Language Instruction and the Name of ASL
(Continued from page 2)
(3) Simultaneous Method, (4) Fingerspelling, and (5) Manual English, which are used both in
combination and separately” (O’Rourke, 1973, 2nd ed., p. vii).
I was fortunate to have our President, Sam Supalla share some of his experiences with me. He
explained that Mr. Fant who wrote the first official ASL textbook was employed as a faculty member at
California State University at Northridge (CSUN). Dr. Supalla enrolled at CSUN in 1976 and had the
opportunity of knowing Mr. Fant. Dr. Supalla showed me the sign that was created specifically for
Ameslan. Dr. Supalla went on to explain that “I remember when I first came to CSUN, everybody was
signing Ameslan. I believe no one is using Ameslan now” (June 1 & July 14, 2016). A-S-L is now the
preferred fingerspelled version among signers. The illustration for the sign Ameslan is:
For myself, I found Mr. Fant’s textbook to be fascinating. Mr. Fant described the makeup and the
purpose of his textbook:
This book is not a dictionary of signs. There are around 375 signs covered in [14] lessons, and
that comprises a small portion of the several thousand signs of Ameslan. The objective of this
book is not to teach signs, but rather how to put signs together the way deaf people do. That is,
after all, what is involved in learning a language. This book is not concerned with vocabulary
development, but with the structure of the language. Vocabulary growth comes with
communication with deaf people. (p. vi)
Throughout the textbook, Mr. Fant photographed himself making signs. He may use one, two, or
more black and white photos in sequence for the signs. All of the photos were strictly stationary with no
use of arrows for movement (see next page).
(Continued to page 5)
The Power of ASL
4
Fall 2016 – Issue 3