Essay On American Sign Language

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was a hearing minister that designed American Sign Language, which is the first language used by deaf and hearing people in the United States and Canada. Two thousand hundred million people are using ASL, and at least five thousand hundred people are using it as their most important way of communication. Throughout a period, Deaf people in America were already using sign language, in the early 1800’s; Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet had become friends with a young Deaf girl named Alice. Gallaudet started to teach the girl a few words, and succeeded at doing so. In 1815, Gallaudet went to Europe in search of methods of teaching the Deaf. He approached a number of program directors, the signs used at the school for the deaf, and the signs began to develop into American Sign Language. American Sign Language in America also has

To fully understand why this is a popular debate, we must first explore Deaf culture. Dr. Beth Sonnenstrahl Benedict from the Hands and Voices organization states that “The American Deaf community values American Sign Language as the core of a culturally Deaf identity” (Benedict par 1). Language is a crucial aspect of a culture, and American Sign Language unifies the Deaf community. Although it is often dismissed as a language, ASL has its own unique sentence structure and vocabulary that make it different from English or any other foreign language. Many believe that allowing a deaf child to learn sign language is essential to them embracing their deafness as well as building

In learning about the deaf culture I have taken on a new understanding about the people it includes. Through readings and the lessons, I have learned that being deaf has both its hardships and its blessings. The beauty of the language alone makes one want to learn all that he or she can about it. In this paper I will discuss the beauty of the language and the misconceptions the hearing world has about deafness.

As part of daily life, we communicate and connect ourselves with certain communities. School, jobs, families, sports, extracurricular activities, and many other communities are just a few we come into contact with. Although these may seem to appear the same, there are specific types of communities such as a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field (Webcourses, N.d, Website) that has a share a common set of goals and attempt to achieve these goals (Swales, 1990). According to researcher and educator, John Swales, there are six characteristics that define whether or not a community is considered a discourse community. Following the criteria Swales states is necessary to be a discourse community, I did an in depth research on the American Sign Language community. Through my study, I was able to meet all six characteristics.

Sometimes, I spend an entire day conversing with many people yet never vocalize a single word. Myers Briggs scores me as highly introverted, yet fails to account for the important connection I find with people in silence. American Sign Language has enabled me to explore a culture vastly different than my own and allows me to do so in a way that honors my appreciation for silence.

Very basic, elementary and logical characteristics made the Native American Sign Language the world's most easily learned language. It was America's first and only universal language. The necessity for intercommunication between Indian tribes having different vocal speech developed gesture speech or sign language (Clark; pg. 11). Although there is no record or era dating the use of sign language, American Indian people have communicated with Indian Sign Language for thousands of years. The signs illustrated ideas and the language conveyed a message. Many of the simplistic nonverbal gestures that were used by the Indian tribes across the United States are still in use around the world today.

Human beings occasionally suffer bad damage to particular parts of their brains. Unfortunately, these injuries may lead to major failure of speech production, understanding language and comprehension which most of the patients suffer it permanently. This impairment is called Aphasia. Gayle (2012) states that people with aphasia fail to understand sentence comprehension although it is a simple sentence. She also mentioned that aphasia patients also have difficulty in reading and understanding speeches. According to Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2011), aphasia is a scientific term used to explained language disorder due to brain injuries caused by diseases or trauma. In other words, aphasia involves partial or total loss of the ability to

The grammar of ASL is very different from the grammar of English. A significant word might come at the beginning of a sentence, or be saved for the end to give it more meaning. For many years, utilization of sign language was prohibited in schools for the deaf. Deaf students instead concentrated on lip reading and finger spelling English. American Sign Language comes to be acknowledged as a legitimate norm of communication in 1990. It made ASL more available to deaf people in the United States. Many people found out ASL to be extremely expressive, to convey thoughts and feelings through motions with their hands, faces and bodies to connect with

There is a plethora of information about American Sign Language that I was unaware of. Growing up, I had never known anyone that was deaf, nor taken any classes about sign language. Therefore, some of the information I was able to learn throughout the class surprised me. As a start, it was disappointing to discover that deaf culture and sign language are only passed down through deaf families and residential schools. This can limit the amount of knowledge a hearing person has about the deaf culture, and this knowledge is important because it is still relevant in today’s day and age. In fact, the topic should come up in more schools across the country. Another aspect of sign language that surprised me was the importance of facial expressions.

Aphasia is a language disorder that can be the result of a brain injury. An individual that is suffering from aphasia may experience difficulty speaking, writing, reading, or comprehending. There are three different types of Aphasia that differ in various ways. First, Wernicke’s Aphasia is the inability to grasp the meaning of words and sentences that have been produced by another individual. This type of aphasia is also known as “fluent aphasia” or “receptive aphasia”. Wernicke patients’ speech may come across like a jumble of words or jargon, but it is very well articulated and they have no issue producing their own connected speech. If the patient is consecutively making errors, it is common for them to be unaware of their difficulties, and not realize that their sentences don’t make sense. The severity of the disorder varies depending on the patient, and the disorder results form damage in the left posterior temporal region of the brain, which is also known as Wernicke’s area.

Sign language is beneficial for both deaf recipients and families of those who have a family member who is deaf. Sign language can be a useful tool to have in your back pocket because communities now have increased in number with the amount of people who have lack of hearing. Sign language can be combined in a daily conversation by using hands and spoken words to help clarify what is being said. Sign language goes way back in time when it first got discovered in the 1800 by an educator, which led to grand openings of schools specifically for deaf students.

American’s Sign Language (ASL) is truly a fascinating language. I have spent the last ten years learning English and other languages such as Spanish, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. ASL shares a vast similarity to those languages such as expression-in not writing, but rather in gestures- grammars- placing preposition, verbs, person is a unique way. On September 8th, 7:00 pm- 10:00 pm, I watched a show called Criminal Minds on MBC DRAMA, Channel 1759. This program is not a regular American television program; it is a program specialized in high-definition subtitles for Korean’s Dramas. To not be able to listen to the tone of actors and actress expressed for each scene, it is tough to settle on expression that is being displayed just by looking at

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Sign language teaches deaf children to use the other senses such as sight to communicate with others. ASL centers on several techniques such as “hand shape, position, and movement, body movements, gestures, facial expressions, and other visual cues to form its words” instead of sounds and tones in the spoken language (“American Sign Language”).

My friend, Kacey, eagerly waved her scrunched up her hand and said, “This is the letter, ‘A’ in sign language!” I tilted my head slightly in peculiarity and asked Kacey, “What’s the letter ‘B’ in sign language?”