American Sign Language has been around for hundreds of years. This visual language allows deaf and hard of hearing people to communicate without the need to verbalize or hear somebody else speaking. There are many different dialects of sign language and each country has evolved their own version of sign language through the years. As it turns out, American Sign language actually originated in Martha's Vinyard a small island off of the northeast shore of the united states. There were deaf individuals who settled here early in this countries history. It would seem that the original deaf inhabitants had a gene that was easily passed and the population of deaf individuals in this area grew very rapidly.
Many signs were literally made out of necessity and the language began to get its roots. Through hundreds of years, there is no doubt this language has evolved considerably and has also become much more complex.
Want to know even more about how American Sign Language came to be? Check out this informative video that goes into even more depth about the origin of ASL in the U.S.A.