American Sign Language 9 Metal Ornament

AssetID: 89695790 / {PhotoObjects.net} / American Sign Language American Sign Language , or ASL , is a complex form of manual communication in which hands, limbs, head, facial expression and body language are used to communicate a visual-spatial language without sound. ASL is not related to spoken English, and features an entirely different grammar and vocabulary: linguistically it is a complete, natural and fully realized language in its own right. ASL is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans , including deaf communities in the United States , in the English-speaking parts of Canada , and in some regions of Mexico . Although the United Kingdom and the United States share English as a common spoken and written language, British Sign Language (BSL) is quite unlike ASL, and the two languages are not mutually intelligible. ASL is instead related to French Sign Language . In the 1960s, ASL was sometimes referred to as "Ameslan" but this term is now obsolete. Besides North America, ASL is also used, sometimes alongside indigenous sign languages, in the Philippines , Malaysia , Singapore , the Dominican Republic , El Salvador , Haiti , Puerto Rico , Côte d'Ivoire , Burkina Faso , Ghana , Togo , Benin , Nigeria , Chad , Gabon , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Central African Republic , Mauritania , Kenya , Madagascar , Zimbabwe , Barbados , Bolivia , China , Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica . Like other sign languages, its grammar and syntax are distinct from any spoken language , including English. This page is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic.