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American Sign Language Recognized as a Language
Although American Sign Language has been used by many generations of Deaf people, there was no official recognition of the language until early 1960’s. At the turn of the 19th century, when oral communication method was strictly used and expected in academic environments, Deaf people discreetly used the language to communicate as it allowed them to naturally express themselves.
Upon his arrival to Gallaudet College in 1955, William Stokoe, a linguistic scholar, proposed that ASL was, in fact, a fully formed human language. He set about devising a descriptive system for the language that could be used to demonstrate this point to other linguists and the general public. This work culminated in the first modern linguistic treatment of a signed language, Sign Language Structure, published in 1960. This was followed by a number of other publications and, in 1965 by the first dictionary of ASL that Stokoe compiled with two Deaf colleagues at Gallaudet, and, in 1971, by the Linguistic Research Laboratory at Gallaudet University.
The recognition of American Sign Language has now become widespread. ASL is said to now be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States. 1 It is the first language of many Deaf North Americans, and one of several communication options available to Deaf people.
