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Does American Sign Language Really Have Accents?



The American Sign Language (ASL) traces its ancestry straight back to the Nineteenth century in France. And also like any spoken or signed language, ASL has developed as time passes to reflect users’ regional and cultural distinctions.


American Sign Language is not a rendition of English. Instead, it is a distinctive language that has its own grammar, pronunciation, sentence structures, idioms and word formation. Similar to other natural languages, ASL has evolved spontaneously in humans via extended utilization and repetition without conscious planning. It’s the principal sign language utilized by Hard of Hearing and Deaf people in the United States and the most of English-speaking Canada. ASL is a complete, structured visual language with both manual and non-manual features.


Speakers of American Sign Language generally have their accents or communication patterns. And similar to every other languages, ASL is characterized by regional variations and shifts in tone. In sign language, an accent or style is detectable in exactly how words are signed in different ways. It’s a lexical variation, similar to how certain US residents say “pop” while others say “soda” when mentioning a soft drink.


Cultural and Regional Variants of American Sign Language


Individuals that use spoken languages have got different accents or variations in the way they speak based upon where they are coming from. Additionally, even within one country, people’s accents change from region to region. As an example, in the United States, people from New York have New York accents, and those coming from the South have Southern accents. Likewise, accents, often known as styles, occur in ASL.


An individual’s ASL accent or style varies according to their gestures, expressions, behaviors, speed of execution, phrases, and hand movements. ASL accents, as a whole, are influenced by users’ age level, physical condition, place of birth, culture, and use of slang and idioms. An experienced ASL user can regularly identify what location or culture an individual is from depending on how they sign.


Black American Sign Language (BASL)

This language developed because US schools for the Deaf in the late 19th century didn't acknowledge Black students. So, BASL emerged from the Black culture in order to meet the students’ needs. It includes Black idioms and slang along with conventional ASL elements.


Regional ASL Styles or Accents

In the degree of word meaning, the exact same signed notion in ASL can imply different things in several parts of the United States. As an example, within the western states, particularly California, the B hand shape, with the palm held outward and shaken up and down, signifies the city of Berkeley. In contrast, this sign usually means the city of Boston within the eastern states.


Northeastern ASL Accents/Styles

New York - Very much like their Hearing counterparts, Deaf/HoH ASL users from New York City sign rapidly. ASL users coming from New York sign a lot quicker and employ various body language and facial expressions compared to those from other areas of the United States. Furthermore, they use New York slang and are also inclined to implement more profanity!


Philadelphia - The Philadelphia region features some unusual signs because of the city’s long reputation of educating Deaf/HoH people to communicate through speech and lip-reading. They have developed a number of home-grown signs that have become a part of that region’s ASL accent or style.


Southern ASL Accent/Style

Southern ASL users express their signs to mimic the well-known Southern drawl. Southerners additionally touch their chests and the lower section of their faces more often when signing, and these gestures have grown to be part of the South’s ASL accent or style.


Midwestern ASL Accent/Style

Whilst signers from the Northeast are generally quick with their signing and Southerners are slow and meticulous, Midwesterners are somewhere in the middle. To illustrate, American Sign Language users from Ohio are generally calm and relaxed with regards to their signing, not very fast or too slow.


The Effect of ASL Accents/Styles on Communication

Accents reflect people’s unique history, and many are proud of their accents and style. Nevertheless, as with spoken English, possessing a distinct ASL accent might cause difficulties in communicating with other native users in educational, work and social settings.


Therefore, some ASL users adapt and modify or eliminate their accents to improve signed communication skills. Another method in addressing this problem is thru standardization of ASL to help users communicate better.




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