"ASL" or Not?

The topic of American Sign Language (ASL) is as impossible to discuss as it is important! If we take the subject for granted, however, our hearing allies and we ourselves could legitimately ask why it wasn't discussed. So here goes.

The reason ASL is so important is that good ASL is the necessary basis for good communication. The better one's ASL skills are, the better the communication will be. Any honest user of ASL will admit that when the ASL flows, then good communication literally makes itself, without problems, enabling ready clarifications without the need for repetitions. On the other hand, if the ASL is poor, and it doesn't flow, then even the best user of ASL and even top-notch interpreters will not be able to make good communication out of it.

There is no simple answer to the very elusive question of what makes good ASL. ASL cannot be judged by any criteria previously used to evaluate the use of spoken languages, because in that case, fragmented ASL with fingerpselled terms might sometimes be judged to be more desirable than perfect ASL. Nor do parts of signs--hand shapes, palm orientations, locations, non-manual expressions, and modifier movements--tell the whole story of ASL, because particular expressions differ from utterance to utterance.

Here are some general considerations, laden with my biases. (Yes, we all do have our own biases.)

Make up as many new signs--"non-translatable," or difficult-to-translate ones--as you can to correspond to our illustration of the ASL/DEAF doors. In each case, indicate the specific reason why you think each sign reflects what it does. Be sure to try to think of as many new signs as you can before choosing the BEST sign.

Now, if you've chosen the BEST new sign, you should be able to discuss how you arrived at choosing this BRAND NEW sign. Would you be able to translate it in another language, namely, English?

Here are my biases. Those who are inside the DEAF door would say no, that this BRAND NEW sign is not in the ASL dictionary. Those who are inside the ASL door would celebrate the newness of it.

;-) Carl