🤟 Sign Language Basics (ASL)

What you’ll learn

1. What ASL Really IsUnderstand that ASL is a complete, independent natural language and how its signs are structured.ASL is a full natural language with its own grammar and vocabulary, not signed English and not universal, more closely related to French than British Sign Language. Signs are built from parameters like handshape, location, movement, orientation, and non-manual markers, and the face carries grammar. ASL uses space itself as part of its grammar.
2. Fingerspelling the AlphabetLearn what fingerspelling is, when signers use it, and how to form and read it clearly.The American manual alphabet is one-handed, used for names, technical terms, and words without a sign, not for every word. Name signs are personal signs given by Deaf people. Clear fingerspelling requires a steady hand, even pace, and awareness of look-alike letters like A, S, and T.
3. Your First SignsProduce a set of essential first signs and a basic self-introduction.Learn everyday signs: HELLO, GOODBYE, THANK YOU, PLEASE, SORRY, YES, NO, and HELP, plus NAME, MEET, and NICE for introductions. Pronouns are made by pointing at people, things, or spaces. HELP shows ASL's directional grammar by aiming toward giver or receiver.
4. Counting and NumbersSign the numbers one through ten correctly and understand how larger numbers work.Numbers one through five face the palm inward; six through nine touch thumb to a finger with palm outward; ten is a shaken thumbs-up. Larger numbers follow systematic patterns, and ages, time, money, and phone numbers have their own conventions. Practicing numbers in real contexts aids recall.
5. How ASL Sentences WorkUnderstand ASL's core grammar: topic-comment order, tense, question marking, and directional and classifier verbs.ASL often uses topic-comment structure, sets time at the start rather than inflecting verbs, and marks questions with the eyebrows and face. Directional verbs move through space to show who acts on whom, and classifiers are handshapes that depict how objects move and relate, giving ASL rich descriptive power.
6. Deaf Culture and EtiquetteUnderstand Deaf cultural identity and the etiquette of interacting respectfully with Deaf people.Capital-D 'Deaf' names a cultural and linguistic identity centered on ASL and community pride. Etiquette includes polite attention-getting like a shoulder tap or light flick, keeping sight lines clear, addressing Deaf people directly through interpreters, and not assuming lipreading. Deaf culture has rich storytelling, theater, and institutions.
7. Stokoe and ASL's HistoryKnow the key history of ASL, including its founders, the oralist suppression, and Stokoe's linguistic breakthrough.Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Deaf teacher Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf in 1817, seeding ASL from French Sign Language. Oralism, marked by the 1880 Congress of Milan, suppressed signing, but ASL survived. William Stokoe's 1960s work proved ASL a genuine language, and the 1988 Deaf President Now protest advanced Deaf self-determination.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• Gallaudet University
• National Association of the Deaf
• Linguistic Society of America
• Library of Congress

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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