Practice question · True or false
American Sign Language and British Sign Language are mutually intelligible, since both serve English-speaking countries.
Hints
- Ask what a signed language's history actually follows.
- ASL is historically related to French Sign Language.
Show the answer
False
Why
False, and the reason is the interesting part. Signed languages inherit from whoever taught whom, not from the surrounding spoken language: ASL descends in part from French Sign Language through the founding of deaf education in the United States, so it is closer to LSF than to BSL, and ASL and BSL signers cannot understand one another.
Practise Signed Languages
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More questions on Signed Languages
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