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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The issue is that language has four elements--comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. ASL only has two of those elements. You can't really read or write in ASL. That is why it does not satisfy the FL requirement at a lot colleges.

I grew up in a deaf family so have been signing since birth. I also took Spanish in high school and college. As a native English speaker, I would argue that ASL is a much easier language to learn than Spanish, French, etc. because of the reading/writing.

Whether or not ASL is more useful than a foreign language is another issue but that's very dependent on the person. Of course, ASL was essential to me in the first 35 years of my life but now that my deaf family members have passed away, I find that knowing even basic Spanish is much more useful.

[/quote]

I think it is interesting that you say a language has 4 elements.  I looked up the definition of a language.  There are several, but I have never seen four elements required.  ASL would not meet every definition, but it would meet several.  I would argue there is not a universal definition of a language requiring these four elements.  Under many of the definitions I saw, ASL was every bit as much of a Language as French.  Would you argue that indigenous languages with no written complement are not languages?  I believe your definition is too narrow and European focused.[/quote]

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