It is the primary language of many North Americans who are deaf and is one of several communication options used by people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing," according to the National Institute of Health. The language is free-flowing and natural and can be translated into spoken languages. If you can close it to be a B handshape that opens up a whole ton of other signs. In 1960, William Stokoe, a scholar and hearing professor at Gallaudet University, published a dissertation that proved ASL is a genuine language with a unique syntax and grammar and changed the course of the history of sign language. (Subscription