American Deaf Culture

What is American Sign Language (ASL)?

• visual form of English

• a language capable of expressing abstract ideas

• a language using picture-like gesture to express ideas and concepts

• a language that relies on mime

Historically, American Sign Language is related to

• Swedish Sign Language

• German Sign language

• British Sign Language

• French Sign Language

American Sign Language is used by most Deaf people in which of the following countries?

• United States

• France

• Mexico

• England

Approximately what percent of Deaf people who marry are married to other Deaf people?

• 75 percent

• 10 percent

• 90 percent

• 50 percent

American Sign Language is traditionally handed down from generation to generation through:

• Deaf family members

• Deaf adults in the community

• Sign Language teachers

• classroom teachers

The role of facial expressions, head movements, and eye gaze in American Sign Language is primarily:

• emotive

• stylistic

• grammatical

While watching another person sign, it is appropriate to focus on the signer’s:

• hands

• face

• chest area

Among ASL signers, fingerspelling is mainly used in what ways?

• interchangeably with any sign

• as an artistic form of signing

• to specify brand names, to give names to people and places

American Sign Language makes use of the space in front of a signer’s body to

• convey distance

• contrast two people, places, things, or ideas

• express time concepts

• indicate sentence types

To get the attention of a Deaf person who is looking the other way, you should:

• yell as loud as you can

• wave in his/her face

• go around and stand in front of the person

• tap him/her on the shoulder