Facts about American Sign Language

1. 07

   Unlike spoken English, American Sign Language is a distinct language with its own grammar and is not a manual representation of English.

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2. 06

   William C. Stokoe's 1960 linguistic analysis of ASL demonstrated it was a fully developed natural language with complete grammatical structure, challenging prevailing assumptions about sign systems.

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3. 05

   Handshape, movement, palm orientation, location, and facial expression are the five parameters that distinguish every sign in American Sign Language.

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4. 04

   Approximately 250,000 to 500,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States use American Sign Language as their primary language.

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5. 03

   ASL uses three-dimensional space to mark time, with past events signed toward the shoulder and future events signed forward, a grammatical feature absent in English.

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6. 02

   Gallaudet University, founded in 1864, remains the only university in the world where all programs and services are designed for deaf and hard of hearing students.

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7. 01

   In 1814, Abbe Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard brought deaf students from the Paris School for the Deaf to America, influencing the development of American Sign Language.

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