with no native ASL equivalent. There are also some other loan words which are fingerspelled, either very short English words or abbreviations of longer English words, e.g. O-N from English ' on ', and A-P-T from English ' apartment '. Fingerspelling may also be used to emphasize a word that would normally be signed otherwise. Syntax The basic word order of ASL is disputed. Most linguists agree that ASL is a subject -- verb -- object ( SVO ) language with various phenomena affecting this basic word order. Basic SVO sentences are signed without any pauses : FATHER -- LOVE -- CHILD `` The father loves the child. '' However, other word orders may also occur, as ASL allows the topic of a sentence to be moved to sentence - initial position, a phenomenon known as topicalization. In object - subject - verb ( OSV ) sentences, the object is topicalized, marked by a forward head - tilt and a pause : CHILD, FATHER -- LOVE `` The father loves the child. '' Even more, word orders can be obtained through the phenomenon of subject copy. In subject copy, the subject is repeated at the end of the sentence, accompanied by head nodding, either for clarification or emphasis : FATHER -- LOVE -- CHILD -- FATHER `` The father loves the child. '' ASL also allows null subject sentences, where the subject is implied rather than stated explicitly. Subjects can be copied even in a null subject sentence, in which the subject is omitted from its original position, yielding a verb -- object -- subject ( VOS ) construction : LOVE -- CHILD -- FATHER `` The father loves the child. '' Topicalization, accompanied with a null subject and a subject copy, can produce yet another word order, object -- verb -- subject ( OVS ). CHILD, LOVE -- FATHER `` The father loves the child. '' These properties of ASL allow it a variety of word orders, leading many to question which is the true, underlying, `` basic '' order. There are several other proposals that attempt to account for the flexibility of word order in ASL. One proposal is that languages like ASL are best described with a topic -- comment structure, where words are ordered by their importance in the sentence rather than by their syntactic properties. Another hypothesis is that ASL exhibits free word order, in which syntax is not encoded in word order whatsoever, but can be encoded by other means ( e.g. head nods, eyebrow movement, body position ). Iconicity A common misconception is that signs are iconically self - explanatory, that they are a transparent imitation of what they mean, or even that they are pantomime. In fact, many signs bear no resemblance to their referent, either because they were originally arbitrary symbols or because their iconicity has been obscured over time. Even so, in ASL iconicity plays a significant role ; a high percentage of signs resemble their referents in some way. This may be due to the fact that the medium of sign -- three - dimensional space -- naturally allows more iconicity than oral language. In the era of the influential linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, it was assumed that the mapping between form and meaning in language must be completely arbitrary. Although onomatopoeia is a clear exception, since words like ' choo - choo ' bear clear resemblance to the sounds that they mimic, the Saussurean approach was to treat these as marginal exceptions. ASL, with its significant inventory of iconic signs, directly challenges this theory. Research on acquisition of pronouns in ASL has shown that children do not always take advantage of the iconic properties of signs when interpreting their meaning. It has been found that when children acquire the pronoun `` you '', the iconicity of the point ( at the child ) is often confused, being treated more like a name. This is a similar finding to research in oral languages on pronoun acquisition. It has also been found that iconicity of signs does not affect immediate memory and recall ; less iconic signs are remembered just as well as highly iconic signs. See also American Sign Language grammar American Sign Language literature Baby sign language Bimodal bilingualism Great ape language, of which ASL has been one attempted mode Legal recognition of sign languages Pointing Sign name ASL interpreting Notes Jump up ^ In particular, Martha 's Vineyard Sign Language, Henniker Sign Language, and Sandy River Valley Sign Language were brought to the school by students. These in turn appear to have been influenced by early British Sign Language, and did not involve input from indigenous Native American sign systems. See Padden ( 2010 : 11 ), Lane, Pillard & French ( 2000 : 17 ), and Johnson & Schembri ( 2007 : 68 ). Jump up ^ The Abbé Charles - Michel de l'Épée, founder of the Parisian school Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris, was the first to acknowledge that sign language could be used to educate the deaf. An oft - repeated folk tale states that while visiting a parishioner, Épee met two deaf daughters conversing with each other using LSF. The mother explained that her daughters were being educated privately by means of pictures. Épée is said to have been inspired by these deaf children when he established the first educational institution for the deaf. See : Ruben, Robert J. ( 2005 ). `` Sign language : Its history and contribution to the understanding of the biological nature of language ''. Acta Oto - laryngologica. 125 ( 5 ) : 464 -- 7. doi : 10.1080 / 00016480510026287. PMID 16092534. Padden, Carol A. ( 2001 ). Folk Explanation in Language Survival in : Deaf World : A Historical Reader and Primary Sourcebook, Lois Bragg, Ed. New York : New York University Press. pp. 107 -- 108. ISBN 0 - 8147 - 9853 - 5. Jump up ^ Whereas deafness was genetically recessive on Martha 's Vineyard, it was dominant in Henniker. On the one hand, this dominance likely aided the development of sign language in Henniker since families would be more likely to have the critical mass of deaf people necessary for the propagation of signing. On the other hand, in Martha 's Vineyard the deaf were more likely to have more hearing relatives, which may have fostered a sense of shared identity that led to more inter-group communication than in Henniker. See Lane, Pillard & French ( 2000 : 39 ). Jump up ^ Although some surveys of smaller scope measure ASL use, such as the California Department of Education recording ASL use in the home when children begin school, ASL use in the general American population has not been directly measured. See Mitchell et al. ( 2006 : 1 ). Jump up ^ Stokoe himself termed these cheremes, but other linguists have referred to them as phonemes. See Bahan ( 1996 : 11 ). References ^ Jump up to : Mitchell et al. ( 2006 ) Jump up ^ Province of Ontario ( 2007 ). `` Bill 213 : An Act to recognize sign language as an official language in Ontario ''. Jump up ^ Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. `` States that Recognize American Sign Language as a Foreign Language '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015. Jump up ^ Hammarström, Harald ; Forkel, Robert ; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. ( 2017 ). `` ASLic ''. Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany : Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Jump up ^ Hammarström, Harald ; Forkel, Robert ; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. ( 2017 ). `` American Sign Language ''. Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany : Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Jump up ^ About American Sign Language, Deaf Research Library, Karen Nakamura ^ Jump up to : Bahan ( 1996 ) ^ Jump up to : Padden ( 2010 ) ^ Jump up to : Kegl ( 2008 ) ^ Jump up to : Johnson & Schembri ( 2007 ) Jump up ^ `` ASL as a Foreign Language Fact Sheet ''. www.unm.edu. Retrieved 2015 - 11 - 04. Jump up ^ Wilcox Phd, Sherman ( May 2016 ). `` Universities That Accept ASL In Fulfillment Of Foreign Language Requirements ''. Retrieved May 24, 2018. Jump up ^ Burke, Sheila ( April 26, 2017 ). `` Bill Passes Requiring Sign Language Students Receive Credit ''. US News. Archived from the original on 2017 - 10 - 11. Retrieved May 24, 2018. Jump up ^ Ceil Lucas, 1995, The Sociolinguistics of the Deaf Community p. 80. Jump up ^ Lane, Pillard & French ( 2000 : 17 ) Jump up ^ Groce, Nora Ellen ( 1985 ). Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language : Hereditary Deafness on Martha 's Vineyard. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press. ISBN 0 - 674 - 27041 - X. Retrieved 21 October 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` A Brief History of ASD ''. American School for the Deaf. n.d. Retrieved November 25, 2012. Jump up ^ `` A Brief History Of The American Asylum, At Hartford, For The Education And Instruction Of The Deaf And Dumb ''. 1893. Retrieved November 25, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Armstrong & Karchmer ( 2002 ) Jump up ^ Stokoe, William C. 1960. Sign Language Structure : An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf, Studies in linguistics : Occasional papers ( No. 8 ). Buffalo : Dept. of Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Buffalo. Jump up ^ `` American Sign Language, ASL or Ameslan ''. Handspeak.com. Retrieved 2012 - 05 - 21. ^ Jump up to : Nyst ( 2010 ) Jump up ^ Benoit Duchateau - Arminjon, 2013, Healing Cambodia One Child at a Time, p. 180. ^ Jump up to : American Sign Language at Ethnologue Jump up ^ Rogelio, Contreras ( November 15, 2002 ). `` Regional, Cultural, and Sociolinguistic Variation of ASL in the United States ''. Jump up ^ Gallaudet Department of Linguistics ( 2017 - 09 - 16 ), Do sign languages have accents ?, retrieved 2018 - 04 - 27 ^ Jump up to : Valli, Clayton ( 2005 ). Linguistics of American Sign Language : An Introduction. Washington, D.C. : Clerc Books. p. 169. ISBN 1 - 56368 - 283 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Bailey & Dolby ( 2002 : 1 -- 2 ) Jump up ^ Lucas, Bayley & Valli ( 2003 : 36 ) ^ Jump up to : Solomon ( 2010 ) Jump up ^ Bolivian Sign Language at Ethnologue Jump up ^ Hurlbut ( 2003, 7. Conclusion ) ^ Jump up to : Nakamura, Karen ( 2008 ). `` About ASL ''. Deaf Resource Library. Retrieved December 3, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Costello ( 2008 : xxv ) Jump up ^ Collins ( 2004 : 33 ) Jump up ^ `` A critical period for right hemisphere recruitment in American Sign Language processing ''. Nature Neuroscience. 5 : 76 -- 80. doi : 10.1038 / nn775. Jump up ^ Denworth, Ldyia ( 2014 ). I Can Hear You Whisper : An Intimate Journey through the Science of Sound and Language. USA : Penguin Group. p. 293. ISBN 978 - 0 - 525 - 95379 - 1. ^ Jump up to : Bishop & Hicks ( 2005 ) ^ Jump up to : Supalla & Cripps ( 2011, ASL Gloss as an Intermediary Writing System ) ^ Jump up to : van der Hulst & Channon ( 2010 ) Jump up ^ Armstrong, David F., and Michael A. Karchmer. `` William C. Stokoe and the Study of Signed Languages. '' Sign Language Studies 9.4 ( 2009 ) : 389 - 397. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 June 2012. Jump up ^ Stokoe, William C. ; Dorothy C. Casterline ; Carl G. Croneberg. 1965. A dictionary of American sign languages on linguistic principles. Washington, D.C. : Gallaudet College Press Jump up ^ Everson, Michael ; Slevinski, Stephen ; Sutton, Valerie. `` Proposal for encoding Sutton SignWriting in the UCS '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 1 April 2013. Jump up ^ Charles Butler, Center for Sutton Movement Writing, 2014 Jump up ^ `` SignWriting Symposium Presentation 32 by Roberto Costa and Madson Barreto ''. signwriting.org. Jump up ^ `` Test wikis of sign languages ''. incubator.wikimedia.org. Jump up ^ `` Request for ASL Wikipedia ''. meta.wikimedia.org. Jump up ^ Baker, Anne ; van den Bogaerde, Beppie ; Pfau, Roland ; Schermer, Trude ( 2016 ). The Linguistics of Sign Languages : An Introduction. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027212306. Jump up ^ Valli & Lucas ( 2000 : 86 ) Jump up ^ Costello ( 2008 : xxiv ) ^ Jump up to : Neidle, Carol ( 2000 ). The Syntax of American Sign Language : Functional Categories and Hierarchical Structures. Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press. p. 59. ISBN 0 - 262 - 14067 - 5. Jump up ^ Valli, Clayton ( 2005 ). Linguistics of American Sign Language : An Introduction. Washington, D.C. : Clerc Books. p. 85. ISBN 1 - 56368 - 283 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Valli, Clayton ( 2005 ). Linguistics of American Sign Language : An Introduction. Washington, D.C. : Clerc Books. p. 86. ISBN 1 - 56368 - 283 - 4. Jump up ^ Lillo - Martin, Diane ( November 1986 ). `` Two Kinds of Null Arguments in American Sign Language '' ( PDF ). Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. 4 ( 4 ) : 415. doi : 10.1007 / bf00134469. Retrieved 20 April 2013. ^ Jump up to : Costello ( 2008 : xxiii ) ^ Jump up to : Liddell ( 2002 : 60 ) Jump up ^ Liddell ( 2002 : 61 ) Jump up ^ Liddell ( 2002 : 62 ) Jump up ^ Petitto, Laura A. ( 1987 ). `` On the autonomy of language and gesture : Evidence from the acquisition of personal pronouns in American sign language ''. Cognition. 27 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 52. doi : 10.1016 / 0010 - 0277 ( 87 ) 90034 - 5. PMID 3691016. Jump up ^ Klima & Bellugi ( 1979 : 27 ) Bibliography Armstrong, David ; Karchmer, Michael ( 2002 ), `` William C. Stokoe and the Study of Signed Languages '', in Armstrong, David ; Karchmer, Michael ; Van Cleve, John, The Study of Signed Languages, Gallaudet University, pp. xi -- xix, ISBN 978 - 1 - 56368 - 123 - 3, retrieved November 25, 2012 Bahan, Benjamin ( 1996 ). Non-Manual Realization of Agreement in American Sign Language ( PDF ). Boston University. Retrieved November 25, 2012. Bailey, Carol ; Dolby, Kathy ( 2002 ). The Canadian dictionary of ASL. Edmonton, AB : The University of Alberta Press. ISBN 0888643004. Bishop, Michele ; Hicks, Sherry ( 2005 ). `` Orange Eyes : Bimodal Bilingualism in Hearing Adults from Deaf Families '' ( PDF ). Sign Language Studies. Gallaudet University Press. 5 ( 2 ) : 188 -- 230. doi : 10.1353 / sls. 2005.0001. Retrieved December 3, 2012. Collins, Steven ( 2004 ). Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile American Sign Language. Union Institute & University. Costello, Elaine ( 2008 ). American Sign Language Dictionary. Random House. ISBN 0375426167. Retrieved November 26, 2012. Hurlbut, Hope ( 2003 ), `` A Preliminary Survey of the Signed Languages of Malaysia '', in Baker, Anne ; van den Bogaerde, Beppie ; Crasborn, Onno, Cross-linguistic perspectives in sign language research : selected papers from TISLR ( PDF ), Hamburg : Signum Verlag, pp. 31 -- 46, retrieved December 3, 2012 Johnson, Trevor ; Schembri, Adam ( 2007 ). Australian Sign Language ( Auslan ) : An introduction to sign language linguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521540569. Retrieved November 27, 2012. Kegl, Judy ( 2008 ). `` The Case of Signed Languages in the Context of Pidgin and Creole Studies ''. In Kouwenberg, Silvia ; Singler, John. The Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Studies. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0521540569. Retrieved November 27, 2012. Klima, Edward S. ; Bellugi, Ursula ( 1979 ). The signs of language. Boston : Harvard University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 674 - 80796 - 9. Lane, Harlan ; Pillard, Richard ; French, Mary ( 2000 ). `` Origins of the American Deaf - World '' ( PDF ). Sign Language Studies. Gallaudet University Press. 1 ( 1 ) : 17 -- 44. doi : 10.1353 / sls. 2000.0003. Retrieved November 25, 2012. Liddell, Scott ( 2002 ), `` Modality Effects and Conflicting Agendas '', in Armstrong, David ; Karchmer, Michael ; Van Cleve, John, The Study of Signed Languages, Gallaudet University, pp. xi -- xix, ISBN 978 - 1 - 56368 - 123 - 3, retrieved November 26, 2012 Lucas, Ceil ; Bayley, Robert ; Valli, Clayton ( 2003 ). What 's your sign for pizza ? : An introduction to variation in American Sign Language. Washington, DC : Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563681447. Mitchell, Ross ; Young, Travas ; Bachleda, Bellamie ; Karchmer, Michael ( 2006 ). `` How Many People Use ASL in the United States ? : Why Estimates Need Updating '' ( PDF ). Sign Language Studies. Gallaudet University Press. 6 ( 3 ). ISSN 0302 - 1475. Retrieved November 27, 2012. Nyst, Victoria ( 2010 ), `` Sign languages in West Africa '', in Brentari, Diane, Sign Languages, Cambridge University Press, pp. 405 -- 432, ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 88370 - 2 Padden, Carol ( 2010 ), `` Sign Language Geography '', in Mathur, Gaurav ; Napoli, Donna, Deaf Around the World ( PDF ), New York : Oxford University Press, pp. 19 -- 37, ISBN 0199732531, retrieved November 25, 2012 Solomon, Andrea ( 2010 ). Cultural and Sociolinguistic Features of the Black Deaf Community ( Honors Thesis ). Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved December 4, 2012. Supalla, Samuel ; Cripps, Jody ( 2011 ). `` Toward Universal Design in Reading Instruction '' ( PDF ). Bilingual Basics. 12 ( 2 ). Retrieved January 5, 2012. Valli, Clayton ; Lucas, Ceil ( 2000 ). Linguistics of American Sign Language. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1 - 56368 - 097 - 1. Retrieved December 2, 2012. van der Hulst, Harry ; Channon, Rachel ( 2010 ), `` Notation systems '', in Brentari, Diane, Sign Languages, Cambridge University Press, pp. 151 -- 172, ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 88370 - 2 External links American Sign Language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Find more aboutAmerican Sign Languageat Wikipedia 's sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Wikimedia Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Learning resources from Wikiversity Find more aboutAmerican Sign Languageat Wikipedia 's sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Wikimedia Commons Textbooks from Wikibooks Data from Wikidata American Sign Language at Curlie Accessible American Sign Language vocabulary site American Sign Language discussion forum One - stop resource American Sign Language and video dictionary National Institute of Deafness ASL section National Association of the Deaf ASL information American Sign Language The American Sign Language Linguistics Research Project Video Dictionary of ASL Languages of Canada Official languages English French Indigenous languages Algonquian Abenaki Algonquin Blackfoot Cree Innu Malecite - Passamaquoddy Mi'kmaq Munsee Naskapi Ojibwe Ottawa Potawatomi Athabaskan Babine - Witsuwit'en Carrier Chilcotin Chipewyan Dogrib Gwich'in Hän Kaska Nicola Sarcee Sekani Slavey Tagish Tahltan Tutchone Inuit Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Inupiaq Inuvialuktun Iroquoian Cayuga Mohawk Oneida Onondaga Seneca Tuscarora Wyandot Salishan Bella Coola Comox Halkomelem Lillooet Okanagan Saanich Sechelt Shuswap Squamish Thompson Wakashan Ditidaht Haisla Heiltsuk - Oowekyala Kwak'wala Nuu - chah - nulth other Beothuk Haida Kutenai Tlingit Coast Tsimshian Pidgins, creoles and mixed Algonquian -- Basque pidgin Broken Slavey Bungee Chiac Chinook Jargon Labrador Inuit Pidgin French Michif Immigrant languages Gaelic Irish Pennsylvania German Plautdietsch Ukrainian Sign languages American Sign Language Quebec Sign Language Inuk Sign Language Plains Indian Sign Language Maritime Sign Language Languages of the United States Languages in italics are extinct. English Dialects of American English African - American English Appalachian English Baltimore English Boston English Cajun English California English Chicano English Eastern New England English General American English High Tider English Inland Northern American English Miami English Mid-Atlantic American / Delaware Valley English Maine English Midland American English New England Englishes New Mexican Englishes New Orleans English New York City English New York Latino English Northern American English North - Central American English Ozark English Pacific Northwest English Pennsylvania Dutch English Philadelphia English Puerto Rican English Southern American English Texan English Tidewater English Transatlantic English Upper Michigan English Western American English Western New England English Western Pennsylvania English Yeshiva English Oral Indigenous Languages Families Algic Abenaki Anishinnabemowin Arapaho Blackfoot Cheyenne Cree Fox Gros Ventre Mahican Massachusett Menominee Mi'kmaq Mohegan - Pequot Munsee Myaamia Nanticoke Narragansett Pamlico Potawatomi Powhatan Quiripi Shawnee Unami Etchemin Loup Nawathinehena Austronesian Chamorro Hawaiian Refaluwasch Samoan Tokelauan Caddoan Arikara Caddo Wichita Kitsai Chinookan Kathlamet Tsinúk Upper Chinook Chumashan Barbareño Cruzeño Obispeño Purisimeño Ventureño Dené -- Yeniseian Ahtna Deg Xinag Dena'ina Gwich'in Hän Hupa Jicarilla Koyukon Lower Tanana Mescalero - Chiricahua Navajo Tanacross Tolowa Upper Kuskokwim Upper Tanana Western Apache Cahto Eyak Holikachuk Kwalhioqua - Clatskanie Lipan Mattole Plains Apache Tsetsaut Tututni Upper Umpqua Wailaki Eskaleut Inuit Inupiat Aleut Alutiiq Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Siberian Yupik Chevak Cup'ik Iroquoian Cayuga Cherokee Mohawk Oneida Onondaga Osage Seneca Tuscarora Wyandot Erie Neutral Huron Nottoway Susquehannock Wenrohronon Kalapuyan Central Kalapuya Northern Kalapuya Yoncalla Keresan Cochiti Pueblo San Felipe -- Santo Domingo Zia -- Santa Ana Pueblos Western Keres Acoma Pueblo Laguna Pueblo Maiduan Konkow Maidu Nisenan Chico Muskogean Alabama Chickasaw Choctaw Koasati Mikasuki Muscogee Apalachee Palaihnihan Achumawi Atsugewi Plateau Penutian Nez Perce Sahaptin Klamath Molala Pomoan Central Pomo Eastern Pomo Kashaya Southeastern Pomo Southern Pomo Northeastern Pomo Northern Pomo Salishan Coeur d'Alene Columbia - Moses Halkomelem Klallam Lushootseed Nooksack North Straits Salish Okanagan Salish Thompson Twana Cowlitz Lower Chehalis Quinault Tillamook Upper Chehalis Siouan Assiniboine Crow Dakota Hidatsa Kansa Lakota Mandan Omaha -- Ponca Quapaw Stoney Winnebago Biloxi Catawba Chiwere Mitchigamea Moneton Ofo Tutelo - Saponi Woccon Tanoan Jemez Kiowa Picuris Southern Tiwa Taos Tewa Piro Pueblo Tsimshianic Coast Tsimshian Uto - Aztecan Comanche Hopi Ivilyuat Kawaiisu Kitanemuk Luiseño Mono Northern Paiute O'odham Serrano Shoshoni Timbisha Tübatulabal Ute - Chemehuevi Yaqui Cupeño Tongva Wakashan Makah Wintuan Nomlaki Patwin Wintu Yuk - Utian Central Sierra Miwok Southern Sierra Miwok Tule - Kaweah Yokuts Valley Yokuts Bay Miwok Buena Vista Yokuts Coast Miwok Gashowu Yokuts Kings River Yokuts Lake Miwok Northern Sierra Miwok Palewyami Plains Miwok Yuman -- Cochimí Cocopah Havasupai -- Hualapai Ipai Kumeyaay Maricopa Mojave Quechan Tiipai Yavapai Others Isolates Haida Karuk Kutenai Siuslaw Washo Yuchi Zuni Chitimacha Tonkawa Mixed or Trade Languages Chinook Jargon Michif Mohawk Dutch Manual Indigenous languages Hand Talk Anishinaabe Sign Language Blackfoot Sign Language Cheyenne Sign Language Cree Sign Language Navajo Sign Language Plateau Sign Language Isolates Hawai'i Sign Language Inuk Sign Language Keresan Pueblo Navajo Family Sign Language Oral settler languages French Louisiana Cajun Colonial Métis Missouri Muskrat New England German Pennsylvania Dutch Hutterite Plautdietsch Bernese Alsatian Texas Spanish Caló ( Chicano ) New Mexican Puerto Rican Isleño Manual settler languages Francosign American Sign Language Black American Sign Language Pro-Tactile American Sign Language Puerto Rican Sign Language BANZSL Samoan Sign Language Kentish Martha 's Vineyard Sign Language Isolates Sandy River Valley Sign Language Henniker Sign Language Immigrant languages ( number of speakers in 2010 in millions ) Spanish ( 37 ) Varieties of Chinese ( 3 ) French ( 2 ) Tagalog ( 1.6 ) Vietnamese ( 1.4 ) German ( 1.1 ) Korean ( 1.1 ) Arabic ( 0.9 ) Russian ( 0.9 ) Italian ( 0.7 ) Portuguese ( 0.7 ) Polish ( 0.6 ) Hindi ( 0.6 ) Persian ( 0.4 ) Urdu ( 0.4 ) Gujarati ( 0.4 ) Japanese ( 0.4 ) Greek ( 0.3 ) Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian language in the United States ( 0.3 ) Armenian ( 0.2 ) Khmer ( 0.2 ) Hmong ( 0.2 ) Hebrew ( 0.2 ) Laotian ( 0.2 ) Yiddish ( 0.2 ) Languages of California Indigenous Algic Wiyot Yurok Athabaskan Tolowa Hupa Mattole Cahto Wailaki Chumashan Obispeño Island Chumash Purisimeño Ineseño Barbareño Ventureño Ohlone Karkin Chochenyo Ramaytush Tamyen Awaswas Mutsun Rumsen Chalon Hokan Chimariko Karuk Achomawi Atsugewi Northeastern Pomo Eastern Pomo Southeastern Pomo Northern Pomo Central Pomo Southern Pomo Kashaya Washo Mojave Kumeyaay Yana Yahi Penutian Klamath - Mudoc Yokuts Wintu Bay Miwok Coast Miwok Lake Miwok Plains Miwok Central Sierra Miwok Northern Sierra Miwok Southern Sierra Miwok Valley Maidu Northeast Maidu Northwest Maidu Nisenan Shastan Konomihu New River Shasta Okwanuchu Shasta Uto Aztecan Cahuilla Cupeño Kawaiisu Kitanemuk Luiseño - Juaneño Mono Northern Paiute Panamint Serrano Tataviam Tongva Ute Wintuan Nomlaki Patwin Southern Patwin Wintu Yokutsan Buena Vista Yokuts, Chukchansi, Gashowu Yokuts, Kings River Yokuts, Palewyami, Tule - Kaweah Yokuts, Valley Yokuts Yukian Yuki, Wappo Language isolates and Unclassified Esselen, Chimariko, Karuk, Salinan, Takelma Plains Sign Talk Non-Indigenous Indo - European American English California English Chicano English Spanish Armenian Punjabi Russian Asian Chinese Korean Tagalog Vietnamese Francosign American Sign Language Italics indicate extinct languages Languages of Montana Indigenous Algonquian Blackfoot Cheyenne Gros Ventre Ojibwe Plains Cree Salishan Montana Salish Western Siouan Assiniboine Stoney Lakota Crow Language isolates Kutenai Non-Indigenous Indo - European American English Spanish German Swedish Uralic Finnish Languages of Oklahoma Indigenous Alabama * Arapaho Caddo Cayuga Cherokee Cheyenne Chickasaw Chiwere ( Iowa and Otoe ) Choctaw Comanche Delaware Hitchiti - Mikasuki Kansa Koasati Mescalero - Chiricahua Apache Mesquakie ( Fox, Kickapoo, and Sauk ) Muscogee Osage Ottawa Pawnee Plains Apache Ponca Potawatomi Quapaw Seneca Shawnee Tonkawa Wichita Wyandot Yuchi Sign languages American Sign Language Black American Sign Language Plains Sign Talk Non-Indigenous English German Spanish Vietnamese Italics indicate extinct languages * indicates extinct language in Oklahoma but still spoken elsewhere Languages of Alaska Indigenous Aleut Alutiiq Central Yup'ik Siberian Yupik Inupiaq Tlingit Eyak Ahtna Dena'ina Deg Xinag Holikachuk Upper Kuskokwim Koyukon Lower Tanana Tanacross Upper Tanana Tsetsaut Hän Gwich'in Haida Tsimshian Sign languages American Sign Language Inuk Sign Language Non-Indigenous English Spanish Ninilchik Tagalog Russian Languages of Hawai ʻi Official languages Hawaiian language English Hawaiian Pidgin Sign languages American Sign Language ( ASL ) Hawaiʻi Sign Language ( HSL ) Immigrant languages Spanish Italian German Japanese Filipino Ilokano Cantonese Korean Portuguese Mandarin Chinese French Samoan Languages of Quebec Official language French Brayon Oral Indigenous languages Algonquian Malecite - Passamaquoddy Míkmaq Anishinaabemowin ( ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ ) Wôbanakiôdwawôgan Anicinâbemowin Cree Atikamekw Īyiyū Ayimūn / Īnū Ayimūn iyuw iyimuun ( ᐃᔪᐤ ᐃᔨᒧᐅᓐ ) Innu - aimun Inuit Nunavimmiutitut ( ᓄᓇᕕᒻᒥᐅᑎᑐᑦ ) Iroquoian Mohawk Wyandot Manual languages Francosign American Sign Language ( ASL ) Pro-Tactile American Sign Language Quebec Sign Language Plains Sign Talk Anishinaabe Sign Language Cree Sign Language Isolate Inuk Sign Language Immigrant languages English Languages of British Columbia Official language English Oral Indigenous languages Algonquian Nēhiyawēwin ( ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ ) Dené -- Yeniseian Dakelh ( ᑕᗸᒡ ) Danezaa ZaageɁ ( ᑕᓀᖚ ᖚᗀᐥ ) Danezāgé ' Nadot'en - Wets'uwet'en Tāłtān Tlingit Tse'khene Tsilhqot'in Nicola Wetal· Salishan Éy7á7juuthem Halq̓eméylem / Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ / hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ Nłeʔkepmxcín Scw'exmx n̓səl̓xcin sn - səlxcin North Straits Salish SENĆOŦEN Malchosen Lkwungen SEMYOME T'Sou - ke Nuxalk Secwepemctsín She shashishalhem Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim St'át'imcets Tsimshianic Gitsenimx̱ Nisg̱a'a Sgüüx̣s ( Ski : xs ) Sm'álgyax Wakashan Diitiid7aa7tx Heiltsuk - Oowekyala Haíɫzaqv ' Uik̓ala Kwak̓wala Liq̓wala Nuučaan̓uł X̄a'islak̓ala other / isolates Ktunaxa X̱aad kíl / X̱aayda kíl Manual languages Francosign American Sign Language ( ASL ) Pro-Tactile American Sign Language Plains Sign Talk Cree Sign Language Dane - zaa ( ᑕᓀᖚ ) Sign Language Plateau Sign Language Pidgins, creoles and mixed Chinook Jargon Immigrant languages French Russian Ukrainian Languages of Yukon Official languages English French Oral Indigenous languages Dené -- Yeniseian Dän kʼè Dän kʼí Dene Zágéʼ Gwich'in Häł gołan Neeʼaandeegnʼ Tā̀gish Tlingit Inuit Iñupiaq Manual Languages Francosign American Sign Language Quebec Sign Language Isolate Inuk Sign Language Trade Languages Broken Slavey Chinook Jargon Languages of Nunavut Official languages English French Inuit Language Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Oral Indigenous languages Dené -- Yeniseian Dënesųłiné ( ᑌᓀᓱᒼᕄᓀ ) Inuit Inuvialuktun Iglulingmiut / Qikiqtaaluk uannangani Inuinnaqtun Kangiqłniq / Aivilingmiutut / Aivilimmiutut / Aivillirmiut Kangiryuarmiutun Kivallirmiutut Nattiliŋmiutut ( ᓇᑦᓯᓕᖕᒥᐅᑦᑐᑦ ) Utkuhiksalingmiutitut ( ᐅᑦᑯhᐃᒃᓴᓕᖕᒥᐅᑎᑐᑦ ) Inuktitut ( ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ ) Iglulingmiut / Qikiqtaaluk uannangani Kangiqłniq / Aivilingmiutut / Aivilimmiutut / Aivillirmiut Kivallirmiutut Nunatsiavummiutut / NunatuKavummiutut Manual Languages Francosign American Sign Language Inuit Inuit Uukturausingit ( ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐆᒃᑐᕋᐅᓯᖏᑦ ) Settler - Colonial Languages English French Francosign languages Proto Proto - LSF Africa Algerian Amslanic Francophone African Ghanaian Moroccan Nigerian Sierra Leonean Danish Malagasy Dutch Gambian Italian Tunisian Americas Libras Chilean Amslanic American Black ASL Bolivian Costa Rican Dominican Jamaican Panamanian Pro-Tactile ASL Puerto Rican Quebec Mexican Mexican Honduran Asia Amslanic Kuala Lumpur Burmese Cambodian Philippine Thai BIM BIM BISINDO Jakarta Yogyakarta Russian Mongolian Europe Catalan Valencian Dutch Estonian French Irish Italian Latvian Lithuanian Romanian Swiss - German Amslanic Greek Cypriot Austro - Hungarian Austrian Czech Hungarian Slovak Russian Bulgarian Georgian Moldovan Russian Ukrainian Yugoslav Croatian Kosovar Serbian Slovenian Yugoslav Old Belgian Flemish French Belgian Danish Danish Icelandic Norwegian Oceania Australian - Irish Italics indicate extinct languages Sign language List of sign languages List by number of signers Language families Sign languages by family Afroasiatic Mofu - Gudur Arabic Sign Egyptian Kuwaiti Libyan Qatari Unified Yemeni Iraqi -- Levantine Iraqi Levantine Arabic Jordanian Lebanese Palestinian Syrian Possible Emirati Saudi Omani Banzsl Auslan Papua New Guinean BSL Northern Ireland Fijian Maritime NZSL Sāmoan South African Swedish Finland - Swedish Portuguese Teckenspråk Viittomakieli E. Trans - Fly Meriam Francosign Proto - LSF Algerian Catalan Valencian Chilean Estonian French Irish Australian - Irish Libras Lithuanian Romanian Swiss - German Amslanic American Black ASL Protactile BIM Bolivian Burmese Cambodian Costa Rican Dominican Greek Cypriot Jamaican Kuala Lumpur Panamanian Philippine Puerto Rican Quebec Singapore BISINDO Jakarta Yogyakarta Francophone African Ethiopian Chadian Ghanaian Guinean LaSiMa Moroccan Nigerian Sierra Leonean Austro - Hungarian Austrian Czech Hungarian Slovak Ukrainian Russian Bulgarian Georgian Latvian Moldovan Mongolian Russian Yugoslav Croatian Kosovar Serbian Slovenian Yugoslav Old Belgian VGT LSFB Danish Danish Icelandic Malagasy Norwegian Dutch Dutch Gambian Italian LIS Tunisian Mexican LSM Honduran Viet - Thai Hai Phong Hanoi Ho Chi Minh Thai Germanosign German Luxembourgish Polish Shassi Indo - European Armenian Women 's Indo - Pakistani Sign Bangalore - Madras Beluchistan Bengali Bombay Calcutta Delhi Nepali North West Frontier Province Punjab - Sindh Jarrakan Miriwoong Kentish Old Kentish Chilmark Chilmark MVSL Meemul Tziij Highland Maya Nohya Mirndi Djingili Original Thai Sign Chiangmai Hai Phong Old Bangkok Paget Gorman Namibian Pama -- Nyungan Eltye eltyarrenke Iltyeme iltyeme Rdaka rdaka Manjiljarra Warlmanpa Warramunga Mudburra Ngada Umpila Western Desert Western Torres Strait Islander Yan - nhaŋu Yir Yoront Yolŋu Diyari Jaralde Kalkutungu Pitha Pitha Warluwara Paraguayan - Uruguayan Sign Paraguay Uruguay Plains Sign Talk Hand Talk Anishinaabe Apsáalooke Arikara Chaticks si Chaticks Cheyenne Coahuilteco Dane - zaa Diné Hinono'eino Hiraacá Icāk Karankawa Liksiyu Maagiadawa Meciciya ka pekiskwakehk Nakota Ni Mii Puu Niimíipuu Niitsítapi Nųmą́khų́ ki Nʉmʉnʉʉ Omaha Palus Piipaash Ppánkka Schitsu'umsh Shiwinna Sioux Taos Tickanwa tic Tháumgá Tsuu T'ina Umatilla Wazhazhe Wichita Wíyut'a / Wíblut'e Wyandot Plateau A'aninin Kalispel ʾa qanⱡiⱡⱡitnam Nesilextcl'n Secwepemcékst Sqeliz Providencia -- Cayman Sign Provisle Old Cayman ( Guyanese ) Shuwa gozoku Nihon Shuwa Suhwa Táiwān Shǒuyǔ Worrorran Worora Kinship Zhōngguó Shǒuyǔ Chinese Shanghai Shanghai Hong Kong Macau Isolates Afghan Al - Sayyid Bedouin Albanian Amami Oshima Armenian Plaa Pag Huay Hai Na Sai Atgangmuurniq Belizean Bhutanese Bökyi lagda Bribri Brunca Bura Chatino Cuban Diné Family Dogon Ecuadorian Eritrean Enga Ghandruk Ghardaia Guatemalan Guinea - Bissau Henniker Hoailona ʻŌlelo Jhankot Jumla Ka'apor Kajana Kafr Qasim Kata Kolok Kenyan Somali Keresign Kisindo Konchri Sain Lyons Macedonian Maltese Magannar Hannu Mardin Mauritian M'bour Mossi Mozambican Mumu kasa Nicaraguan Old Costa Rican Ottoman Pasa kidd Penang Persian Peruvian Rennellese Rwandan Sandy River Salvadoran Spanish Tebul Trinidad and Tobago Turkish Ugandan Venezuelan West African Adasl Burasl Mofu - Gudur Nanabinsl Yiddish Yoruban Zambian Other Ethiopian languages Laotian languages Sri Lankan languages Sudanese languages Tanzanian languages ( 7 + ) International Sign By region Sign languages by region Oceania Australia Auslan Australian - Irish Eltye eltyarrenke Iltyeme iltyeme Rdaka rdaka Manjiljarra Warlmanpa Warramunga Mudburra Ngada Umpila Western Desert Western Torres Strait Islander Yir Yoront Yolŋu Hawai'i Haoilona ʻŌlelo Sāmoa & America Sāmoa Sāmoan Aotearoa New Zealand NZSL Solomon Islands Rennellese Asia Bengal Bengali Cambodia Cambodian China Chinese Indonesia Indonesian Kata Kolok ( Benkala, Balinese ) India Alipur Bengali Indo - Pakistani Naga Iran Persian Israel Al - Sayyid Bedouin Ghardaia Israeli Kafr Qasem Yiddish Japan Amami Oshima Nihon Shuwa Korea Korean Laos Laotian Malaysia Malaysian Penang Selangor Mongolia Mongolian Nepal Ghandruk Jhankot Jumla Nepalese Philippines Philippine Saudi Arabia Saudi Singapore Singapore Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Taiwan Taiwanese Tibet Bökyi lagda Thailand Bangkok Chiangmai Thai Pasa kidd Vietnam Vietnamese Africa Algeria Algerian Ghardaia Ghana Adamorobe Nanabin Kenya Kenyan Mali Tebul LaSiMa Nigeria Bura Magannar Hannu Senegal Mbour Somalia & Djibouti Somali South Africa South African Tanzania Tanzanian Uganda Ugandan Zambia Zambian North America Plains Sign Talk Canada American Protactile Blackfoot Cree Ojibwa MSL Quebec Atgangmuurniq Plateau Mexico Chatino Mayan Mexican United States American Black American Protactile Blackfeet Cree Cheyenne Ojibwa Keresign Martha 's Vineyard Navajo Navajo Family Sandy River Valley Henniker Central and South America Argentina Argentine Belize Belizean Bolivia Bolivian Brazil Libras Ka'apor Cayman Old Cayman Chile Chilean Colombia Colombian Provisle Costa Rica Bribri Brunca Old Costa Rican New Costa Rican Ecuador Ecuadorian Guatemalan Guatemalan Mayan Honduras Honduras Nicaragua Nicaraguan Paraguay Paraguayan Peru Peruvian Sivia El Salvador Salvadoran Old Salvadoran Uruguay Uruguayan Venezuela Venezuelan Europe Armenia Armenian Austria Austrian Belgium Flemish French Belgian United Kingdom British Croatia Croatian Denmark Danish Netherlands Dutch Estonia Estonian Finland Finnish France Ghardaia French Lyons Germany German Greece Greek Hungary Hungarian Iceland Icelandic Ireland Irish Italy Italian Kosovo Kosovar Lithuania Lithuanian Luxembourg Luxembourgish Macedonia Macedonian Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Norway Norwegian Poland Polish Portugal Portuguese Russia Russian Slovenia Slovenian Spain Catalan Spanish Valencian Sweden Swedish Switzerland Swiss Turkey Mardin Turkish Ukraine Ukrainian International International Sign Makaton Monastic Signalong ASL Grammar Idioms Literature Profanity Name signs Extinct languages Chilmark Diyari Jaralde Kalkutungu Henniker Sign Language Martha 's Vineyard Old French Old Kent Plateau Sign Language Pitha Pitha Sandy River Valley Sign Language Warluwara Linguistics Grammar ( ASL ) Bimodal bilingualism Cherology Handshape / Location / Orientation / Movement / Expression Mouthing Sign names Fingerspelling American British ( two - handed ) Catalan Chilean French Hungarian Irish Japanese Korean Polish Russian Serbo - Croatian Spanish Ukrainian Writing ASL - phabet Hamburg Notation System Stokoe notation Stokoe notation SignWriting SignWriting si5s si5s ASLwrite ( ) Language contact Contact sign Indian Signing System Initialized sign Manually coded English Manually coded language in South Africa Manually Coded Malay Mouthing Paget Gorman Sign System Signed Dutch Signed French Signed German Signed Italian Signed Japanese Signed Polish Signed Spanish Signing Exact English Tecknad svenska Bilingual -- bicultural education Manually coded language Media Films ( list ) Television programmes ( list ) Persons Jabbar Baghtcheban Johanna Berglind Pär Aron Borg Thomas Braidwood Laurent Clerc Abbé de l'Épée Roger Fouts Valerie Sutton Thomas Gallaudet Abbe Sicard William Stokoe Pierre Pélissier Organisations Association of Visual Language Interpreters of Canada International Center on Deafness and the Arts Mimics and Gesture Theatre World Association of Sign Language Interpreters Miscellaneous Baby sign language CHCI chimpanzee center ( Washoe, Loulis ) Open Outcry Legal recognition Military hand and arm signals Monastic sign languages Tactile signing Tic - tac ( betting ) ^ a Sign - language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French. ^ b Denotes the number ( if known ) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages. GND : 4436159 - 2 SUDOC : 061614378 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Sign_Language&oldid=866382854 '' Categories : American Sign Language American Sign Language family Deaf culture in the United States French Sign Language family Fusional languages Languages of Barbados Languages of Belize Languages of Botswana Languages of Burundi Languages of Canada Languages of Grenada Languages of Guyana Languages of Haiti Languages of Saint Kitts and Nevis Languages of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Languages of the United States Languages of the United States Virgin Islands Sign languages of the United States Languages of Zimbabwe Subject -- verb -- object languages 1817 introductions Languages attested from the 19th century Hidden categories : Pages using deprecated image syntax Ill - formatted infobox - language images ISO language articles citing sources other than Ethnologue All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2017 Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014 Articles with Curlie links Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Good articles Articles containing video clips Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikibooks Languages Asturianu Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Brezhoneg Català Corsu Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Fiji Hindi Français Furlan Gaelg Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Latina Ligure Lumbaart Malti Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Napulitano Norsk Piemontèis Português Rumantsch Русский Sardu Scots Sicilianu Simple English سنڌي Suomi Svenska Tarandíne Türkçe Українська اردو Vèneto Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 44 more Edit links This page was last edited on 30 October 2018, at 00 : 39 ( UTC ). 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Question: who brought sign language from france to america
Answer: Laurent Clerc