ASL Grammar

The linguistic rules governing the structure and use of American Sign Language, which differs fundamentally from English grammar. ASL has its own syntax, morphology, and phonology, with word order, spatial grammar, and non-manual markers playing central roles. NMS serve as grammatical markers that define sentence types, modify meaning, and convey linguistic information that would be expressed through intonation, word order, or function words in spoken languages. Many hearing learners struggle with ASL grammar because they attempt to apply English grammatical structures to sign language.