4 ms·

ASL is based on French, so the structure is completely different.

• giraffe_lady 4y ago
  ASL is not based on french either. It's related to LSF, the sign language used in france, but that also isn't based on french. The modern sign languages emerged among deaf populations and have completely different grammar and morphology from the spoken languages of the cultures surrounding their origins.
  • metal_am 4y ago
    Thank you for correcting me. That's a deep rabbit hole
    • TRiG_Ireland 4y ago
      Spoken languages are linear. Sign languages are not. The grammar is very different. Sign languages have multiple articulators: two hands, face, eye gaze direction, shoulders, trunk. These can all work together to show multiple things at the same time. Spoken languages can really do only one thing at a time (with a few minor suprasegmentals such as tone). You can construct a signed version of a spoken language, which may be useful for things like quoting book titles and other cases where you need to represent the exact words of a spoken language in signed form, but it's not common to use that for everyday communication, because the hands move a lot slower than the small muscles of the mouth and throat. (Linguistics is a fascination of mine. Sign language linguistics are especially interesting.)