Languages are essential in everyday life; it has communicative and social functions. Language varies depending on the culture. No language is greater than another, for there are many ways to communicate. Unfortunately, many people do not feel the same way.
We operate from an ethnocentric point of view. In terms of language, a plethora of people do not consider sign language as a language because talking is not involved. For those who do not know, deaf people use sign language to communicate, and it is a part of the Deaf Culture.
Many people fail to recognize that sign language is a language; unlike most languages, sign language is a visional language. Communicative competence is understanding the language and using the language properly. There is more to sign language than moving your hands around. Sign language follows the four rules that determine if something is a language: phonology, morpheme, syntax and arbitrary.
Phonology deals with the element our sound. There isn't sound involved in sign language. Your hands are important in sign language because that's how one communicates in sign language. These are some of the things to consider with phonology: handshape, hand location, hand movement and palm orientation (which way the palm is facing).
Morpheme, on the other hand, is the smallest unit of sound that makes the word. For example: "sitting in a chair" and just "chair" in ASL are the same sign, but one has to understand the context of the conversation to know what word is being used. To deepen the understanding, you can think of it like homographs in English. The words look the same but sound different and have different meanings For example, "you can resume the game now," versus "I need to update my resume."
Syntax is the sentence structure. To someone who doesn't know sign language, it can look like someone just throwing random hand signs, but there's an actual formula to it. In American Sign Language specifically, it follows this structure: subject, verb then object.
What is unique about sign language, is that it includes spatial syntax; it's another step within syntax. Spatial syntax entails where one puts their hand when signing. Hand placement is crucial in sign language -- where you place your hand can change the word or meaning entirely.
Sign language is arbitrary. As mentioned, hands are used in sign language. In addition to hands, one needs to use their face to communicate their messages. Facial expressions help give the message more emotion and emphasize the message. To help one understand this, you can think about how we tend to smile when we are happy and telling someone exciting news!
Sign Language can be a complex language at first but once you understand it, then it is simple. Yes, ASL does not have any spoken words but it is still a language; sign language is a visual language. I cannot emphasize this enough.
