In spoken English, meaning is produced by a series of words "produced by actions within the vocal tract that result in sounds perceived through audition," whereas in ASL, meaning is produced by using signs "produced by actions of the hands, arms, face, and head that produce signs perceived visually.
Because of their distinctly separate origins, the methods ASL utilizes to convey meaning are entirely different from the methods employed in English speaking. Some who have not studied ASL may mistakenly think that its sign sequences are patterned after spoken English sentences, but since the two languages are independent of one another, they are entirely unique. In spoken English, meaning is produced by a series of words "produced by actions within the vocal tract that result in sounds perceived through audition," whereas in ASL, meaning is produced by using signs "produced by actions of the hands, arms, face, and head that produce signs perceived visually." Because of this distinction, ASL is able to express meaning in ways that spoken English cannot. This has lead ASL to develop different methods of expression (Liddell 2003).
These differing methods have manifested themselves in many facets of dialog. For example, pluralization is often expressed in spoken English through the adding of prefixes and suffixes. While this does occur in ASL, it is very rare, as it can also be done so many other ways, such as signing a quantifier sign, reduplicating the sign, or incorporating a number directly into the sign. Time is also expressed differently in ASL. In English, tenses are amended to verbs to indicate when they occurred; in ASL there is an "imaginary time line running from behind the speaker's body (the past) [...] out away from the body stretching into the future." This line can be used to demonstrate that the sign being performed relates to a specific point in time (Costello 1994).
One of the reasons for the confusion surrounding ASL's identity is the practice of glossing signs with English words. While a necessary and useful translation method, assigned word glosses are often "inadequate and approximate," as so much of the meaning surrounding a sign depends on the context in which it is placed. Furthermore, word glosses may "mislead one to suppose that the sign and word are grammatical as well as semantic counterparts," but this would be an incorrect assumption, as ASL uses "a different system of syntax." Word order between spoken English and ASL differs significantly, so much so that there is a distinction drawn between ASL and "Signed English" (Valli, Clayton, Lucas, Mulrooney 2005).
Signed English is a way of using gestures and signs to "represent specific English words." It closely follows spoken English syntax and style; incorporates ASL signs wherever possible; and invents signs for words that don't exist in ASL such as "the," "an," and "a." Any other word can be communicated through the use of fingerspelling. Signed English is frequently used as a way for ASL signers to communicate with others who may be less familiar with ASL and its divergent syntax. While Signed English and ASL share many of the same signs, there is a distinct difference between the two: Signed English is a variation of English expressed visually, while ASL is its own language (Bornstein, Luczak, Saulnier, Hamilton, and Miller 1983).
