The best ASL grammar guide for the average student
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Having studied ASL for 14 years, and owning nearly all the available texts on the subject, I find The American Sign Language Phrase Book the best source to begin internalizing the grammar of ASL.
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An excellent resource; the best way to learn ASL from a book
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This is an excellent resource for those who wish to use real-life ASL as spoken by the American Deaf Community. Unlike other books on the topic, The American Sign Language Phrase Book avoids "Signed English" (the use of ASL as a word-for-word analog to spoken English). The book presents the grammar of ASL, showing sentence structure, phrasing, even slang, and noting when spoken English words are inappropriate. This is the only book I've seen that could really facilitate a friendly conversation between a hearing and deaf person.
The down side? The illustrations are hard to get used to. Because The American Sign Language Phrase Book (properly) emphasizes facial expression, there is often not enough detail given in illustrating the hands.
My ASL teacher recommends this book to the exclusion of any other ASL dictionary.
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