Contrary to popular belief, the sign language used by the deaf community is not universal. Sign language exists in different forms, similarly to how there are different languages throughout the world. American Sign Language (ASL), also known in some regions as Ameslan and Amerslan, is a language capable of expressing a range of emotion and ideas, just like any spoken language. ASL is the dominant form of Sign Language found in the United States and parts of Canada and, interestingly, is more similar to French Sign Language than British Sign Language.

There is no sign language that is the exact translation of spoken language into motions. This being so, ASL, in and of itself, is not simply the transcription of English into signed motions. There is often a confusion between Signed English (SE), Signed Exact English (SEE) and ASL. Many people who are unfamiliar with Sign Language tend to think that all three are one in the same. Unfortunately, this is not the case and there are unique qualities which define each.

SE uses the same word order and grammar structure as spoken English while using a limited vocabulary derived from ASL. SE's similarity in structure to spoken and written English was initally developed in intent to teach deaf children to read, unfortunately, as ASL uses an individual and unique grammar structure, SE proved difficult to teach. Deaf people also found it to be rather limiting in terms of vocabulary, and so, it never gained widespread acceptance.

SEE was developed to work very much the same premise as SE, transcribing English into motions, but also included an expanded vocabulary. However, it was found that SEE could be more awkward in comunicating ideas than ASL and this too was not widely regarded by the deaf community.

SE and SEE has tended to be used predominantly by people with limited hearing (hearing impaired)and people who combine signing and lip reading. Hearing impaired children who have been mainstreamed into regular classes have used SE and SEE, though completely deaf children often go to schools where ASL is the predominant language. It is sometimes the case that when hearing impaired children and deaf children are mainstreamed into regular classrooms they can be assigned a paraprofessional familiar in ASL, SE or SEE.

However, as long as there have been Deaf Americans, some sort of ASL has existed. ASL was developed and expanded upon by the Deaf Americans themselves. ASL was standardized by Gallaudet University, America's premire Deaf University in Washington D.C.

Its standardization grew out of the deepening necessity for a better form of communication. Prior to the standardization of ASL, Deaf children were forced to learn lip reading and vocalization. Signing of any form was considered "abnormal" and was therefore forbidden if the deaf children were to fit into standard society. Unfortunately, lip shapes are often extremely similar, taking for example the words "fifteen" and "fifty." The similarity in words while lipreading created an extreme obstacle to communication.

There are many myths spread about ASL. A few of the most common are as follows:

Myth 1: ASL is direct translation.

Truth: As already mentioned, each sign language including ASL has its own unique grammar structure.

Example:

English- What is your name?

ASL- Name you what?

Example:

English- Where is the water fountain?

ASL- Where water fountain where?

Myth 2: ASL is entirely composed of spelling out words through the American Manual Alphabet

Truth: Sign language uses a combination of spelled words, natural gestures and created motions. Fingerspelling is only used in the instances of people's names, the names of places, brand names and titles of books, movies, plays,etc. Occasionally, short words such as "bus" or "park" or other words with a quick and unique spelt handshape are simply spelt out. Other times, very long and tricky words, such as "refrigerator" or "teletypewriter" will have fingerspelled abbreviations (REF and TTY, respectively).

In regards to names, often a specific sign is created to "nickname" a person. Such signs usually incorporate the person's initials, a unique physical trait or description. Such signs are never used when being introduced or when speanking of someone who is not there. In such cases, the entire name is spelt out. Hearing people should not create their own signs and should allow a deaf person to create their "nickname sign" for them. The reasoning behind this is that new signs are always being developed and incorporated into the language. Having a deaf person create your "nickname" for you helps prevent the embarassment of finding that the sign you have given yourself has some other meaning.

Myth 3: ASL is entirely based on hand motions and handshape.

Truth: The use of space, body language and getures are very important in ASL communication.

Space is used in many ways, to convay many meanings. Not the least of which is to communicate time. A gesture to something behind you can denote times gone by, or the past. A gesture forward can indicate something in the future. When comparing two people or things or recalling a conversation, it is important to make a spacial distinction between the two entities, as in the saying "on the first hand...and then the other." All signing and description for a particular entity goes in its defined place.

Body language adds an emphatic quality to signing and the way a person's body moves can make a difference in how something is interpreted. Body language is closely connected to the use of space, for example the words "janitor" and "carpenter." Both words involve the arms moveing in and out; "janitor" as though miming using a deck brush, "carpenter" as though sawing a piece of wood. The direction and tilt of the body is important in this instance, the tilt of "janitor" being more toward the floor. Similarly when signing that you are feeding something. The direction of the hands can make the difference f feeding a small animal, such as a cat, or a large animal, such as an elephant.

Another extremely important aspect to ASL is facial expression. The position of one's eyebrows,whether one is nodding or shaking one's head and one's lip shape can change the entire meaning of a signed word. Likewise, the position of one's body and hands can also change a word's meaning, such as in the words "neice" and "nephew." The handshape for both is simply a manual handshape of "N" next to the head. The female "niece" has the hand positioned near the lower half of the head near the chin, while the masculine "nephew" has the handshape on the higher half of the head, near the temple. In addition, lipshapes also help ease confusion between certin signed numerals and letters, especially differentiating between "2" and "V" or "6" and "F."

1. While Signing, it is important to maintain eye contact with the person you are talking with. If an interpreter is present, look at the deaf person and not the interpreter.

2. Do not stare or make fun of a deaf person if they are making groaning noises. They often are unaware they are doing so.

3. It is rude to watch a signed conversation without indicating you are knowledgeable in sign language or you intend to introduce yourself. Watching without introducing yourself is the deaf quivalent of eavesdropping.

4. Do not become offended if a deaf person touches you or asks a lot of personal information. This is simply part of deaf communication. To be polite, when introducing oneself, you should tell your full name, whether you are deaf, hearing or a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults), whether you are learning ASL, where you are learning, why you are learning and who your teacher is. This helps define your bonds to the deaf world.

a) Tapping on someone's shoulder is how a deaf person gets that person's attention for conversation. To get attention from far away, a deaf person will often extend his or her arm out and wave.

b) Personal questions are how the deaf community gets to know one another. Many deaf people grew up going to and living at boarding schools or specialized schools for the deaf. This creates a close knit, family-like society in which everyone is to know all about everyone else.

5. It is extremely rude to walk between two signers without saying "excuse me." It is not necessary to wait for them to acknowledge your presence or give permission to pass. So long as you excuse yourself and your intrusion is minimal, there should be no problem. If you can walk around them, then do so. If it is required that one signer move slightly, a light touch in the right direction should suffice. Do not bother getting their attention or tapping on the shoulder, unless it is necessary for them to move quite a bit, for example, if you happen to be carrying a large parcel.

6. Deaf humor and jokes can be rather different from the humor and jokes of the hearing world, such as how they can often be much more subtle or physical. This being so, do not be alarmed if a deaf person bursts out laughing at something you don't quite understand. Odds are, you have missed the joke.

7. It is very rude to use speech in the presence of a deaf person without conveying the same information to them in sign. Speech is amongst the least popular modes of communication as only about a third of speech can be understood by lipshape. It can be very uncomfortable for a deaf person to use speech in front of strangers. There are Schools for the Deaf that promote the use of oralization, but more and more schools have been moving towards the use of ASL. Often it is found that children in such oralization schools tend to use oralization at school and sign at home.

If need be, writing and gestures/adapted signs can be used but it is preferable to let the deaf person determine what form the conversation will take. The deaf person may slow down or use more fingepelling or natural gestures and it is helpful to let them know whether you can sign or not.

First, pick your dominant hand. This is usually the hand you write with. If you happen to be ambidextrous, pick a hand you are comfortable with and stay with that hand. The dominant hand does the majority of signing. There are one-handed signs which rely simply ofn the dominant hand, symmetric two-handed signs, where the dominant and non-dominant hand perform the same action and non-symmetrical two-handed signs where both hands are often performing different actions.

Facial expressions tend to follow the general emotion behind the word. If it is a positive word, like "yes," one's eyebrows are up and the head is nodding. If it is a negaive word,like "no," the head should be sligtly bowed and shaking with the eyebrows down as though saying "ouch!" The lip shape usually follows the most dominant sound or letter in the word, such as how the word "no" has one's mouth pursed as tho having just spoken the word "no."

In forming questions, there is a slight difference between "yes/no" questions and "wh-word" questions (such as Who,What,Where...etc). In "yes/no" questions, the sentence ends with the signer's eyebrows up, the last sign held and the head is slightly tilted forward. In a "wh-word" question, the eyebrows are lowered, the last sign is held and the head is slightly tilted forward.

In giving directions, facial expressions are key. Pointing to something nearby, eyebrows should be lowered, teeth gritted and arm and hand close to the body, in the direction of the object. Something a moderate distance away is denoted by poining in its direction arm slightly extended. The face should have lowered eybrows and pursed lips. Something that is far away has a fully extended arm pointing in the direction of the object, open mouth, lowered eyebrows and head slightly tilted back. When giving directions, it is equally important to trace the path to the object and make sure this path is accurate. Such directions are often taken very literally. To help give directions, it is very helpful to establish a familiar reference point.

"Hello": Raise your eyebrows high up and put your hand as though saluting. Bring the salute hand slightly away from your face.

"Thank You": This is similar in action to blowing a kiss. Your fingers should point up and the whole hand/arm drops down to chest level.

"Sorry": Make a fist and rub your chest counterclockwise (if right handed)with the palm of the fist. Eyebrows should be lowered, head should be bowed.

"Please": Same motion and facial expression as "sorry," only with the fist-hand opened.

"Excuse Me": Curl the fingers of your dominant hand (like a hook) and rub the tips of the curled fingers back and forth across your opened palm-up fingers-outward non-dominant hand. The stroke of the moving hand should be parallel to the lines created by the finders of the non dominant hand. This can also be said by swiping the curled fingers outward along the palm once and then pointng to yourself. (This is one of many phrases/words that can be said in different ways.)

Link to the Hands-On Organization for the Deaf Community"

This is an organization dedicated to helping the Deaf Community enjoy the same educational and entertainment activities offered to hearing people. A Deaf Cultural Calendar is offered through this site.

Link to the Gallaudet University Homepage

The Official Website for Gallaudet University in Washington D.C.

Link to the American Manual Alphabet on the InfoPlease Network

This is the Entry for the American Manual Alphabet on the InfoPlease network. It has a nice pictoral guide to handshapes of the alphabet as well as some historical aspects on it's development.

In recent years, deaf people have become considered part of the group called the 'hearing impared." Other terms including "deaf and dumb" and "deaf mute" have historically been used as well. Truly deaf people (those who are completely deaf) tend to prefer the term "deaf," as "hearing impared" also includes those with limited hearing. Historically speaking, the deaf have often been treated treated like children an animals, schools for the deaf predominatly acting as holding pens or vocational schools. Times have since changed and the people of the Deaf Communtity are beginning to get better education and better jobs.

The Deaf Community has developed a culture of its own and with it a sort of cultural pride. They feel that the should be seen in the public light as self sufficient. With more and more technology, the deaf community can be self sufficent with sound detectors that trigger vibrating devices or flashing lights, TTY's (telephones whch transmit text through operator relay), and communication via the internet.

More and more people have come to recognize the culture of the deaf community and so are also recognizing ASL as a legitimate language. Many Universities throughout the United States now allow ASL to serve for foreign language requirements and the popularity of such classes have increased in the last few years. Likewise, museums and libraries such as the Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Natural History have taken to offering programs for the deaf as well.

Many thanks to Mikey the Humming Mouse (Sub-ed and Guru) for the information on SE,SEE, Amerslan and Ameslan.