Why ASL?
Why take American Sign Language?
- Ability to use ASL and knowledge of Deaf Culture are a valuable work-related skills to students majoring in several different professions such as speech-language pathology, audiology, education (including but not limited to special education), social work, allied medicine, nursing, business, communications and computer technologies.
- Many students become interested in ASL because they favor a less non-traditional kind of language and way of learning language. As an embodied, interactive, visual-spatial language with no current written component to it (but with all the complexity and nuances of a written language), ASL offers a different—but solid—language experience.
- For years, students at Ohio State have inquired about and lobbied for such courses in order to have the option to take ASL for their GEC foreign language requirement; this program meets that student demand.
- The central Ohio Deaf community is one of the largest, longest, and strongest in the nation; the Columbus Speech and Hearing Center documents the central Ohio deaf/hard-of-hearing population at just over 100,000 (although admittedly not all of these are sign language users).
- ASL is a true and natural language that has lately been shedding significant light on research around language development, in sociolinguistics, and in cross-cultural communication.
Is ASL a distinct language?
Yes! Ample research in recent decades has proven without a doubt that ASL is a complete, separate language, with a grammar and syntax of its own. As one linguist explains, “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).”
Deaf people have historically not had access to radio, telephone, television, and other communication sources hearing people use. Instead, they would often come together at local deaf clubs and share stories, poems, and original drams in American Sign Language. This helped to produce a rich body of ASL literature. Although this language is not written, it has been and continues to be captured on film and videotape. For example, at OSU, the ASL Digital Media Project is dedicated to recording and disseminating ASL literature and performances, as well as organizing events such as “An Evening with ASL Storytelling and Poetry” during Spring 2005. To learn more about the ASL-DMP go to: http://english.osu.edu/asldmp/default.htm
Read more about ASL on the FAQ page, or browse the ASL resources
