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American Sign Language Research Paper

Submitted By
Words 2367
Pages 10
Sarah Benor
Arts and Letters 100g: 35237R
7 December 2014
American Sign Language

“If I hadn't lost my hearing, I wouldn't be where I am now. It forced me to maximize my own potential. I have to be better than the average person to succeed” (Lou Ferrigno). In this short glimpse into Ferrigno’s experience, he explains that losing the ability to hear requires an entirely different perspective towards daily life, especially because another language is needed to be able to communicate with others. This language is called American Sign Language (ASL). There are many different ways that language is spoken throughout the world, due to numerous distinctive features such as accent, pitch, as well as geographical location, and languages that are …show more content…
Robin Thompson, a professor from the University of California, San Diego discusses that “The partial phonological information available during “tip of fingers” (TOFs) suggests that phonological features are accessed more simultaneously during lexical access for signed language than during lexical access for spoken language” (Thompson 856). This being said the phenomenon for Sign Language is “tip of the fingers” while the phenomenon for spoken English is “tip of tongue” (Thompson 856). Two specialists named Adam Schembri and Trevor Johnston explain how “Lexical variation presents the clearest examples of sociolinguistic variation in many sign languages, with lexical choices often systematically associated with signers of a particular age, gender, region, ethnicity, or educational background” …show more content…
It has helped millions of individuals communicate with their family, friends, professors, and people in their everyday life. Vision is a very powerful aspect of perception that is necessary for deaf people to communicate via ASL. American Sign Language is becoming more developed and incorporated in todays society and will continue to do so in the future. American Sign Language unlike any other language does not use word of mouth; it uses signals and emotions in order to convey messages. It has been increasingly more important in part of today’s society due to the fact that we are more concerned in accommodating people who are handicapped like deafness. American Sign Language will continue to spread throughout America and grow worldwide. There is a possibility that it will be ranked higher in the most spoken language in the United States in the future and continue to influence

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