5 American Sign Language (ASL) Myths Debunked

5 American Sign Language (ASL) Myths Debunked

Myth #1 - ASL is Universal
There’s a reason why it’s called “American” Sign Language, or “British” Sign Language, it's because there are over 200 different Sign Languages used in the world today. These sign languages are as widely different as their spoken counterparts.

There are common gestural features used in the various sign languages that help Deaf people understand one another and it’s been called International Sign (IS) even though no Deaf person speaks IS as their “own” language.
Myth #2 - ASL is Visual English
ASL has its own grammar, syntax, and linguistic rules that is nothing like English. The basic grammar rule would be Time - Topic - Comment - Verb, so an English sentence like “The

For example, if you sign “I understand” but you’re shaking your head no, you are really saying “I don’t understand”.
Myth #3 - ASL is all Iconic Signing
People believe that sign language is all iconic - meaning the signs are gestural to show an action, such as pretending to drive a steering wheel for “drive”. The problem with “all iconic” signing is that it cannot express concepts and ideas, thus the use of arbitrary signs.

LifePrint explains it this

Not every English (or spoken language) has a specific sign for it, but just the opposite is true - having several signs to convey one spoken word. Which sign to use all depends on the context of the word in the sentence.

For example the word “Video”, has many conceptual signs depending on its intended meaning. For example - making a video, watching a video, use a videophone, and playing a videogame all have completely different signs for the one word