Hearing Loss/Deafness Sign Language American Sign Language Classifiers By Jamie Berke Updated on January 21, 2022 Medically reviewed by John Carew, MD Print American Sign Language (ASL) classifiers show where someone or something is moving, where it is, and its appearance (e.g., size and shape). In sign language, an ASL classifier serves the same purpose as a pronoun in English. First, the word must be used, then the ASL classifier can be used to represent the word. Dieter Spears / Getty Images Examples There are many ASL classifiers, involving handshapes that represent numbers and letters. Classifiers are referred to as "CL" followed by the classifier, such as, "CL:F." One set of classifiers is the use of the numbers one to five. Another set of classifiers uses the letters and letter combinations A, B, C, F, G, ILY(Y), L, O, S, U, and V. As an example, the "1" ASL classifier can represent people walking. In another example, the "A" classifier can represent a house. ASL classifiers are an important part of learning sign language, especially for people learning to become interpreters for the deaf and hard of hearing. Students learning sign language often post their ASL classifier assignments on YouTube. Research The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education has published several articles related to ASL classifiers. In one example, in the article "The Acquisition of Spatial Constructions in American Sign Language and English," researchers examined the learning of spatial relationships such as the concept of "front." The study involved both children and adults, both English users and ASL users, and subjects were tested with pictures and sign language (for ASL users). Study results showed that children learn concepts like above and below quick because there is no perspective shift involved (i.e., there is no need to picture mentally the actual location). However, concepts like "front" and "behind" take longer to learn because they do involve perspective shifts. This was found to be true for both ASL and English users but it took longer for ASL users. According to the study's authors, this may be because of how difficult it is for young children to acquire mental perspectives (called rotations). In addition, young deaf children in the study understood relations with people classifiers better than with animal or vehicle classifiers. Name Signs in the Deaf Community Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Amber Joy Martin and Maria D. Sera. The Acquisition of Spatial Constructions in American Sign Language and English. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 2006 11(4):391-402. Appendix includes English sentences and ASL glosses. ASL University - Classifiers. Classifiers in American Sign Language. Handspeak: ASL Classifiers. Student Corner: Classifiers. By Jamie Berke Jamie Berke is a deafness and hard of hearing expert. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Medical Expert Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit