THE ABUNDANCE OF VISUAL IMAGERY IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE

Imagine that you are taking part in a conversation using American Sign Language (ASL), the language of the American Deaf community. You are about to see an integration of visual imagery with linguistic structure on a scale that no spoken language can equal.

The signer is telling you about her kitchen. She sketches the four walls in space, then quickly identifies the appliances and furnishings. As she names each one – refrigerator, sink, cabinets, and so on – she places it within the sketched outline of the kitchen, punctuating each placement with a special head nod. Before long, a virtual map of the room floats in the space between you.

Now the signer is describing a conversation she had with her six-year-old son. She names her son and points to a spot on her right. Her body shifts to face rightward and her signing angles down toward where a six-year-old's face and body would be, as she reports how she asked her son to get her a towel; then her body shifts to face upward to the left as she gives his assent. The relative heights and locations of the signer and her son are clear to your mind's eye.

The woman goes on to describe how her son ran about the house to find the towel. Her index finger is extended upward from her fist, and she traces a complex path through the air with that handshape.