Hearing Loss/Deafness Sign Language American Sign Language Classifiers By Jamie Berke facebook Jamie Berke is a deafness and hard of hearing expert. Learn about our editorial process Jamie Berke Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by John Carew, MD on January 09, 2020 twitter linkedin John Carew, MD, is board-certified in otolaryngology and is an adjunct assistant professor at New York University Medical Center. Learn about our Medical Review Board John Carew, MD Updated on January 16, 2020 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. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article 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.