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What Sign Language Is and Why People Use It

Sign language is a visual way of communicating using hand shapes, positions, movements, and facial expressions. Unlike spoken language that relies on sound, sign language conveys meaning through the hands and body. Many people associate sign language primarily with deaf communities, and while it is indeed the primary language for approximately 70 million deaf people worldwide, sign language serves many other purposes too.

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According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, about 1 in 1,000 American adults are profoundly deaf, while approximately 5 in 1,000 are deaf or hard of hearing. Beyond deaf populations, sign language is used by hearing children of deaf parents, interpreters, educators, healthcare providers, family members, and people interested in learning a second language. In 2022, the Linguistic Society of America recognized sign languages as fully developed natural languages with their own grammar and syntax rules—not a simple pantomime or simplified version of spoken language.

Each country typically has its own sign language. American Sign Language (ASL), used in the United States and parts of Canada, is completely different from British Sign Language (BSL), French Sign Language (LSF), or Japanese Sign Language (JSL). This means someone fluent in ASL cannot automatically understand another country's sign language.

Sign language contains regional variations and dialects, much like spoken languages do. An ASL user from New York might sign certain words differently than someone from California. Additionally, sign language includes variations within deaf communities themselves, with some signs being older or newer depending on when people learned them and from whom.

Practical Takeaway: Understanding that sign language is a complete, legitimate language system—not a code or gesture system—is fundamental before beginning to learn. Recognize that learning sign language takes comparable time and effort as learning any spoken foreign language.

The Fundamentals of American Sign Language Grammar and Structure

American Sign Language operates with different grammatical rules than English. In English, we typically follow a Subject-Verb-Object word order (like "She eats an apple"). ASL often uses a Subject-Object-Verb or Topic-Comment structure. For example, to say "I eat an apple," an ASL signer might sign APPLE, then I-EAT (focusing on the apple first, then the action). This difference surprises many new learners accustomed to English patterns.

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Facial expressions and body movements are grammatical components in ASL, not just emotional add-ons. Raising your eyebrows while signing a question is grammatically required—it marks that you're asking a question rather than making a statement. Tilting your head, puffing your cheeks, or tensing your shoulders all carry grammatical meaning. These non-manual markers are so integral to ASL that signing without them is considered grammatically incomplete, similar to how omitting a verb in English makes a sentence incomplete.

ASL uses what linguists call "spatial grammar." Signers establish locations in the signing space to represent different people, objects, or concepts. If you're telling a story about two people having a conversation, you might establish one person on your left and another on your right in the signing space. When reporting what the left person said, you angle your body toward that location. This allows signers to show complex relationships and perspectives without constantly repeating names or pronouns.

Classifiers are another important grammatical feature. These are hand shapes that represent categories of objects or beings. For instance, the "5 handshape" (all fingers extended) can represent people standing, while the "V handshape" (two fingers extended) can represent two people. Signers use these classifiers to show movement, location, and interaction. When describing how a car travels down a road, a signer would use a hand shape representing a car and move it along an imaginary road in the signing space.

Tense in ASL doesn't always require a verb form change like English does. Instead, signers often establish time at the beginning of a conversation (signing "YESTERDAY" or "NEXT-WEEK") and then don't need to repeat it for every verb. However, signers can also use specific spatial and temporal markers near the body to indicate when something happened—movements toward the back indicate past time, movements forward indicate future time.

Practical Takeaway: Accept that ASL has its own logical structure rather than trying to force English grammar onto it. Pay attention to facial expressions and body position as meaningful grammatical elements, not mere decoration.

Learning the Handshapes and Hand Positions

The foundation of sign language learning begins with handshapes. There are approximately 19 basic handshapes in ASL, though some linguists identify up to 30 when including variations. Each handshape has a name. The "A handshape" looks like a closed fist (thumb on the side), the "B handshape" looks like an open hand with fingers straight, and the "5handshape" has all fingers spread open. Learning these shapes is like learning the alphabet in spoken languages.

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Hand position refers to where in the signing space your hands are located when making a sign. Signs can be made at the forehead level (for concepts related to thinking, like UNDERSTAND or REMEMBER), at mouth level (for concepts related to communication, like TALK or SAY), at chest level (for emotions, like LOVE or HEART), or at waist level (for actions or objects below the waist). This is not random—many signs with related meanings are signed in consistent locations. Learning the location patterns helps learners understand and remember signs more effectively.

Hand orientation describes which direction the palm faces and which way the fingers point. The same handshape and position can produce different signs depending on orientation. The sign BOOK uses a B handshape with palms facing each other, starting together and opening like an open book. Reversing the orientation changes the meaning entirely. This is why beginners must carefully observe and replicate hand orientation.

Movement is the fourth component of sign formation. Signs move in specific ways—some have repeated movement, some have single movement, some have circular movement, and some have no movement at all. The sign LEARN has hands starting at the temple and moving downward, while the sign UNDERSTAND has a hand moving up from the temple. Similar movements with different hand positions or locations create different signs.

Many resources present these five components (handshape, location, orientation, movement, and sometimes a sixth component called "non-manual markers") as the building blocks of all signs. Learning individual signs involves understanding how each component works together. Online resources, YouTube videos, and sign language dictionaries break down signs into these components, allowing learners to understand why signs look the way they do rather than simply memorizing hand movements.

Practical Takeaway: Study sign components systematically rather than trying to memorize random hand movements. Use online sign dictionaries that show these components from multiple angles to understand how signs are constructed.

Free Resources and Where to Study Sign Language

Numerous institutions and organizations offer sign language instruction without cost. YouTube contains thousands of sign language teaching channels with videos ranging from basic alphabet lessons to conversation tutorials. Channels like "Learn Sign Language with Alex and Edith" provide lessons organized by difficulty level, with many videos offering English subtitles and clear demonstrations from multiple angles. The platform allows learners to pause, rewind, and rewatch as many times as needed without paying subscription fees.

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Universities often make educational content publicly available through platforms like Coursera and edX, including sign language courses from institutions such as Gallaudet University (the world's premier deaf university) and the University of Texas at Austin. While some courses charge fees for official certificates, the course materials themselves are frequently viewable without payment. Learners can watch lectures, view demonstrations, and access learning materials for foundational knowledge.

The Deaf Community and Service Center in many cities offers community events where hearing people can learn sign language informally while interacting with deaf community members. These gatherings, often called "sign language socials" or "deaf cafes," provide free or low-cost opportunities to practice with native signers. The ASL Connect website has a directory of such community events organized by location.

Library systems frequently provide sign language instruction through programs and classes. Many public libraries partner with community organizations to offer sign language classes, sometimes with no cost to library cardholders. Some libraries maintain collections of sign language instructional books and DVDs that members can borrow. Libraries also often have computers with internet access for those wanting to use online resources.

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD