American Sign Language Analysis

The deaf language is known to be more of an “American language” than English is. But it is still being known as the minority language and foreign in America (Harrington, 2015). At hearing colleges in the 1980’s and 1990’s, many did not accept American Sign Language and that it did not exceed the language and credit requirements. But if American Sign Language was the true American language, why was it not accepted in more if not all colleges and universities? “ASL is a fully developed human language, one of the hundreds of naturally occurring signed languages of the world. It is not a derivative of English. It is not a "simplified" language -- it contains structures and processes which English lacks (such as ASL's rich verbal aspect and classifier systems) (Wilcox, 1991).” In many states, American Sign Language is accepted by law in high school academic foreign language graduation requirements (Wilcox, 1991). With this being said, many would presume that all colleges and universities would do the same. That isn’t the case. Though many do,
such as the University of California system, all 23 campuses are soon to be accepting ASL in their foreign language programs (Wilcox, 1991) (now being 2017, this has happened), many colleges have not carried on and don’t follow with the same guidelines as they do. With ASL becoming a much more popular and widely used source of communication in America and portions of Canada, Harvard and Yale University and many other have accepted this in their language programs (Steenport, 2003). Yet, there are still hearing and Deaf/Hard of Hearing students that can only afford smaller colleges that don’t. A question often received is if American Sign Language is even considered a literal language and is it important enough to be included in the college’s foreign language graduation requirements. This question had been debated throughout the country (Lourgos, 2010). Some educators say that the language needs to have literature in order for it to have it a proper study (Lourgos, 2010). Boston University now accepts the language, but for years after this coming true, some of the school officials had fought about this saying that it had an absence in other languages taught such as the historical culture (Lourgos, 2010). Though the literature and culture is not the same and there could be a little less on those subjects, ASL has a very unique style and how they sign a phrase in English Gloss and how to translate that into spoken English. Which is more complex than it may sound. It would fill the curriculum pretty well and even after the class is over, there would be more to learn and discover about this unique language of hand gestures.
“The question of whether ASL is "foreign" depends on what we mean by foreign. ASL is not universal; it is indigenous to the United States and parts of Canada. This should not, however, exclude it from study as a foreign language.” (Wilcox, 1991). When someone thinks of the word ‘foreign’, they think of something they don’t know about. ASL is a foreign language and should be accepted in every college and university. Fortunately, this has become more true and hundreds of colleges are finally coming around and accepting it fully. Few still do not, but it all takes time and the process can be slow. But hopefully someday, every college will be able to accept it in their foreign language program.

Works Cited
Harrington, Tom.
“LibGuides. Sign Language. ASL: Academic Acceptance and Official Recognition.” ASL: Academic Acceptance and Official Recognition - Sign Language - LibGuides at Gallaudet University Library, Gallaudet University Library, June 2015, libguides.gallaudet.edu/content.php?pid=114804&sid=991858.

Wilcox, Sherman. “ASL as a Foreign Language Act Sheet.” ASL as a Foreign Language Fact Sheet, University of New Mexico, 1991, www.unm.edu/~wilcox/UNM/facts.html.

Steenport, Nathan. “American Sign Language as a Foreign Language.” American Sign Language (ASL), 28 Apr. 2003, www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/asl_foreign_language.htm.

Lourgos, Angie Leventis. “Is American Sign Language a 'Foreign' Language?” Is American Sign Language a 'Foreign' Language?, Chicago Tribune, 18 Apr. 2010,
articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-04-18/news/ct-met-sign-language-20100416_1_american-sign-language-silent-dinners-foreign-language.