A Re-Analysis of the Creole Status of American Sign Language

The claim that American Sign Language (ASL) has creole origins or remains a creole is examined from a creolist perspective. Applying criteria based on the work of a number of creole researchers we find that the evidence for creole origins of ASL fails to meet any usual definition of a creole. Lexical and morphosyntactic similarities between ASL and other signed languages (especially French Sign Language) are discussed in terms of lexical borrowing and the characteristics unique to the transmission of visual/spatial languages, respectively.