What is SASL?

SASL is a visual-spatial language used by the Deaf Community of South

Africa to communicate with one another. SASL is a natural language that
is equivalent with spoken languages that allows the users the opportunity
to learn and communicate and to express thoughts, feelings and abstract
ideas. “Sign language arise spontaneously wherever Deaf people have an
opportunity to meet regularly. They are acquired by children raised in
Deaf families without instruction, similar to that of hearing children
acquiring spoken language. Sign language appears as effortless and as
user-friendly as its spoken counterparts.” (Sandler and Lillo Martin, 2006).
According to Sutton-Spencer and Woll (1999), “SASL is the natural
language of signs that has developed in South Africa over centuries. It is
the language used by the SA Deaf community.” It is a language that is
perceived through the eyes (visually) and not through the ears (aurally).
That explains the “visual” nature of SASL.

“Sign language is a real language, equivalent to any other language. Deaf persons can
sign about any topic, concrete or abstract as economically and as effectively, as rapidly
and as grammatical as hearing people can. Sign language is influenced by equivalent
historical social and psychological factors as spoken language – there are rules for
attention-seeking, turn-taking, story-telling, there are jokes, puns, and taboo signs,
there are generational effects observed in Sign language and metaphors and ‘slips-of-
the-hand’” (Penn, 1993. p12)
All local/regional language variations (dialects) of SASL are acceptable as part of the richness of the language.
SASL is not yet accepted as an official language of SA although the South African School’s Act (November, 1996)
states that, “A recognised Sign Language has the status of an official language for purposes of learning at public
school” (Chapter 2, 6,4). Civil society organisations continue to lobby for the recognition of language rights of
Deaf people/learners.
SASL uses a different modality to spoken languages with meaning being made by non-verbal forms of
communication including movement of the hands, upper body and face. What is “gestural”? The signs are
gestural in nature as they are made up of precise, regular, rule governed body movements.
Signs in SASL are made up of five parameters: handshapes, location, movement, palm orientation and the non-
manual features (NMF) such as specific facial expressions that carry important grammatical information. SASL
has its own distinct linguistic structure that includes syntax, morphology, phonology and language conventions. It
is not based on any written or spoken language. Fingerspelling is not signed language, but is used by signers to
represent the written form when needed.

Where SASL is chosen as a subject, the time allocation in Signing (the skill) versus signing (the action). Where
SASL GLOSS (the signs represented in English written form) is used, it is presented in upper case as per
convention.
 SASL Skills:

CAPS – SASL Skills

Observing and Signing This is done with live/recorded signing
of a variety of signed texts

Parameters (phonological awareness) 5 Parameters

Visual Reading and Viewing Recorded SASL material is used.

Recording
Language Structure and conventions
Receptive and Expressive skills
Signed texts are recorded and
presented by students
These skills are taught to be integrated
into the skills above
 What is Language?
•Language is a system of symbols and
grammatical signs
•Language changes over time
•Language is being used and shared by
members of a community
Symbols
 Systems

Vowels + Consonants = words

Handshapes + Location + Palm

Orientation + Movement + Non-Manual
Features = Sign
Grammatical Signs
 Sign Language - Iconic
Iconic forms in SASL are created when a mental image
associated with an original concept is selected for a sign.
The image is schematized so that it can be represented in
the language. In the process, the essential features are
kept and the unnecessary ones are dropped. It does not
matter how many legs the giraffe has or how many spots.
The image is encoded, using the appropriate aspects of
SASL, such as the forearm and the ‘pinched-ily’
handshape. The result is an iconic sign. (English: Sound of
a cat “moew” is iconic as it symbolises some aspect of the
thing or activity that it represents, linguistic form is an icon
or representation of some aspect of an entity or activity.)
Signed Language – Arbitrary/Abstract
• The term ‘arbitrary’ refers to the fact that the meaning is not in any
way predictable from the form, nor is the form dictated by the
meaning.
• Example the sign WHEN the movement or location has no meaning
linked to the sign.
• SASL is arbitrary in nature as it is a real language and not a collection
of “pictures in the air” (Clayton Vali, Ceil Lucas et al. 2011)
 What is language used for?
• Interaction
• Communicating ideas, emotions and intentions
• Passing on of culture between generations
Spoken Language SASL
Conveyed acoustically – mouth and Conveyed visual-gesturally
ear
System System
Symbols – Arbitrary and iconic Symbols – Arbitrary and iconic
Grammatical Signs – Relationship Grammatical Signs – Relationship
between symbols between symbols
Dialect (used by the community) Dialect (used by the community)

Changes over time Changes over time

Linguistically: Rich and Complex Linguistically: Rich and Complex

Thus: SASL is a fully fledged language and not miming!!!

 What SASL is not?
• Gestures
• A universal language - Sign language is not a universal language where
Deaf people use a universal communication system. Sign language, like
spoken languages are unique and culture bound. There are differences
in sign language from country to country, the majority of Deaf people
communicate quite easily in sign language in other countries.
Why?
• Because sign language are all visual, and the structure and grammar is
the same.
• Deaf people are often better at adapting their language use and
learning new languages that hearing people are.