CSET: American Sign Language cheat sheet

ASL is a natural, fully autonomous human language with its own phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse structure; it is not a manual encoding of English and does not map one-to-one onto spoken English words.

Core design features shared with spoken languages include arbitrariness, productivity, displacement, duality of patterning, and semanticity; modality (visual-gestural vs. auditory-vocal) is a difference in transmission channel, not in linguistic status.

The phonological level of ASL is composed of simultaneously produced parameters (handshape, location, movement, orientation, plus nonmanual features), whereas spoken languages string segmental phonemes sequentially; this simultaneity is a typological difference, not a deficiency.

Morphology: ASL is polysynthetic/agglutinative in tendency, with productive compounding, numeral incorporation, and templatic (root-and-pattern) inflection; syntax: ASL is basically SVO but permits topicalization and other orderings licensed by nonmanual marking.

Duality of patterning holds in ASL: meaningless formational units (handshape, location, movement) combine into meaningful morphemes/signs, which combine into larger utterances.

Minimal pairs demonstrate phonemic contrast in ASL: signs differing only in handshape (e.g., APPLE vs. CANDY), only in location (e.g., SUMMER vs. UGLY), or only in movement establish that these parameters are contrastive.

Nonmanual signals are grammatical, not merely affective: brow raise marks topics and yes/no questions, brow furrow marks wh-questions, head tilt and body shift mark role shift/reference, and mouth morphemes (e.g., 'th', 'mm', 'cha') carry adjectival and adverbial meaning.

ASL and English are distinct languages in contact; contact phenomena include fingerspelling, initialized signs, loan translations (calques), and code-blending, but none of these makes ASL a signed form of English.

Phonological parameters: handshape, location, movement, orientation, and (in many analyses) nonmanual features. Signs contrast minimally when exactly one parameter differs; changing two or more parameters typically yields a different sign or a non-sign.

Allophonic variation occurs with handshape (e.g., the 'open-8' vs. 'closed-8' variants of the same underlying handshape in different phonological environments) and with location assimilation in compounds and fingerspelled sequences.

Battison's Symmetry Condition: in two-handed signs, if both hands move, they must share the same handshape, location, and movement, and move symmetrically; Dominance Condition: if the hands have different handshapes, the non-dominant hand is passive and does not move.

Morphological processes: compounding (e.g., THINK^SELF 'think for oneself'), numeral incorporation (e.g., TWO-WEEKS, THREE-YEARS-OLD), and aspectual inflection on verbs (habitual, continuative, iterative, durative) realized through movement modification.

Verb classes govern syntax: plain verbs (e.g., LIKE, KNOW) require explicit subject/object NPs; agreeing verbs (e.g., GIVE, HELP) move between referential loci; spatial verbs (e.g., PUT, MOVE) encode source, goal, and path in the movement.

Simultaneous morphology: ASL expresses multiple morphemes at once (e.g., a single sign can carry person, number, aspect, and manner), unlike the concatenative affixation typical of English; this is a central typological contrast.

Syntactic structures: topicalization (object or other constituent fronted, marked by brow raise and pause), wh-movement with wh-signs often in situ or final position, and conditional clauses marked nonmanually (brow raise, head tilt).

Referential loci and role shift: entities are assigned spatial locations in signing space and referred to by pointing or verb directionality; role shift (body shift, gaze, head position) marks reported speech and constructed dialogue.

Deaf children of deaf signing parents (native signers) acquire ASL on the same maturational timetable as hearing children acquire spoken language: manual babbling around 6–10 months, first signs around 10–12 months, two-sign combinations around 18–24 months.

Manual babbling is systematic and phonological (repeated handshape/location cycles), not random motor activity; it parallels vocal babbling and supports a biological basis for language.

Overgeneralization and regularization occur in ASL acquisition as in spoken language (e.g., extending a movement pattern or handshape beyond its target environment), showing rule-based learning rather than imitation alone.

Critical/sensitive period evidence: late first-language exposure (e.g., deaf adults first exposed to a signed language in adolescence or later) yields persistent deficits in phonology, morphology, and complex syntax, though lexical learning remains possible.

Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) is a documented case of a new sign language emerging and conventionalizing across cohorts of deaf learners, illustrating that children systematize and enrich input rather than merely reproduce it.

Home sign systems developed by isolated deaf children are structured but less conventionalized than community sign languages; they show that language creation is possible but community transmission is needed for full grammaticalization.

Bimodal bilingual development: CODAs and deaf children with cochlear implants in signing environments may code-blend (sign and speech simultaneously), which is a normal bilingual behavior, not a sign of confusion.

Assessment implication: milestones for ASL acquisition should be evaluated against signing peers, not spoken-English norms; delays in sign language milestones warrant referral just as spoken-language delays do.

ASL literature genres include ASL poetry, ABC stories, number stories, handshape stories, classifier stories, narratives, jokes, and Deaf humor; these are original artistic forms, not translations of English literature.

ABC stories use the handshapes of the manual alphabet in sequence (A through Z) as the structural spine of a narrative; number stories use numeral handshapes in order instead.

ASL poetry exploits phonological parameters (handshape, location, movement) as rhyme and rhythm: repeated handshapes or movements function as rhyme, and spatial symmetry and repetition create meter.

Notable ASL literary figures include Clayton Valli (poet and linguist known for 'Dandelion' and analysis of ASL poetry), Ella Mae Lentz, Patrick Graybill, and Ben Bahan (storyteller and scholar).

Discourse features of ASL include the use of signing space for referent tracking, constructed action/dialogue (role shift), cohesive devices such as referent establishment and reintroduction, and discourse markers (e.g., 'WELL', 'FINISH' as a boundary marker).

Narrative structure in ASL storytelling often uses a high degree of constructed dialogue and classifier predicates to depict events visually; the storyteller shifts among characters rather than reporting them in third person.

Deaf cultural products include Deaf theater (e.g., National Theatre of the Deaf), Deaf film and vlogs, Deaf art (De'VIA), and ASL storytelling traditions passed down in residential schools and Deaf clubs.

Interpreting literary ASL requires attention to form-meaning interplay (rhyme, rhythm, visual imagery) that literal glossing loses; literary analysis of ASL attends to both content and formational structure.

Deaf culture is a distinct cultural group defined by shared signed language, values, behavioral norms, and identity, not by audiological status alone; 'Deaf' (capitalized) refers to cultural identity, 'deaf' (lowercase) to audiological condition.

Key historical figures: Laurent Clerc (deaf French teacher who co-founded the first US school for the deaf with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet in 1817 in Hartford); Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet; Alice Cogswell, whose deafness prompted the school's founding.

The 1880 Milan Congress resolved to promote oral education and discouraged sign language in schools, a decision that suppressed ASL in many educational settings for decades and is a pivotal event in Deaf history.

William Stokoe's 1960 work 'Sign Language Structure' established that ASL has linguistic structure (phonology, morphology, syntax), legitimizing ASL as a language and founding ASL linguistics.

The 1988 Deaf President Now (DPN) protest at Gallaudet University demanded a deaf president; it resulted in I. King Jordan becoming the first deaf president and is a landmark of Deaf self-determination.

Deaf community institutions include residential schools for the deaf, Deaf clubs, Deaf churches, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD, founded 1880), and Deaflympics; these sustain language transmission and cultural continuity.

Cultural values commonly cited include collectivism and mutual support, direct communication, visual attention and eye contact, and pride in signed language; norms around attention-getting (tapping, waving, flashing lights) reflect visual culture.

De'VIA (Deaf View/Image Art) is an art movement articulating Deaf experience; the 1989 'Deaf Way' conference and the 1989 declaration of De'VIA are frequently cited markers of Deaf cultural self-representation.

ASL shows regional variation (lexical differences by region, e.g., signs for 'birthday' or 'Halloween'), social variation (by age, ethnicity, gender, and educational background), and stylistic/register variation (formal to casual).

Black ASL is a recognized variety with documented distinctive features (e.g., use of larger signing space, two-handed variants, different lexical items), studied by Carolyn McCaskill and colleagues; it reflects segregation-era school segregation.

Phonological variation includes handshape variation (e.g., '1' vs. 'L' handshape variants in some signs), location lowering, and movement reduction in casual signing; these are systematic, not errors.

Lexical borrowing from English occurs via fingerspelling, initialization, and loan translations; fingerspelling is nativized into ASL phonology (e.g., handshape and movement changes in lexicalized fingerspelling such as #JOB, #BACK).

Code-switching and code-blending occur in bilingual Deaf communities; language attitudes toward signing, speech, and simultaneous communication vary and are socially meaningful.

Language contact with English also produces Signed English systems (e.g., SEE, Signed Exact English), which are manually coded English, not ASL; they differ in grammar and are not dialects of ASL.

Sociolinguistic variation is conditioned by audience, topic, and setting: signers may shift toward more English-like or more ASL-like forms depending on interlocutors, a phenomenon analogous to register shifting.

Variationist methods (e.g., studying variation by region, age, race, and school background) show ASL is not monolithic; teaching should acknowledge regional and social variants rather than treat one variety as 'correct'.

Communicative and proficiency-oriented approaches prioritize meaningful interaction in ASL; grammar is taught in context rather than through isolated drill, consistent with second-language acquisition research.

The ACTFL World-Readiness Standards (the 5 Cs: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, Communities) and the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, Distinguished) frame ASL curriculum design and goal-setting.

ASLTA (American Sign Language Teachers Association) provides professional standards and certification for ASL teachers; teacher preparation includes linguistics, culture, and pedagogy coursework.

Lesson design commonly uses backward design (identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, plan learning experiences) and thematic units integrating language functions, contexts, and cultural content.

Comprehensible input and visual accessibility are central: instruction uses gestures, visuals, repetition, and contextualized language; avoiding English translation as the primary medium supports ASL development.

Assessment-aligned instruction includes interpretive (receptive), interpersonal (interactive), and presentational (expressive) communication modes; tasks should mirror real communicative purposes.

Classroom management in signing classrooms uses visual attention strategies (lights, waving, tapping), and seating/lighting arrangements must support sightlines for all students.

Cultural content is integral, not supplementary: units on Deaf history, De'VIA, Deaf community norms, and ASL literature build intercultural competence alongside linguistic proficiency.

Assessment modes: receptive/interpretive (comprehension of signed texts), expressive/presentational (production), and interactive/interpersonal (conversation); each requires separate tasks and criteria.

Proficiency assessment tools for ASL include the ASL Proficiency Interview (ASLPI) and the Sign Language Proficiency Interview (SLPI), which rate functional communication on a scale; the ACTFL scale is also applied.

Rubrics for expressive ASL typically address grammar (use of space, verb agreement, nonmanual markers), vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and cultural appropriateness; scoring should be analytic and criterion-referenced.

Reliability and validity concerns: rater training and calibration, multiple raters, recorded samples, and standardized prompts reduce rater bias; assessment should measure what was taught (construct alignment).

Ethical and professional issues include confidentiality of student records, informed consent for recording, appropriate use of interpreters, and avoiding conflict of interest in evaluation.

Certification and professional bodies: ASLTA for teachers, RID (Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf) for interpreters, and state licensure/credentialing requirements for ASL teachers vary by jurisdiction.

Legal and policy context in the US: the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) affect access and educational placement; Section 504 also applies.

Program evaluation and placement: valid placement tests, articulation agreements between high school and college ASL programs, and alignment with state world-language standards support student progression and credit recognition.