american sign language

I was on Goodreads today, looking for new books to download on my new toy (Remember Valentine’s Day?). When I was reading reviews for Marlee Matlin’s autobiography, I’ll Scream Later, this comment was on the first page:

A Review of Marlee Matlin's "I'll Scream Later."

Forget the last paragraph. Of course she’s entitled to her opinion. My concern is about halfway through the first paragraph where she starts talking about the difference between Signed Exact English (SEE) and American Sign Language (ASL). She states that SEE is a more precise form of sign and ASL is like a shorthand version. She also uses this as an argument to support her theory of why the writing is “less descriptive” than other memoirs and why it’s “short and to the point.”

Friends, family, and random people who’ve accidentally stumbled across my blog (welcome!), if any of you share in this misconception of ASL being a signed, shorthand version of English, the reason I’m writing this is to correct you: It’s not. I don’t know where she got her “outside research,” but ASL does more than convey “general ideas.” ASL is a natural and organic language, separate from English, capable of description, and can convey any abstract idea your little heart desires. This was the reply I wrote on the website, which is short and to the point (short and to the point in English? No!)

My Reply

In retrospect, I would have worded it a little differently, but you get the idea (also, I know this review didn’t say anything specifically about the fastness of one over the other, but there was another comment just above mine that did. This person also didn’t understand the difference between ASL and signed English).

As far as Marlee choosing to write (in the above reviewer’s opinion) everything to the point and without description, that may have been influenced by the cultural bluntness that generally comes with the Deaf crowd. But my bet is that it was more of a stylistic choice that she thought would most effectively illustrate her life experiences.

As a side note, let me point out that there are two different forms of signed English that aren’t ASL: PSE and SEE. The reviewer doesn’t say specifically which one she’s referring to, but her description leads me to lean toward SEE, so that’s what I went with. Either way, ASL is still a natural language, while both forms of signed English are not.

In case you’re interested, here’s a video illustrating the differences between the three forms of sign using the story “The Three Little Pigs.” Even if you’re unfamiliar with signing, I think it’s still pretty easy to see how they differ. The kid in the black shirt is in SEE, the purple shirt PSE, and the grey shirt ASL.