Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 22, 1990 TAG: 9005220447
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ASL is a visual-gestural language, which is indigenous to the American deaf community and is an integral component of deaf culture. As a recognized language, ASL has its own linguistic components that are influenced by ASL's visual-gestural aspects, thereby making difficult its comparison to spoken English.
On the other hand (no pun intended), MCE is a manual code that represents English in a visual manner. It is not a language; it is a code that borrows both from spoken English grammar and ASL sign vocabulary, and combines to make English visible on the hands.
ASL is more concept-based. It uses a "topic-comment" structure (often found in Spanish, French, etc.), while MCE tends to use English word order and is often signed word-for-word.
Regarding the point that ASL is "less formal and more conversational," it should be emphasized that ASL, like other languages, has varying levels of formality. It is a valid language with a range of formality to fit appropriate situations.
To make it seem less than so, as is implied in your article, denigrates the status of ASL as a language.
\ DAWN SHEPHERD\ TODD KING\ CONNIE WILKINSON\ RITA LYONS\ DUBLIN
Editor's note: This letter was signed also by five other members of the ASL linguistics class of the interpreter-training program at New River Community College.
by CNB